The Koren Siddur (Hebrew and English Edition)

Despite having gone to a Jewish school, I never really understood the complexities behind the architecture of the Siddur. After reading Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sachs’ introduction, I now understand the importance of the structure of prayer as outlined in the siddur. His insite truly has renewed my connection to praying the way our sages have been doing for millennia. I bought the hard cover compact version, which is a perfect size for daily use and travel. I really like how I can hold the siddur with one hand comfortably. The paper is a bit thin and sometimes makes it difficult to turn pages, but it’ll probably become easier with time. The new, original font which is supossed to be outstanding is not so noticeably different from other fonts I have seen in other siddurim. I like that the Hebrew text is on the left page and the English translation is on the right page, normally it is the other way around on other siddurim.

Has great introductory material, notes, and guides on what to do. For those wondering this Siddur isn't transliterated like the Artscroll Seif edition. Not a big deal for me I can read Hebrew. The layout is nice and easy on the eyes. The only feature I don't particularly care for (although not enough to give it a lower rating) is the Koren font. A lot of people say they like it but I actually think it's distracting. I'll get used to it as time goes on.

I have davened with the Artscroll siddur since I became religious almost 9 years ago, and I was looking for a change. The Artscroll is a classic for many good reasons, but I've read most of the commentary already. In the last year or so, I've started to look into more Religious Zionist type works, and they really resonate with me. As I see it, Religious Zionism can be mostly distilled to the following idea: the establishment of the State of Israel was an event that has extremely important implications for Judaism. More generally, we see from this that Judaism (at least in some respects) must tailor itself to the current day. If we only look back at a static Judaism, we lose the significance of what Hashem has done for us in our era and negate the fact that we serve to offer any contribution at all. Why am I saying all of this? Well, I believe that the Koren Sacks Siddur is a siddur for those who believe what I have said above. There is a great importance in Judaism in looking to previous generations for guidance in what to do today, but that doesn't mean we need to live as if we were in those generations. We need to be authentically Jewish, but in today's world. The wonderful translation from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is an example of this. The way he translates the davening is quite poetic and gives new and fresh meaning to the words we say every day. His commentary draws on classic sources, but they also draw from more contemporary sources and events as well. I've found the commentary to be quite uplifting and to give insights that I've never seen before. For those of you who have use Artscroll, Koren siddurs have the Hebrew on the left page and English on the right (opposite of Artscroll), so that takes some getting used to. After a couple of days, I was fine. I gave the siddur 4/5 stars because there are a few places where the siddur's nusach is different from the Artscroll, and it really confused me. For example, I was at a bris yesterday, and the last couple of paragraphs simply aren't in the Koren siddur. I'm not sure why that is the case, but it bothered me. In the reviews for the paperback version, some people complained about the font size on the compact size being too small, but I haven't found that to be a problem. The hardcover version actually lays somewhat flat, so you don't always need something to hold the pages down (which is great). All in all, if you're looking to try a new siddur, go for it!

A+ Koren is the best!

Easy reading

15 year old son loves!

Excellent

Elegant, flawless printing. Additional detailing valuable

good addition to the Koren Sacks library

A great and necessary siddur to have at home!

A lovely siddur. Has the Hebrew on the left and the English translation on the right- along with the Hebrew word that starts the prayer on the left of the side, at the beginning of the English translation, as well as the Hebrew sentences being directly lined up next to the equivalent English sentence/translation- which helps someone that isn't that confident reading Hebrew to follow the English translation of what is being said in Hebrew. The siddur also comes with a bookmark, which is of course quite handy if you want to keep a page to look at later. The siddur also does a good job at explaining the reasons for some prayers and customs; this is usually explained at the bottom of the page. But then again, this is my first siddur, so I guess I wouldn't have anything to compare it to...However, the only other siddurs that I have been recommended besides Koren Sacks are Artscroll ones.

The book is complete, elegant and very compact, so ideal for travelling. The fonts may be a bit small and hard to ready if you have any kind of eye problems. It also has nice conceptual intro by Rabbi Sacks that is a little book by itself.