Customer Reviews

Hebrew Daily Prayer Book

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Chief Rabbi Sacks' subtle differences in translation compared to other and earlier Siddurim (Prayer Books), are like the minute final strokes of the artist that transform the excellent into the extraordinary. He symphonizes innovation with deep tradition and creates an English text that can inspire and uplift in its own rights. His essays and notes are literary, liturgical, spiritual and philosophic masterpieces. In the USA this Siddur is little known, but should be a handbook of prayer to any English speaking Jewish person.

I'm never really disappointed by anything Rabbi Sacks does, so I think this is a great siddur. I was very pleasantly surprised that it actually includes *all* services for Shabbat, holidays, blessings, etc, not just weekdays, as the name implies. The size of the book is great, definitely pocket-size, while the font is still large enough to read (at least when compared with the microscopic text in a lot of other siddurim and benchers this size). The pages are made of a nice, glossy paper that are pleasant to touch (at least to people like me who are obsessed with books) and easy to flip. The gold lettering on the cover wears off pretty fast, though, FYI.

The one thing I couldn't find was sefirat ha'omer (counting the omer), but I didn't exactly scour the book, so maybe it's in there. Also, and this is why I'm not giving five stars: My copy was missing several intro pages in the beginning, *and* most of the beginning of the weekday mincha (afternoon) service, which was frustrating. I don't know if all the copies are like this, but it's something to keep in mind... Personally, if I was getting a siddur by R. Sacks now, I would get his new one - the Koren/Sacks siddur.