Praying is par excellence the most used way for man to relate to God and is as old as humanity itself. However, the Torah, the book that marks the path of how man relates to God, does not have a fixed and structured pattern for praying to Him. Some sages held that the Torah ordered a person to turn to God daily to offer Him the “service of the heart” (avodah shebalev), while others thought that one should pray only in case of some misfortune. In any case, the Torah does not specify any fixed time or the content of the prayers. Most people prayed when the need arose, in times of misfortune or to ask God for something specific.

At the beginning of the Second Temple period, between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE, the rabbis of the Great Assembly managed to define and regularize the text of the prayers. They coined a standardized version of the basic prayers and blessings. That structure, initially known simply as Tefilah, developed into what we know today as the Amidah (standing prayer), also called Shemoneh Esreh (eighteen blessings). The Amidah has a very well-defined structure, which has been preserved unchanged ever since. Only on Shabbat and on holidays, including Yom Kippur, is this structure modified, with some of the blessings being eliminated.

In addition to having established a fixed content, the sages of the Great Assembly established the times and order for the religious services. These times were linked to those of the sacrifices in the Temple. Thus, Shacharit, the morning prayer, was done at the same time as the daily morning sacrifice (Tamid). Minhah in turn coincided with the afternoon sacrifice and Maariv with the conclusion of the Temple rituals in the evening. Since it was customary to make additional sacrifices on holidays, the Musaf prayer was added for these occasions. The requirement to pray in community, that is, to pray with a minyan, also originates from that time. The prayer was led by one person, the Sheliach Tzibur, who knew the prayer practically by heart, he would say it out loud and the others would follow him. Remember that at that time there were no printed books as we have today. The final structure of the prayers was defined only after the destruction of the Second Temple. The Sanhedrin introduced changes to adapt to the new reality after the catastrophe. All these prayers were arranged in a book, the Siddur.

The Siddur, of which there are now more than 100 different versions, is not a completely finished work, nor is it the work of a few, but rather contains the contributions of each generation that has added its own prayers full of wisdom and emotion. The Siddur is without a doubt the most popular book in Judaism. Other books such as the Tanach and the Talmud, which are more focused on being studied, are perhaps less widely distributed than the Siddur, which is known and used daily by practically everyone. The Siddur is without a doubt the biggest “best seller” within Judaism.

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: “A Guide To Jewish Prayer” by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.