Evening Institute: Hidden Gems of the Siddur

Even more than the Chumash (Torah), the Siddur is the most ubiquitous of Jewish Books. Everywhere Jews have gone they have taken their prayers, liturgies and Siddurim with them. Unlike the Bible, Jews everywhere and everywhen have been able to add their own materials to Siddur. Unlike the Talmud and law codes, which were for the intellectual elite, the Liturgy and Siddur were writen for and by many different Jews and were open to all.

Writen and complied over many hundreds of years, the Siddur is full of poetry and prose, theology and history, as well as comfort and challenge.

And yet despite all that, until recently the Siddur and Liturgy in general were not given the credit they are due. In these sessions we will look at the structure of liturgy, its history, spending some time looking at some of the hidden gems of the daily and Shabbat services. We will also devote a session to looking at the contribution of progressive Judaism to the Siddur.

There will be 5 sessions from 5 February to 5 March, each lasting 11⁄2 hours.