Koren’s New Siddur
The Hebrew word Siddur means “order.” It is the Jewish prayer book designed for ordinary weekdays and Shabbat. Its purpose is to give Jewish worship a regular order, language, and structure. It includes biblical passages, blessings, the Shema, the Amidah, Psalms, and other writings, enabling individuals and communities to pray and learn within a shared framework.
A Siddur does not merely tell Jews what words to say. Its primary purpose is to help congregants understand what they are saying and why: the meaning of what the Siddur contains, their biblical and historical sources, and why ancestors suggested they read them.
The Machzor is the prayer book used for the Jewish festivals, especially Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Its name means “cycle.” Because the holidays have special prayers, poems (piyyutim), biblical readings, and religious and historical themes, the Machzor is generally larger and more specialized than the Siddur. Its purpose is to guide worshippers through the distinctive spiritual concerns of the holidays—for example, repentance and self-examination on Yom Kippur, divine sovereignty and judgment on Rosh Hashanah, freedom on Passover, and revelation of the Torah on Shavuot.
There was no single day on which these books suddenly appeared. They developed gradually.
The first fixed structure of Jewish prayer developed after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, with important traditions attributed to earlier times. In prior periods, prayers were transmitted orally and in separate collections.
The earliest surviving organized prayer-book tradition is associated with the Geonic period, particularly the Seder Rav Amram Gaon, compiled in the ninth century of the Common Era, and the Siddur of Saadia Gaon, compiled in the tenth century. The Machzor, as a more specialized collection of festival prayers and liturgical poems, developed in the medieval period. The modern printed Siddur and Machzor came much later, after the invention and spread of printing.
Koren Publishers Jerusalem is an Israeli publisher specializing in Jewish religious, biblical, and scholarly works. It was founded by the master typographer Eliyahu Koren, whose first major achievement was the Koren Tanakh. Koren emphasizes three closely connected goals: textual accuracy, intellectual seriousness, and thoughtful design.
The company explains that Eliyahu Koren paid extraordinary attention to the appearance and placement of every Hebrew letter and word. Its first Koren Siddur appeared in 1981, while its Mahzorim for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur had appeared earlier, in 1971.
Koren’s underlying idea was important: the physical design of a sacred text can affect how people read and understand it. A prayer book should not merely contain the correct words; its typography and arrangement should help the worshipper concentrate on their meaning.
Eliyahu Koren therefore designed a new Hebrew typeface and arranged the prayers so that the visual form followed the text’s meaning and structure. The goal, in Koren’s own description, was to encourage the worshipper to involve both “mind and heart” in prayer. The Koren Siddur was therefore intended to make prayer easier to read, follow, and understand, rather than presenting Hebrew simply as uninterrupted blocks of print.
This was a significant innovation. Koren treated typography as part of interpretation: the way a sentence, paragraph, or prayer appears on the page can help reveal its meaning.
The newly renewed 2026 Koren Siddur, all-Hebrew, contains several additions and features that Koren says were incorporated into the revised Siddur. These include: Prayers and Torah readings for the festivals. Ma’ariv for the conclusion of Shabbat in editions where specified. The Five Megillot. Tehillim (Psalms). An extensive halakhic guide. Introductions to major prayers. Explanations of the origins of important prayers. Additional Hebrew pronunciation and reading marks, including kamatz katan, sh’va na, pataḥ ganuv, and meteg. A prayer for missing soldiers. And a redesigned binding and durable Bible paper.
The most important additions are the introductions and explanations of the origins of key prayers. Traditional Siddurim often give the worshipper the text to recite but offer relatively little help in answering questions such as “What is this prayer about?” When and why was it composed? What biblical or rabbinic ideas does it express? Why is it located at this particular point in the service? How did it become part of Jewish worship?
Koren’s newer approach therefore moves the Siddur beyond being merely a book of prayers. It also serves as a guide to understanding prayer and Jewish history.
