Omer Learning 2019: Day 6 | Siddur Q & A: What prayers would I recognize…

Today is 6 days of the Omer

Instructions for counting the omer are found on our Omer Overview Page. You can find the specific blessing for today at chabad.org.

We’re dedicating new Siddurim on the first day of Shavuot. In honor of this wonderful occasion, we’re using the counting of the Omer to learn about the siddur.

Enjoy today’s siddur related question and answer, which was provided by Ben S..

What prayers would I recognize from the first siddur?

Credit for the first siddur goes to Amram Gaon, principal of the yeshivah of Matah Meḥasya in Babylon (846-864). Siddurim were hand written until 1446. According to one source, the contents of the siddur included these headings:

“”Shaḥarit (morning prayer), Ma’amadot, Minḥah, Ma’arib (omitting the ‘Amidah), the Shema’ before sleep, seliḥot for Mondays and Thursdays, prayers for Sabbath and close of Sabbath, New Moon, Blessing of New Moon, fast-days, Ḥanukkah, Purim, Passover, Haggadah, Pentecost, Ninth of Ab, New-Year, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, order of the ‘erub, circumcisions, and weddings, and also prayers for travelers, occasional prayers, and mourners’ benedictions.””

That all sounds pretty familiar, so perhaps much of the text would have been, too?

Note that Amram was a rebel: gemara Shabbat 115a specifically says that it’s forbidden to write down blessings, something Amram explicitly did.

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