What is the traditional Siddur?

     The text of the Siddur (Jewish prayer book) has not always been fixed.  A perusal of Jewish prayer books from the Gaonic era to the present shows that the text of the liturgy varied from one era to another, from one country to another.  A perusal of Rishonic poskim [medieval decisors of Jewish law] shows that most were flexible with regards to the composition of prayers, such as allowing the addition of piyuttim (religious poetry) in the middle of berakhot (blessings), and changes in many berakhot themselves.

     The basic prayers of the Talmudic era did not have one single authoritative text.  Numerous genizah fragments have shown that the Palestinian liturgy in the Geonic period was not only very different from the Babylonian, but flexible with Palestine itself.  While Geonim attempted to canonize the liturgy in their day, their attempts were only partially successful.  Many of the liturgical controversies of the geonic period flared up again among the Rishonim, and many new controversies were added.  The siddur remained flexible throughout the Middle Ages. [Adapted from Golinkin]

     Even the text of the Shemonah Esrah (Amidah) has gone through considerable development.  According to the Talmud it was fixed around the year 100 CE by Simon Hapaqoli under the auspices of Rabbi Gamliel II in Yavneh.  But what was fixed was only the number eighteen, the ideas to be expressed in the various benediction, and to some extent the order in which the benedictions were to be recited.  The wording of the individual benedictions was not fixed.  Only much later did the wording begin to crystallize, in both Palestinian and Babylonian versions.  The latter actually contained nineteen benedictions, and is the one which forms the basis for the versions of the prayer which is used today.  As late as the 14th century, the text of the Amidah still had many local variations. [Petuchowski, 1985]

     The relatively static nature of the liturgy for the past few hundred years has little to do with halakha (Jewish law).  As Prof. Petuchowski has observed: "The ultimate authority in matters liturgical is the printer."  The printer 'canonized' one manuscript while other versions fell by the wayside.  The printer canonized scribal errors which were then passed from one edition to the next, and the printer selected certain piyuttim, dooming others to oblivion.  [Golinkin]  Any study of the development of the siddur leads to the conclusion stated by Jakob Petuchowski:

"There is, and there is not such a thing as 'the' traditional Jewish prayerbook.  There is less of one than some Orthodox Jews would like to believe;  and there is more of one than some Reform apologists are willing to admit".

In view of all the evidence available, nobody could insist that Rabbi Saadyah Gaon's siddur was identical Rav Amram Gaon's siddur, or that the prayerbook of Maimonides was identical to either of them.  Nor can it be claimed that the crystallization of the Ashkenazi rite as we find it in the 12 century Mahzor Vitry is the same as Rabbi S. Baer's standard siddur (Avodath Israel) of the 19th century.  Add to that the many fragments which have been discovered of the ancient Palestinian rite, and of other rites no longer in use, and the strength of the argument against something which could be described as "the" traditional Jewish prayer book is increased.  Even within Orthodoxy today there are many distinct rites: South-west Ashkenazi, the Polish rite, the Sephardi rite of London and Amsterdam, the Sephardi rite of North Africa, and the hybrid Ashkenazi-Sepharadi rite developed by Hasidim (confusingly called Nusah Sepharad).  There is also the Italian (Romi) rite, the Aleppo rite, the Baghdadi rite and the Yemenite rite.  Which represents  "the" traditional Jewish prayerbook?  They all do!  [Petuchowski]

     However, the many different 19th and 20th century Orthodox prayerbooks all have much more in common than they have different.  They generally differ only in minor matters.  When it comes to all the major rubrics, laid down by the rabbis of the Midhnah and Gemara, all the various rites have them.  Each rite generally contains the same prayers, plus or minus a few, with a number of minor variations in order and wording.  They also all have the three paragraphs of the "Shema", and all 19 blessings in the Amidah (although they vary a bit in wording).  Last but not least, however different the wording might be between one rite and other, most express the same religious convictions, and they all subscribe to the same theology.  From this broader perspective one might be justified in speaking about "the" traditional prayerbook. [Adapted from Petuchowski, 1985]


Some of the most popular Siddurim used by Orthodox Jews are:

"Siddur Ha-Shalem", better known as the Birnbaum Siddur. Ed. Philip Birnbaum.  Pub. by the Hebrew Publishing Company.

"The Metsudah Siddur: A New Linear Prayer Book". Published by Ziontalis.

The Artscroll Siddur - Published by Mesorah Publications. (It comes in a number of versions.)

For a list of siddurim used by Conservative Jews, see the rest of the Conservative liturgy FAQ.