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64-609: Minhag America is a siddur created in 1857 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise that was intended to address conflict between sides supporting and opposing traditionalism in early Reform Judaism in the United States . The prayer book was accepted by the majority of Reform congregations in the western and southern United States. The roots of the prayer book date back to a program he laid out in The Occident (vol. 5, p. 109) in which Wise described how "the strength of Israel

128-495: A Siddur Shalem ("complete siddur"). Below are listed many popular siddurim used by religious Jews. This list mostly excludes prayer books specifically for the High Holidays; see Machzor (Popular versions) . These siddurim follow the halakha of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (1920–2013) a Talmudic scholar, and authority on Jewish religious law, and spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas party. Yosef believed that

192-612: A biblical book, does not quote from it, and relies entirely on other traditions in his account of the deeds of Nehemiah . The apocalyptic fourth book of Ezra (also sometimes called the 'second book of Esdras' or the 'third book of Esdras') was written c. CE 100, probably in Judeo-Aramaic , but now survives in Latin, Slavonic and Ethiopic. In this book, Ezra has a seven part prophetic revelation, converses with an angel of God three times and has four visions. Ezra, thirty years into

256-549: A section from 2 Esdras . Where early Christian writers refer to the 'Book of Ezra' it is always the text of 1 Esdras that is being cited. In Islam, he is known as Uzair ( Arabic : عزير , romanized :  ʿUzayr ). He was mentioned in the Qur'an . Although he was not mentioned as one of the Prophets of Islam , he is considered one of them by some Muslim scholars, based on Islamic traditions. His tomb at Al-ʻUzer on

320-588: Is a historical anachronism, since it now contains nineteen blessings. It was only near the end of the Second Temple period that the eighteen prayers of the weekday Amidah became standardized. Even at that time their precise wording and order was not yet fixed, and varied from locale to locale. Many modern scholars believe that parts of the Amidah came from the Hebrew apocryphal work Ben Sira . According to

384-459: Is an all-encompassing nusach that is valid for any Jew, no matter what his ancestral tribe or identity, a view attributed to the Maggid of Mezeritch . The Mahzor of each rite is distinguished by hymns ( piyyutim ). The most important writers are Jose ben Jose , probably in the 4th-5th century CE, chiefly known for his compositions for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur ; Yanai ; Eleazar Kalir ,

448-469: Is divided, because the emigrant brings his own Minhag from his home", a problem that could be addressed by a uniquely American Minhag that would provide a synthesis that all could use. In the May 1847 issue of The Occident , Wise described how American Jews had come "from different countries, and, brought with them diverse Minhagim; and this circumstance must always prove a source of confusion and disagreement in

512-784: Is said to have written and edited, respectively. According to tradition, Ezra was also the author of the Books of Chronicles and the Book of Malachi . Ezra was instrumental in restoring the Jewish scriptures and religion to the people after the return from the Babylonian Captivity , and is a highly respected figure in Judaism . He is regarded as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church , which sets his feast day as July 13,

576-683: Is seen as a new Moses in this book. There is also another work, thought to be influenced by this one, known as the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra . Traditionally Judaism credits Ezra with establishing the Great Assembly of scholars and prophets, the forerunner of the Sanhedrin , as the authority on matters of religious law. The Great Assembly is credited with establishing numerous features of contemporary traditional Judaism in something like their present form, including Torah reading ,

640-724: The Shema Yisrael ("Hear O Israel") ( Deuteronomy 6:4 et seq ) and the Priestly Blessing ( Numbers 6:24-26), which are in the Torah . A set of eighteen (currently nineteen) blessings called the Shemoneh Esreh or the Amidah ( Hebrew , "standing [prayer]"), is traditionally ascribed to the Great Assembly in the time of Ezra , at the end of the biblical period. The name Shemoneh Esreh , literally "eighteen",

704-744: The Union Prayer Book in the 1890s, Wise had his own congregation abandon the siddur he had formulated and adopt the UPB , an act that Philipson described as "a remarkable act of self abnegation". Wise's example led many other congregations that had been using Minhag America to accept the switch to the Union Prayer Book . Siddur Other terms for prayer books are tefillot ( תְּפִלּוֹת‎ ) among Sephardi Jews , tefillah among German Jews , and tiklāl ( תכלאל ) among Yemenite Jews . The earliest parts of Jewish prayer books are

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768-574: The Amidah , and celebration of the feast of Purim . In Rabbinic traditions , Ezra is metaphorically referred to as the "flowers that appear on the earth" signifying the springtime in the national history of Judaism . A disciple of Baruch ben Neriah , he favored study of the Law over the reconstruction of the Temple and thus because of his studies, he did not join the first party returning to Jerusalem in

832-591: The Babylonian Talmud , Ezra the Scribe is said to have enacted ten standing laws and orders, which are as follows: In the Syrian village of Tedef , a synagogue said to be the place where Ezra stopped over has been venerated by Jews for centuries. Another tradition locates his tomb near Basra, Iraq. In Christian tradition, Ezra is considered to be the author of the book of Ezra and 1 and 2 Chronicles. Due to

896-538: The Kabbalistic sefirot of those names, while the Nusach Ashkenaz, as well as Western Sephardic and other Hasidic versions retain the older wording "חננו מאתך דעה בינה והשכל", "Graciously bestow upon us from You knowledge, understanding, and reason". In some cases, however, the order of the preparation for the Amidah is drastically different, reflecting the different halakhic and kabbalistic formulae that

960-633: The Talmud , soon after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem a formal version of the Amidah was adopted at a rabbinical council in Yavne , under the leadership of Gamaliel II and his colleagues. However, the precise wording was still left open. The order, general ideas, opening and closing lines were fixed. Most of the wording was left to the individual reader. It was not until several centuries later that

1024-559: The 'father of Judaism' in the Jewish tradition, has been a later literary invention. Those who argue against the historicity of Ezra argue that the presentation style of Ezra as a leader and lawgiver resembles that of Moses. There are also similarities between Ezra the priest-scribe (but not high priest ) and Nehemiah the secular governor on the one hand and Joshua and Zerubbabel on the other hand. The early 2nd-century BCE Jewish author Ben Sira praises Nehemiah, but makes no mention of Ezra. Richard Friedman argues in his book Who Wrote

1088-584: The 16th century and Seligman Baer in the 19th century; siddurim have also been published reflecting the views of Jacob Emden and the Vilna Gaon . There are differences among, amongst others, the Sephardic (including Spanish and Portuguese and Mizrachim ), Teimani (Yemenite), Hasidic , Ashkenazic (divided into German, Polish and other European and eastern-European rites), Bené Roma or Italkim , Romaniote (Greek, once extending to Turkey, Crimea and

1152-487: The Babylonian Exile (4 Ezra 3:1 / 2 Esdras 1:1), recounts the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's Temple . The central theological themes are "the question of theodicy, God's justness in the face of the triumph of the heathens over the pious, the course of world history in terms of the teaching of the four kingdoms, the function of the law, the eschatological judgment, the appearance on Earth of

1216-566: The Bible? that Ezra is the one who redacted the Torah, and in fact effectively produced the first Torah. It has been argued that even if one does not accept the documentary hypothesis , Ezra was instrumental in the start of the process of bringing the Torah together. One particular aspect of Ezra's story considered dubious historically is the account in Ezra 7 of his commission. According to it, Ezra

1280-638: The Book of Ezra still in use in Eastern Orthodox Church , he was also a High Priest. Rabbinic tradition supports the positions that Ezra was an ordinary member of the priesthood, and that he actually served as a Kohen Gadol . Ezra was living in Babylon when in the seventh year of Artaxerxes I , the Achaemenid emperor ( c.  457 BCE ), the emperor sent him to Jerusalem to teach

1344-595: The Jews . He uses the name Xerxes for Artaxerxes I reserving the name Artaxerxes for the later Artaxerxes II whom he identifies as the Ahasuerus of Esther, thus placing Ezra before the events of the book of Esther. Josephus' account of the deeds of Ezra derives entirely from 1 Esdras , which he cites as the 'Book of Ezra' in his numeration of the Hebrew bible. Contrariwise, Josephus does not appear to recognise Ezra-Nehemiah as

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1408-492: The King". The text does not specify whether the king in the passage refers to Artaxerxes I (465–424 BCE) or to Artaxerxes II (404–359 BCE). Most scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though some have difficulties with this assumption: Nehemiah and Ezra "seem to have no knowledge of each other; their missions seem to have no overlap". These difficulties have led many scholars to assume that Ezra arrived in

1472-593: The Moroccan siddurim which generally contain fewer Kabbalistic elements:) (Usually characterised by presence of Kabbalistic elements:) The Baladi Jews (from Arabic balad , country) follow the legal rulings of the Rambam ( Maimonides ) as codified in his work the Mishneh Torah . Rabbi Yiḥye Tsalaḥ (Maharits) revised this liturgy to end friction between traditionalists (who followed Rambam's rulings and

1536-568: The Sephardic diaspora by envoys and merchants in the late 17th century and 18th century. The "local rabbinic leadership resisted the new versions....Nevertheless, the new prayer books were widely accepted." As part of that process, the Shami modified their rites to accommodate the usages of the Ari to the maximum extent. The text of the Shami siddur now largely follows the Sephardic tradition, though

1600-481: The Sephardic halakhic tradition favoured leniency, and these principles are reflected in his siddurim. please note, these siddurim are also for the Edot Ha-mizrach communities. Some notable editions are: (Characterised by relative absence of Kabbalistic elements:) (Usually characterised by presence of Kabbalistic elements:) (Usually characterised by presence of Kabbalistic elements, except for

1664-450: The Sephardic piyyutim. Therefore, on holidays he would daven (recite the prescribed liturgical prayers) with Ashkenazim -- as opposed to his practice the rest of the year to daven with Sephardim -- in order to recite their piyyutim, which include many more earlier piyyutim. For this reason, many Hasidim (such Belz and Viznitz) recite many piyyutim on Yom Tov and the sabbaths of the four special portions preceding Passover in accordance with

1728-574: The Sephardic rite together with the usages of the Ari were published, both by actual Sephardic communities and for the use of Hasidim and other Ashkenazim interested in Kabbalah. In 1803, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi compiled an authoritative siddur from the sixty siddurim that he checked for compliance with Hebrew grammar, Jewish law, and Kabbalah: some call this siddur "Nusach Ari", and is used by Lubavitch Hasidim . Those that use Nusach HaAri claim that it

1792-470: The banks of the Tigris near Basra , Iraq , is a pilgrimage site for the local Marsh Arabs . Many Islamic scholars and modern Western academics do not view Uzer as "Ezra"; for example, Professor Gordon Darnell Newby associates Uzer with Enoch and Metatron . Scholars are divided over the chronological sequence of the activities of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra came to Jerusalem "in the seventh year of Artaxerxes

1856-520: The canonical books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The book of Ezra–Nehemiah was always written as one scroll. In late medieval Christian bibles, the single book was divided in two, as First and Second Ezra; and this division became Jewish practice in the first printed Hebrew bibles. Modern Hebrew Bibles call the two books Ezra and Nehemiah, as do other modern Bible translations. A few parts of the Book of Ezra (4:8 to 6:18 and 7:12–26) were written in Aramaic , and

1920-530: The community by enforcing the dissolution of the sinful marriages. He was described as exhorting the Israelite people to be sure to follow the Torah Law so as not to intermarry with people of foreign blood, a set of commandments described in the Torah. Some years later, Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah, a Jewish noble in his service, as governor in Jerusalem with the task of rebuilding the city walls. Once this task

1984-704: The daily psalm. The ark is opened for the duration of the song. Hasidim, though usually ethnically Ashkenazi, usually use liturgies with varying degrees of Sephardic influence, such as Nusach Sefard and Nusach Ari , in order to follow the order of the prayers set by Rabbi Isaac Luria , often called "Ari HaKadosh", or "The Holy Lion". Although the Ari himself was born Ashkenazi, he borrowed many elements from Sephardi and other traditions, since he felt that they followed Kabbalah and Halacha more faithfully. The Ari did not publish any siddur, but orally transmitted his particular usages to his students with interpretations and certain meditations. Many siddurim containing some form of

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2048-624: The early Second Temple period . In the Greek Septuagint , the name is rendered as Ésdrās ( Ἔσδρας ), from which the Latin name Esdras comes. His name is probably a shortened Aramaic translation of the Hebrew name עזריהו ‎ ( Azaryahu ), meaning " Yah helps". In the Hebrew Bible , or the Christian Old Testament , Ezra is an important figure in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah , which he

2112-538: The final hei (ה) of the Tetragrammaton. In some editions, there is a Psalm in the preparations for the Amidah that is printed in the outline of a menorah , and the worshipper meditates on this shape as he recites the psalm. While the Ashkenazic rite does contain some kabbalistic elements, such as acrostics and allusions to the sefirot ("To You, God, is the greatness [gedullah], and the might [gevurah], and

2176-472: The first time, I understood what it meant to be made in God's image. To think of God as a woman like myself, to see Her as both powerful and nurturing, to see Her imaged with a woman's body, with womb, with breasts – this was an experience of ultimate significance. Was this the relationship that men have had with God for all these millennia? How wonderful to gain access to those feelings and perceptions. Following in

2240-756: The footsteps of feminist prayerbooks, liberal prayerbooks tend increasingly to avoid male-specific words and pronouns, seeking that all references to God in translations be made in gender-neutral language. For example, the UK Liberal movement 's Siddur Lev Chadash (1995) does so, as does the UK Reform Movement 's Forms of Prayer (2008). In Mishkan T'filah , the American Reform Jewish prayer book released in 2007, references to God as “He” have been removed, and whenever Jewish patriarchs are named (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), so also are

2304-544: The founder of the payyetanic style, perhaps in the 7th century; Saadia Gaon ; the Spanish school, consisting of Joseph ibn Abitur (died in 970), ibn Gabirol , Isaac Gayyath , Moses ibn Ezra , Abraham ibn Ezra and Judah ha-Levi , Moses ben Nahman ( Nahmanides ) and Isaac Luria ; and the Ashkenazic and French schools including Shimon bar Yitzchak , Meir bar Yitzchak and many others. The Ari recited only early piyyutim, such as those by Eleazar Kalir , but did not like

2368-532: The glory [tiferet], longevity [netzach],..." etc.), these are not easily seen unless the reader is already initiated. It is notable that although many other traditions avoid using the poem Anim Zemiroth on the Sabbath, for fear that its holiness would be less appreciated due to the frequency of the Sabbath, the poem is usually sung by Ashkenazi congregations before concluding the Sabbath Musaf service with

2432-697: The heavenly Jerusalem, the Messianic Period , at the end of which the Messiah will die, the end of this world and the coming of the next, and the Last Judgment ." Ezra restores the law that was destroyed with the burning of the Temple in Jerusalem . He dictates 24 books for the public (i.e. the Hebrew Bible) and another 70 for the wise alone (70 unnamed revelatory works). At the end, he is taken up to heaven like Enoch and Elijah . Ezra

2496-522: The late 2nd/early 1st centuries BCE, preserves a Greek text of Ezra and a part of Nehemiah distinctly different from that of Ezra–Nehemiah – in particular it eliminates Nehemiah from the story and gives some of his deeds to Ezra, as well as telling events in a different order. Scholars are divided on whether it is based on Ezra–Nehemiah, or reflects an earlier literary stage before the combination of Ezra and Nehemiah accounts. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus deals with Ezra in his Antiquities of

2560-442: The laws of God to any who did not know them. The Book of Ezra describes how he led a group of Judean exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem where he is said to have enforced observance of the Torah. When Ezra discovered that Jewish men had been marrying foreign pagan women, he tore his garments in despair and confessed the sins of Israel before God, then braved the opposition of some of his countrymen to purify

2624-462: The majority in Hebrew , Ezra himself being skilled in both languages. According to the Hebrew Bible he was a descendant of Seraiah , the last High Priest to serve in Solomon's Temple , and a close relative of Joshua, the first High Priest of the Second Temple . He returned from Babylonian captivity and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem. According to 1 Esdras , a Greek translation of

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2688-437: The matriarchs (Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah). Yoreh writes about his work: "I think prayer is communal and private expression of hopes, fears, an appreciation of aesthetic beauty, good attributes. But that has nothing to do with God." There are also some Karaite , Samaritan and Sabbatean prayer books. Ezra Ezra ( fl. 480–440 BCE) was an important Jewish scribe ( sofer ) and priest ( kohen ) in

2752-457: The other into German (titled Gebet-Buch fur den offentlichen Gottesdienst und die Privat-Andacht – Prayer Book for Public and Private Worship). Largely retaining the format of the traditional siddur , Wise made modifications to reflect "the wants and demands of time", including changing the Hebrew word goel (redeemer) to geulah (redemption), reflecting a removal of references to a personal Messiah. The prayer book retained many portions of

2816-449: The practice of the Ari. However, in Sephardic communities which accepted most of the practices of the Ari, they never accepted the Ashkenazic piyyutim. Some siddurim have only prayers for weekdays; others have prayers for weekdays and Shabbat . Many have prayers for weekdays, Shabbat, and the three Biblical festivals , Sukkot (the feast of Tabernacles), Shavuot (the feast of weeks) and Pesach (Passover). The latter are referred to as

2880-606: The prayerbook was drawn up by Amram ben Sheshna of Sura Academy in Sawad , the Abbasid Caliphate , an area known as "Babylonia" in Jewish texts, about 850 CE ( Seder Rav ʿAmram ). Half a century later, Saadia Gaon , also of Sura, composed a siddur (see Siddur of Saadia Gaon ), in which the rubrical matter is in Judeo-Arabic . These were the basis of Simhah ben Samuel of Vitry 's 11th century Machzor Vitry , which

2944-542: The prayers began to be formally fixed. By the Middle Ages the texts of the prayers were nearly fixed, and in the form in which they are still used today, albeït with significant variations across communities. The Siddur was printed by Soncino in Italy as early as 1486, though a Siddur was first mass-distributed only in 1865. The Siddur began appearing in the vernacular as early as 1538. The first English translation

3008-672: The pronunciation, chant and customs are still Yemenite in flavour. All of the following are published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis : Prayer books edited by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and others: Kol Haneshamah Prayerbook series, ed. David Teutsch : Siddur Nashim , by Margaret Wenig and Naomi Janowitz in 1976, was the first Jewish prayer book to refer to God using female pronouns and imagery. Reconstructionist Rabbi Rebecca Alpert ( Reform Judaism , Winter 1991) commented: The experience of praying with Siddur Nashim ... transformed my relationship with God. For

3072-463: The reign of Cyrus . According to another opinion, he did not join the first party so as not to compete, even involuntarily, with Joshua ben Jozadak for the office of High Priest of Israel . According to Jewish tradition, Ezra was the writer of the Books of Chronicles , and is the same prophet known also as Malachi. There is a slight controversy within rabbinic sources as to whether or not Ezra had served as High Priest of Israel . According to

3136-597: The resistance of leaders of nearby peoples against the works of Nememia must have been confused with events during the days of Zerubbabel. Mary Joan Winn Leith in The Oxford History of the Biblical World believes that Ezra was a historical figure whose life was enhanced in the scripture and given a theological buildup. Gosta W. Ahlstrom argues the inconsistencies of the biblical tradition are insufficient to say that Ezra, with his central position as

3200-518: The same as that of his contemporary, Nehemiah . He is also venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church , which sets his feast day on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers . The canonical Book of Ezra and Book of Nehemiah are the oldest sources for the activity of Ezra, whereas many of the other books ascribed to Ezra (First Esdras, 3–6 Ezra) are later literary works dependent on

3264-476: The seventh year of the rule of Artaxerxes II, i.e. some 50 years after Nehemiah. This assumption would imply that the biblical account is not chronological. The last group of scholars regard "the seventh year" as a scribal error and hold that the two men were contemporaries. However, in Nehemiah 8, Nehemiah has Ezra read the Torah to the people. So, they clearly were contemporaries working together in Jerusalem at

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3328-523: The siddur as it developed in Yemen) and Kabbalists who followed the innovations of the Ari . This prayer book makes very few additions or changes and substantially follows the older Yemenite tradition as it had existed prior to this conflict. The Shami Jews (from Arabic ash-Sham , the north, referring to Palestine or Damascus ) represent those who accepted the Sephardic rite, after being exposed to new inexpensive, typeset prayer books brought from Israel and

3392-440: The southern Italian peninsula) and also Persian , Kurdish , Bukharian , Georgian , Mountain Jewish , Ethiopian and Cochin-Jewish liturgies. Most of these are slight differences in the wording of the prayers; for instance, Oriental Sephardic and some Hasidic prayer books state "חננו מאתך חכמה בינה ודעת", "Graciously bestow upon us from You wisdom ( ḥochmah ), understanding ( binah ) and knowledge ( daat )", in allusion to

3456-402: The strong similarity between the books of Malachi and Ezra, some Christian traditions adopt the Jewish view that Ezra was Malachi; Jerome was one prominent Christian who held this view. Early Christian writers occasionally cited Ezra as author of the apocalyptic books attributed to him. Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata referred to Ezra as an example of prophetic inspiration, quoting

3520-560: The time the wall and the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt in contrast to the previously stated viewpoint. There is a much clearer problem with the timeline in the story in Ezra 4, that tells of a letter that was send to Artaxerces stopping the first attempt to rebuild the temple (which started during the reign of Cyrus and then restarting in the second year of Darius, in 521 BCE). Clearly no such letter could have been sent to Artaxerxes, as he only became king in 465 BCE, so apparently some events during

3584-702: The title Minhag America was deliberately intended to show that his prayer book was superseding the " Minhag Ashkenaz ", " Minhag Sefard " and " Minhag Polin " (the German, Ḥassidic , and Polish traditions, respectively) that immigrants to the United States had arrived with, and was intended to become a vernacular for prayer that they could all share. In 1857, he published in Cincinnati a pair of prayer books titled Minhag America, T'fillot B'nai Yeshurun , both with Hebrew text, and one translated into English and

3648-439: The traditional Hebrew language text, while adding concise and accurate translations in English. Minhag America eliminated calls for a return to Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, the reinstitution of sacrifices and the restoration of the priesthood and the Davidic dynasty . References to resurrection were changed to reflect a spiritual immortality. When the Central Conference of American Rabbis released

3712-400: The various Synagogues" and that the need to create a new Minhag was to "bring unity among... all the American Synagogues" and to "uphold the Word of the Living God... in the free country of America", without "the desire for innovation, nor the thirst for fame, nor a giddy disposition for reform". In his 1919 work Centenary Papers and Others , Rabbi David Philipson describes how Wise's use of

3776-502: The various scholars relied on in assembling their prayer books, as well as the minhagim , or customs, or their locales. Some forms of the Sephardic rite are considered to be very overtly kabbalistic , depending on how far they reflect the ritual of Isaac Luria (see Lurianic Kabbalah ). This is partly because the Tetragrammaton frequently appears with varying vowel points beneath the letters (unpronounced, but to be meditated upon) and different Names of God appear in small print within

3840-425: Was based on the ideas of his teacher, Rashi . Another formulation of the prayers was that appended by Maimonides to the Book of Love in his Mishneh Torah : this forms the basis of the Yemenite liturgy , and has had some influence on other rites. From this point forward all Jewish prayerbooks had the same basic order and contents. Two authoritative versions of the Ashkenazi siddur were those of Shabbetai Sofer in

3904-421: Was buried "in a magnificent manner in Jerusalem." If the tradition that Ezra wrote under the pen name Malachi is correct, then he was probably buried in the Tomb of the Prophets , the traditional resting place of Malachi , along with two other prophets from Ezra's lifetime, Haggai and Zechariah . However, according to archeological research, these tombs date from the 1 century BC. 1 Esdras , probably from

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3968-469: Was completed, Nehemiah had Ezra read the Torah to the assembled Israelites and the people and priests entered into a covenant to keep the law and separate themselves from all other peoples. Several traditions have developed over his place of burial. One tradition says that he is buried in Ezra's Tomb near Basra , Iraq while another tradition alleges that he is buried in Tadef near Aleppo in northern Syria . According to Josephus , Ezra died and

4032-481: Was given truly exalted status by the king: he was seemingly put in charge of the entire western half of the Persian Empire , a position apparently above even the level of the satraps (regional governors). Ezra was given vast hoards of treasure to take with him to Jerusalem as well as a letter where the king seemingly acknowledges the sovereignty of the God of Israel. Yet, his actions in the story do not appear to be that of someone with near unlimited government power, and

4096-449: Was published in London in 1738 by an author writing under the pseudonym Gamaliel ben Pedahzur; a different translation was released in the United States in 1837. Readings from the Torah (five books of Moses) and the Nevi'im ("Prophets") form part of the prayer services. To this framework various Jewish sages added, from time to time, various prayers, and, for festivals especially, numerous hymns. The earliest existing codification of

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