#siddurim

[thejewitches]

A siddur from 1937, in accordance with the German & Polish tradition. Sold via Instagram.

[germiyahu]

I had completely forgotten about this 🫨

[nonstandardrepertoire]

OVO WHAT'S THIS

Siddur Davar Ḥadash is an attempt to imagine one form that a de-gendered, de-stigmatized, Diasporist liturgy might take. All the prayers are fully transliterated and translated with all-new translations, all of which are released into the public domain to use and edit without restriction

And now!!! You can get your very own hard copy! Wow!!!

(And if you'd like to read some more personal thoughts about this project and what's ahead, I just put out a little newsletter with that very information! Neat!)

[shalom-iamcominghome]

All the people who own their own siddur have all these tabs in theirs and I completely understand why - I'm going to load this up with my own. Like this siddur has so much in it, I love ArtScroll but come on 😭😭

Every order should come with a set of 150 tabs or something. I'm trying to have a whole color system so g-d willing I can actually adhere to and remember it. And I have a shabbos one coming in soon so I'm going to need to start doing this to that one

[transmascpetewentz]

girl help i was asked by the guy who does education at my shul to buy a siddur but they r $55+... how am i going to even do this

[fromgoy2joy]

Let's write about Jewish characters in dynamic ways- that make it clear "Yes this is us. Yes, we are living our lives with this happiness and ritual, and we love it. "

Like it's so easy to write about, to have casual observances of Judaism and cultural practices be in the background of stories. I'll write of the few examples I can think of in my frame of reference as a college student-

there's a mezuza in the doorway of a college kid's apartment. Whenever his friends come over, it's a reach for some of them to touch it because both he and the rabbi who installed it are 6 foot three. The others feel like a middle school boy slapping the ceiling as they try and reach for the damn thing.

Characters rush on public transport to get to a rabbi's house on shabbat. The train is due. There's a flurry of regrouping, then trying to call a missing friend to get there, and then the process of methodically hiding Magen davids and jewish objects because getting to shabbat dinner without a situation was an order from college Hillel staff.

A character is half-drunk at 2 AM at the convenience store but has to scan the list of ingredients on their chemically disgusting snack for gelatin.

Said character is prevented by her friends from only sustaining herself on 7/11 slushees "even though it's all kosher!"

There are references to the Purim incident constantly- it is never clarified what happened on Purim.

the hypothetical gang of characters are in the middle of nowhere on a grand magical adventure. The main character notices a mezuza on a door of a cabin, knocks on it, and has an in-depth conversation with the resident. Then, he waves his friends over. "Hey, guys! We have a place to stay tonight!" Because through the magic of Jewish geography, it was discovered that the grumpy old Jewish man in the woods is the grand uncle of one of his Jewish Day school teachers

A character who eats cheesy bacon bagels regularly on passover has a deep respect for jewish ritual items. He kisses the siddurim as they're handed back into a pile, he always kisses his kippah that he wears for ritual purposes of shabbats and minions. He's very careful with these objects and keeps on claiming dropping something He is observant, and he cares so much, but not in the "typical" way. Just... please show the nuance in practice.

The big "going out night" for our fearless college student isn't Friday but saturday night because of shabbat.

The stain on the rabbi's couch is not to be mentioned

A character keeps on mentioning the stain anyway.

Jewish goodbyes after any event take a minimum of two hours and that's why the gang is delayed on their journey to save the world .

I want more representation than characters in novels saying "haha I'm jewish but eat bacon and love Christmas!" in such flat ways. Please feel free to add more hypothetical ways of representation in the comments !!! About or inspired by your own life and experiences ! Let's make this post vibrant!

[vhenadahls]

@artisanalgoats Reform/Reformative here to say that I do like Mishkan T'filah a lot, and that they do have a non-transliterated version if you want to move towards that! There definitely is a fair amount "missing" compared to Conservative or otherwise more "traditional" siddurim, so it really depends on what you're looking for (I am not sure any version of Mishkan T'filah has Tachanun, for example, but don't quote me on that). I have a copy that has Shabbat, weekday, and festival davening all in one volume (it is. Large.), and if you're affiliated with a Reform shul, they'll likely have a copy of something like that that they might let you borrow to peruse before determining whether it's something you want to buy for yourself.

At the moment I do prefer Mishkan T'filah to Lev Shalem, but I have a Lot more experience with the former, so it may just be familiarity bias. But I like how much "white space" is used in MT to make it feel more readable and to give you space to breathe, and in the transliterated versions I like that they're like by line and opposite one another rather than sequential, so it's easier to follow along if you need to switch between the Hebrew and the transliteration.

MT also has a lot of alternative transliterations and additional readings (poems, stories, etc), which can add to or detract from your davening, it's very individual.

I hope you find a siddur that works for you!

Chag sameach, Avital! I'm in the market for a new siddur, and I was hoping you might have some thoughts (or be able to broadcast this to those who do!). I'm Reform and can read Hebrew decently and I've used Conservative siddurim before. I've heard good things about the Mishkan T'filah, but I wanted to see if you or anyone else has any suggestions :)

Yeah! So the boring (but real) answer is that it's usually best to just use the siddur that your community uses. Now, if you're Reform and your community doesn't do weekday minyanim but you want to do weekday davening, that's a different story.

If your Hebrew is good enough that you don't need transliterations at all (or are committed to weaning yourself off of them) and you're willing to write in or verbally add in the egalitarian stuff on your own (or aren't bothered), I really like the Koren siddurim I have. I have a Nusach Sfard standard siddur with English translations and a Nusach Ashkenaz talpiot (mini travel siddur) with just the Hebrew. I love both.

I do not own, but I have used, multiple excellent ArtScroll siddurim, and I own an ArtScroll Tikkun (basically a giant chumash written in STAM script for the purposes of learning various parts of Torah leyning) that I really like. Some ArtScroll siddurim have in-line translation and transliteration under the Hebrew, if that interests you also. I will say that you will have to have some tolerance for Ashkenzish transliteration; it's very frum Ashkenazi that way.

Both Koren and ArtScroll are, however, definitely orthodox/non-egal. If you're looking for Masorti/Conservative/traditional egalitarian siddurim, I do really love my Lev Shalem (official Conservative movement siddur) for Shabbat and Festivals, and I am fine with using Sim Shalom for weekdays. (I don't dislike it personally, but I also hope they update it to match Lev Shalem soon.)

If you're interested in something both Sephardic and avant-garde, I definitely recommend checking out Or veShalom:

If you do, tell me about it! My primary community is Ashkenazi so that's been my default, but this honestly looks amazing and I've been meaning to invest in it for a while. (I am a little hesitant in that I'm worried that if I start davening out of this, I won't want to daven out of anything else, but that's a risk I'm willing to take when I have the money to buy it, lol.)

Hope that helps, and a belated chag sameach!!

[germiyahu]

For background: my synagogue is nondenominational, but the Shabbat service is quite traditional. There is a prayer book provided to everyone for the service but I can't remember what it was called off the top of my head. It had Hebrew, English, transliteration and some commentary.

I need to practice קבע prayer at home, and I love the thrill of buying books so I'm too impatient to ask for my Rabbi's advice lol (she'd probably advise me to pick whichever one I felt the most affinity toward anyway). I know these four correspond to Movements, and I have some vague idea of which Movement speaks the most to me, but obviously I don't know enough, and I'm part of a congregation that doesn't put much stock in Movements to begin with.

Also, to those of you who own any of these, feel free to tell me how good the translations and commentary are, advocate for your favorite siddur. Oh and they all cost around the same for a "Weekend and Holiday" edition hard cover/flexicover, so that's not an issue.

[vaspider]

Well, that's me sobbing hysterically over the first 5 minutes of ep 6 of Agatha All Along bc it's so so so Jewish in such a casually present way.

Thank you for this Sukkot gift, Marvel.

William/Billy's bar mitzvah 😭

I'm so happy that they gave us a Maximoff who is - fucking FINALLY - canonically Jewish.

I lost my fucking shit at watching everyone reach out their tallitot & siddurim for the Torah. Seeing one man touch the siddur to the Torah and kiss it, I... it was so small and so simple but... you just don't see that on TV? Like. It was so clearly a Reform shul. It reminded me of my old shul in PA that I miss so much.

[therainingkiwi]

I am a Jew.

I did not know that civilians lived in Palestine until i was probably sixteen. SIXTEEN. You know when I first learned that Palestine existed? Oh, probably when I was three or four, in Hebrew school.

I was literally taught that Palestine is a nation of terrorists. I thought it was basically one giant army base where Hamas planned attacks, rather than a real country with hospitals and cities and schools. Again: I did not know that civilians and everyday non-terrorists lived in Palestine until I was a fucking TEENAGER (and even then, it was despite my synagogue's best efforts, not because they changed the shul curriculum or anything).

I'm not saying this because I'm proud. I am DEEPLY ashamed to have once believed this. It's why I focus my anti-Israel activism around the Jewish community in particular: I do not trust myself around Palestinians because I fear I haven't rooted out my prejudices enough for them to be safe in my company. I'm not sure I ever will.

But you need to know how intense Israeli propaganda is. You need to know WHY so many people can't distinguish between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Israel has spent lots of time and money on its international image. They've spent possibly even MORE time and money to smear Palestine into the mud. Israel relies on the world seeing their colonization as valiant Jews holding steadfast against evil Islamic terrorists. Without their indoctrination, they don't have power.

I hope Palestine rises higher and freer than Netanyahu's worst fucking nightmares.

I was asked why there's a zionist claim that the Palestininian identity is not legitimate. And I think it's important to understand why Palestinians as a whole are seen as a threat by Israel. To understand why it's not about Hamas.

The claim is that the Palestininian identity was made up in order to push us out. Palestinian existence is a threat to the legitimacy of Israel as a country.

I was taught in school that Palestine was empty when we got here. They used a Mark Twain quote. It was a barren land full of swamps and some nomadic people (Beduins) but as soon as we wanted to come here, the awful antisemitic Arabs sent people to settle here before we could to take up the space. I was in school in the settlements though. I was taught the most extreme version of this.

Another version of this is that Palestine was never its own thing, they're just Arabs the same as all Arabs from the surrounding countries. So they could just... scooch over and give us the space, please and thank you. In Israel no one uses the term Palestinian. If I do, people roll their eyes and dismissively go "Arab." An Arab is an Arab. It's a way to strip away their unique identity and blend them in with the rest to say they could always move to Jordan, or Syria, or Lebanon, and it's all the same to them.

It's a way to make Palestinian existence by itself into a malicious plot to deny us a homeland.

Because if Palestinians exist as a distinct group of people, we aren't the only ones with a connection to this land. And you don't create an ethnostate by sharing.

You still hear echoes of this mentality. Why won't all these Muslim countries take the people of Gaza as refugees? That's asking why they won't let Israel make its ethnic cleansing more neat and convenient. Yes, refugees should be taken in and given shelter. But this question shifts responsibility away from Israel. Palestinians shouldn't be forced suffer either ethnic cleansing that leaves them as refugees, or a genocide.

[evilwickedme]

I vote we stop everybody from using the word "Ashkenazi" until they can prove they know what it means by picking an Ashkenazi siddur from a pile of siddurim

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

I forgot hebrew is written right to left and was very confused when the text was aligned like that when I was about to use the search bar in your blog

Made me chuckle, so I felt like sharing

Do u have any idea how long it took me to start picking up Hebrew-language books the correct way?

Now, of course, I frequently try to pick up English-language books as if they're right to left also, so problem solved 👍

[rotzaprachim]

some smaller bookstores, presses, and museum shops to browse and know about! Most support smaller presses, diverse authors and authors in translation, or fund museums and arts research)

(disclaimer: the only three I’ve personally used are the Yiddish book center, native books, and izzun books! Reccomend all three. Also roughly *U.S. centric & anglophone if people have others from around the world please feel free to add on

birchbark books - Louise Erdrich’s book shop, many indigenous and First Nations books of a wide variety of genres including children’s books, literature, nonfiction, sustainability and foodways, language revitalization, Great Lakes area focus (https://birchbarkbooks.com/)

American Swedish institute museum store - range of Scandinavian and Scandinavian-American/midwestern literature, including modern literature in translation, historical documents, knitters guides, cookbooks, children’s books https://shop.asimn.org/collections/books-1

Native books - Hawai’i based bookstore with a focus on native Hawaiian literature, scholarly works about Hawai’i, the pacific, and decolonial theory, ‘ōlelo Hawai’i, and children’s books Collections | Native Books (nativebookshawaii.org)

the Yiddish book center - sales arm of the national Yiddish book center, books on Yiddish learning, books translated from Yiddish, as well as broader selection of books on Jewish history, literature, culture, and coooking https://shop.yiddishbookcenter.org/

ayin press - independent press with a small but growing selection of modern judaica https://shop.ayinpress.org/collections/all?_gl=1kkj2oo_gaMTk4NDI3Mzc1Mi4xNzE1Mzk5ODk3_ga_VSERRBBT6X*MTcxNTM5OTg5Ny4xLjEuMTcxNTM5OTk0NC4wLjAuMA..

Izzun books - printers of modern progressive AND masorti/trad-egal leaning siddurim including a gorgeous egalitarian Sephardic siddur with full Hebrew, English translation, and transliteration

tenement center museum -https://shop.tenement.org/product-category/books/page/11/ range of books on a dizzying range of subjects mostly united by New York City, including the history literature cookbooks and cultures of Black, Jewish, Italian, Puerto Rican, First Nations, and Irish communities

restless books - nonprofit, independent small press focused on books on translation, inter and multicultural exchange, and books by immigrant writers from around the world. Particularly excellent range of translated Latin American literature https://restlessbooks.org/

olniansky press - modern Yiddish language press based in Sweden, translators and publishers esp of modern Yiddish children’s literature https://www.etsy.com/shop/OlnianskyBooks

https://yiddishchildrensbooks.com/ - kinder lokshen, Yiddish children’s books (not so many at the moment but a very cute one about a puffin from faroese!)

inhabit books - Inuit-owned publishing company in Nunavut with an “aim to preserve and promote the stories, knowledge, and talent of Inuit and Northern Canada.” Particularly gorgeous range of children’s books, many available in Inuktitut, English, French, or bilingual editions https://inhabitbooks.com/collections/inhabit-media-books-1

rust belt books - for your Midwest and rust belt bookish needs! Leaning towards academic and progressive political tomes but there are some cookbooks devoted to the art of the Midwest cookie table as well https://beltpublishing.com/

[sandstonesunspear]

If your minhag is sefardi/if you daven in Sephardic spaces/you've got enough experience with Ashkenazi and Sephardi minhagim that you can (mostly) adapt on the fly, then Siddur Or u'Masoret is a good choice. They've got weekday and Shabbat/Festival volumes, as well as a dedicated Friday night volume. The matriarchs are included. All of them have transliteration in addition to hebrew and English. Only downside to them is that they're big and not the easiest to transport (especially the Shabbat/Festival siddur).

The Conservative Movement's Siddur Sim Shalom is a pretty good all around siddur. I think it has the matriarchs in the "Alternative Readings" section, but I'd have to double check. Lev Shalem is also a good choice, but it only comes in Shabbat/Festival at the moment.

The UK's reform siddur is more traditional than American reform, but has a bit of a learning curve because it has lots of options inside of it. It does have the matriarchs in it. It also has some sections that are completely transliterated and others that aren't.

Koren's siddurim are somewhat trad-egal in that they have women-specific prayers, but they don't have the matriarchs in them. You'll have to write them in or remember to add them when you're davening. Koren has weekday-only siddurim, Kol Bo (weekdays, shabbat, and festivals) siddurim, and Shabbat-specific siddurim. Unfortunately, they don't offer siddurim with transliteration or interlinear translations.

If interlinear translation is the biggest need, then the options get a lot more limited. The only interlinear siddurim that I'm aware of are Metsudah and Artscroll, neither of which have the matriarchs. Artscroll definitely has a much more traditional Orthodox bent (as opposed to Koren's Modern Orthodox hashkafa). I believe that Metsudah is fairly traditional, but that might be a byproduct of its age more than hashkafa.

Feel free to DM me if you've got questions. Siddurim are v much my jam

Hey jumblr, I could use a siddur recommendation. I’m looking for a new daily siddur (ideally with weekdays, Shabbat, and festivals, but even just weekday is fine). I’d appreciate the matriarchs to be included in prayers in the text rather than having to be “added in” after the fact. I lean towards trad-egal spaces and ideals, so something befitting that as well. If an interlinear translation version exists, that would be ideal for me!

[ravenssunshine]

ok more on observantly jewish ford pines!

• the new jersey pineses are totally conservative jews who go to shul only a few times a year but they did shabbat every friday. at their bar mitzvah, stan and ford were given pocket sized siddurim (a secret tool that will help us later!)

• i doubt ford was observant in the years after he moved to gravity falls. he was too obsessed with his research and really into a certain idol. he probably wouldn’t have felt good about praying if it had crossed his mind

• he keeps the siddur in the pocket of his coat at all times, so he has it when he was launched into the portal

• he starts saying prayers every morning and night to keep track of the days. and he did a small shabbat every 7 days to keep track of the weeks. he definitely lost track of the days at some point but the ritual kept him going

• i imagine that after he and stan finish traveling the world and come home to gravity falls, ford starts observing shabbat in an attempt to curb his workaholic tendencies. he and stan go on picnics and stuff. he is happy :)

[jewish-microwave-laser]

it was honestly surreal to be able to wear my tallis in shul today. more than a year and a half ago, i made my tallis as part of an adult education class at my shul, the first shul event i ever went to. since then, i made a bag for it, my chumash, and my siddurim, and i've carried my tallis with me to and from shul over and over and over again. i've stimmed with my roommate's tzitzis, untangling the ends and wrapping and unwrapping them around my finger. today i did that with my own tallis. i've touched my siddur to the torah scrolls and kissed it a million and one times, and today i did it with the corner of my own tallis. for my first ever aliyah i touched my tallis to the sefer hatorah and i chanted the blessings

shavuot is already the perfect time to convert, but to make it even better, my atarah is from ruth—עמך עמי—your people shall be (or "are") my people. now they truly are my people, and i couldn't be more happy