Reviews
No book is closer to the heart of the Jew than the Siddur; none has had such a profound influence [or been] so uniquely able to penetrate to the very depths of the soul. For generations, the Siddur was the first book the Jewish child learned to read, and through the struggle to grasp the combinations of letters, he repeated and learned to recite its phrases by heart. This bond with the prayer book engendered a great intimacy between the Jew and the Siddur in both the emotional and intellectual spheres. But the bond is not only a primary, intimate one; it is an ongoing, lifelong process. While other books are used only as study texts which, once mastered, need not be read again, or are reread only after a long period, the Siddur accompanies the Jew throughout life. . . . No other Jewish book contains the entirety of Judaism. The Siddur is like a garland, intertwining all the strands of Judaism and encompassing all fields of Jewish creativity in all their variegated forms. It includes sections that reflect the fundamentals of Jewish faith, and those relating to the field of religious law. . . . [It] contains sections of exalted poetry, and matters of ritual procedure. There are prayers that deal with the most intimate details of individual needs and problems, supplications reflecting the sorrows and aspirations of the nation, and prayers that touch upon the entire cosmos. --From A Guide to Jewish Prayer, No book is closer to the heart of the Jew than the Siddur; none has had such a profound influence [or been] so uniquely able to penetrate to the very depths of the soul. For generations, the Siddur was the first book the Jewish child learned to read, and through the struggle to grasp the combinations of letters, he repeated and learned to recite its phrases by heart. This bond with the prayer book engendered a great intimacy between the Jew and the Siddur in both the emotional and intellectual spheres. But the bond is not only a primary, intimate o≠it is an ongoing, lifelong process. While other books are used only as study texts which, once mastered, need not be read again, or are reread only after a long period, the Siddur accompanies the Jew throughout life. . . . No other Jewish book contains the entirety of Judaism. The Siddur is like a garland, intertwining all the strands of Judaism and encompassing all fields of Jewish creativity in all their variegated forms. It includes sections that reflect the fundamentals of Jewish faith, and those relating to the field of religious law. . . . [It] contains sections of exalted poetry, and matters of ritual procedure. There are prayers that deal with the most intimate details of individual needs and problems, supplications reflecting the sorrows and aspirations of the nation, and prayers that touch upon the entire cosmos. --From A Guide to Jewish Prayer From the Hardcover edition., No book is closer to the heart of the Jew than the Siddur; none has had such a profound influence [or been] so uniquely able to penetrate to the very depths of the soul. For generations, the Siddur was the first book the Jewish child learned to read, and through the struggle to grasp the combinations of letters, he repeated and learned to recite its phrases by heart. This bond with the prayer book engendered a great intimacy between the Jew and the Siddur in both the emotional and intellectual spheres. But the bond is not only a primary, intimate one; it is an ongoing, lifelong process. While other books are used only as study texts which, once mastered, need not be read again, or are reread only after a long period, the Siddur accompanies the Jew throughout life. . . . No other Jewish book contains the entirety of Judaism. The Siddur is like a garland, intertwining all the strands of Judaism and encompassing all fields of Jewish creativity in all their variegated forms. It includes sections that reflect the fundamentals of Jewish faith, and those relating to the field of religious law. . . . [It] contains sections of exalted poetry, and matters of ritual procedure. There are prayers that deal with the most intimate details of individual needs and problems, supplications reflecting the sorrows and aspirations of the nation, and prayers that touch upon the entire cosmos. --From A Guide to Jewish Prayer From the Hardcover edition.
