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Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History
A joint publication of The Jewish Publication Society and the Jewish Theological Seminary
The definitive work on the subject of Jewish liturgy, Ismar Elbogen’s analysis covers the entire range of Jewish liturgical development—beginning with the early cornerstones of the siddur, through the evolution of the medieval piyyut tradition, to modern prayer book reform in Germany and the United States.
The definitive work on the subject of Jewish liturgy, Ismar Elbogen’s analysis covers the entire range of Jewish liturgical development—beginning with the early cornerstones of the siddur, through the evolution of the medieval piyyut tradition, to modern prayer book reform in Germany and the United States.
- GenresJudaism
500 pages, Hardcover
First published January 15, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 23, 2020
This book is primarily a history of Jewish liturgy, beginning in Second Temple times and ending with the early 20th century Reform movement. To a lesser extent, it covers the history of synagogue organization and the growth of Reform. Where Elbogen doesn't know what happened, he speculates: for example, he notes that parts of the Amidah prayer (such as references to "restoring the Temple service") point to a post-Temple origin, while others suggest an earlier date.
Clearly some sort of public worship existed at the time of the Maccabees, if not earlier. Elbogen seems to suggest that the general trend since the Talmud seems to have been towards longer and longer services: for example, the Tachanun prayer (which takes up a good chunk of the traditional morning prayer) was apparently optional in Talmudic times, and did not have a fixed text until the Middle Ages. Havdalah was originally part of an end-of-Sabbath meal, rather than following the evening service as it does now. The growing length and standardization of prayers may be a result of the growth of prayer books; the first prayer book in the modern sense was created by Saadia Gaon in the 10th century, although a few earlier books listed prayers without adding their complete texts.
One defect in this book is the translation, which is not as accessible as it could be: it uses Hebrew lettering when transliterations would be known to more readers, and uses Christian-inspired terms like "wimple" and "sexton" instead of their Jewish equivalents.
Clearly some sort of public worship existed at the time of the Maccabees, if not earlier. Elbogen seems to suggest that the general trend since the Talmud seems to have been towards longer and longer services: for example, the Tachanun prayer (which takes up a good chunk of the traditional morning prayer) was apparently optional in Talmudic times, and did not have a fixed text until the Middle Ages. Havdalah was originally part of an end-of-Sabbath meal, rather than following the evening service as it does now. The growing length and standardization of prayers may be a result of the growth of prayer books; the first prayer book in the modern sense was created by Saadia Gaon in the 10th century, although a few earlier books listed prayers without adding their complete texts.
One defect in this book is the translation, which is not as accessible as it could be: it uses Hebrew lettering when transliterations would be known to more readers, and uses Christian-inspired terms like "wimple" and "sexton" instead of their Jewish equivalents.
January 28, 2010
the meaning ang history of Jewish Liturgy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews