the Open Siddur Project ✍︎ פְּרוֹיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ
a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources
This project is sustained through reciprocity for those sharing prayers and crafting their own prayerbooks.
Upload Work ✶ Donate ✶ Giftshop בסיעתא דשמיא | ||
☰︎ Menu | 🔍︎
Search // Main //
⋯ Miscellanea (Ketubot, Art, Essays on Prayer, &c.) // Pedagogical Essays on Jewish Prayer ![]() ![]() Some thoughts on the ineffable divine name. . . . ![]() We are grateful to Amit Gvaryahu for sharing his sourcesheets for his Siddur class at Yeshivat Hadar’s 90@190 Open Beit Midrash this past summer 5771/2011, and for sharing his translations with a CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license. . . . ![]() Some rabbinic sourcetexts related to the topic of how to write in your siddur, shared with translations by Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner. . . . ![]() I wanted my students to start thinking of prayers as expressions of an interior world, rather than as descriptions of the exterior one. I suggested to them that they think of a prayer as a kind of mask, much like the ones worn in religious rituals by many peoples. The job of the mask-wearer is to discover the reality on the “inside” of the mask and bring it to life. . . . על השואה ועל התפלתה | Prayer in the Shoah, an essay and a prayer by Rabbi Dr. David Weiss Halivni (2000)![]() A meditation on a unique prayer heard by Rabbi Dr. David Weiss Halivni at the Rosh Hashanah services at the Wolfsberg Labor Camp in 1944. . . . Blessings and Ethics: The Spiritual Life of Justice, a dvar tefillah on berakhot by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Gutoff (1997)![]() An article looking at the questions of why there aren’t brakhot for ethical mitsvot, in which an approach to the function brakhot as part of a spiritual and imaginative discipline is proposed. At the same time, it is argued that all ethical practices are first exercises in listening. . . . ![]() A comprehensive treatment on the praxis of Jewish prayer. . . . Meaning What We Pray, Praying What We Mean: The Otherness of the Liturgy, by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Gutoff (1989)![]() A discussion of the nature of truth and belief in Jewish liturgical prayer, suggesting that fixed liturgy is less a vehicle for conveying theological or philosophical outcomes than a practice for developing an emotionally religious personality. Shabbat musaf is used as an example. “Meaning What We Pray, Praying What We Mean: The Otherness of the Liturgy” by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Gutoff was first published in Conservative Judaism, Vol. 42(2), Winter 1989-90, pp. 12-20. . . . Prayers that Hurt: Public Prayer in Interfaith Settings, by Rabbi Chaplain (Captain) Arnold E. Resnicoff, USN, Ret. (1987, 2009)![]() Suggestions for chaplains on offering public prayers in interfaith settings. . . . ![]() Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel’s speech, “On Prayer,” delivered at an inter-religious convocation held under the auspices of the U.S. Liturgical Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 28, 1969. His talk was printed in the journal Conservative Judaism v.25:1 Fall 1970, p.1-12. . . . ![]() An introduction to the Siddur, by scholar and translator Israel Wolf Slotki (1884–1973). . . . ![]() “The Spirit of Jewish Prayer,” by Abraham Joshua Heschel was a speech given at the Fifty-Third Annual Convention of the Rabbinical Assembly of America which took place at the Breakers Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey from Tammuz 9 to Tammuz 14, 5713 (June 22 To June 27, 1953). The speech was subsequently published in the Proceedings of the Rabbinical Assembly of America v.17. . . . ![]() The essay, “Prayer,” by Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel, then Associate Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Hebrew Union College, published in Review of Religion vol. 9 no. 2, January 1945. . . . ![]() An essay on the praxis of prayer as contained in “Club Letter №3” (March 1939) written by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) and found in the Private Collection of Hannah Feldman, London. The essay was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 51-54. . . . Das Gebet Als Äußerung Und Einfühlung | Prayer as Expression and Empathy, by Abraham Joshua Heschel (1939)![]() Abraham Joshua Heschel’s essay “Das Gebet Als Äußerung Und Einfühlung” published in Monatsschrift Für Geschichte Und Wissenschaft Des Judenthums, vol. 83 (1939). . . . ![]() Rabbi Leo Baeck’s essay on prayer “Gebet im Judentum,” was published in the “Judentum und Gebet” issue of Bne Briss (September/October 1935), top of page 82. . . . ספר רפואת הנפש, פרק ב׳ — תפלה | Sefer Refuat haNefesh — chapter 2: Prayer, by Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein (Society of Jewish Science 1934)![]() A brief explanation of the role of prayer in the Jewish Science movement of Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein and his wife Tehilla Lichtenstein, co-founders of the Society of Jewish Science, in Yiddish with an English translation. . . . ![]() A teachable moment in the life of Emma Goldman to reflect upon whether our practice is liberating or in need of liberation. . . . Jewish Science and Health — chapter 3: Prayer, by Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein (Society of Jewish Science 1925)![]() Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein’s explanation on the efficacious use of Prayer as appears as chapter 3 in Jewish Science and Health: Textbook of Jewish Science (1925), pp. 43-56. . . . On Composing Prayers Outside of the Prayerbook, an introduction by Isaac Leeser to “Two Short Prayers” (1851)![]() Thoughts on petitionary prayer literature (teḥinot) and Jewish women’s prayer literature in the mid-19th century United States of America. . . . ![]() “Thoughts on Family Prayer,” an essay by Grace Aguilar, was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in Essays and Miscellanies (1853), in the section “Sacred Communings,” pp. 131-150. In the UK edition of Sacred Communings (1853) the prayer appears with small variations of spelling and punctuation on pages 143-163. . . . ![]() A few select source texts on prayer and davvenen of importance to Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman. . . . Ὑμνεῖν με δεῖ τὸν θεόν | “I Must Praise God,” excerpted from the Discourses of Epictetus by Rabbi Morrison David Bial![]() A short discourse on the necessity for prayer by the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus. . . .
Stable Link:
https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=1295 Associated Image:
![]()
Terms of Use:
Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:
Additional Notes:
Support this work:
The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture. If you like what you've found here, please help keep our project alive and online with your financial contribution.
ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17
| ||
Sign up for a summary of new resources shared by contributors each week
![]() ![]() |