Best jewish prayer books according to redditors
We found 10 Reddit comments discussing the best jewish prayer books. We ranked the 7 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 10 Reddit comments discussing the best jewish prayer books. We ranked the 7 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
You should read the Torah, but it won't quite teach you how to pray----though a lot of our prayers come from there as well as from Psalms and other books in the Bible. :)
There's a few things you could do. You could pick a daily prayer from a siddur and focus just on making that one prayer part of your practice. For ex. the bed-time Shema.
It might take time for you to "feel" it. It takes time. Prayer is ultimately a meditative practice. Give yourself a few quiet moments to just concentrate on the text you're going to read. Try to pay attention for those couple minutes, on the words, on your body, your thoughts and intent.
You should probably check out the local community and stop by for Shabbat. Communal settings definitely add to the prayer experience. Everyone will suggest you visit a Chabad at some point. I suppose I won't be the exception. They are experts at doing outreach and if they do anything right it's modeling a joyful traditional experience. Of course, Chabad will be very different than what you're used to------but don't get scared they won't judge you or try to brainwash you.
Other options: You could check out the various pages on prayer from the movements. (e.g. Reform Judaism's website) My personal favorite, though it may be a bit conservative for your taste is the independent NY based Mechon Hadar.
Note: On Jewish prayerbooks, they differ a bit depending on the movement. You can probably read articles on this. As for what to use at home. You could see if a congregation will lend you a siddur. You could buy one too. Here's links to old versions of both the Reform & Conservative movements' siddurim.
I'm not a big fan of the transliteration used in these siddur but they do have English, Hebrew with vowels, and transliteration - as you requested:
Siddur Transliterated Linear - Sabbath and Festivals - Seif Edition - Nusach Ashkenaz (English and Hebrew Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1578191505/
And also:
Siddur: Transliterated Linear, Weekday https://www.amazon.com/dp/1578191513/
There's this book if you're interested
I have the Koren siddur (also made by/with Rabbi Sacks) and it is my favorite and one that I use daily out of the 4 versions that I own. Here is a guide with more info on some differences
This book (as the person linked before me) is incredibly good. It has pretty much all the information you need to start out. Cannot recommend it enough.
https://www.amazon.com/Siddur-Tehillat-Hashem-Annotated-Translation/dp/0826601529 we had these in 5th grade when I started Hebrew Day School and was just getting into davening daily. It has English, Hebrew, transliterations, and directions for standing, bowing, sitting, etc. Really nice comprehensive siddur.
As you already know, Jews do not believe God has three personae or hypostases, but perhaps if you would do a little research instead of speaking on their behalf as you do for Trinitarians you would find out they do believe God has ten sefirot, and "[the Infinite] is they and they are It" (Zohar 3:70a). In the Siddur Tehillat, these words are attributed to Elijah: "inasmuch as You are within them, whoever separates one from another of these ten sefirot, it is considered as if he had effected a separation in You." The Jews must be even worse polytheists than the Trinitarians, or at least as bad, insofar as Kabbalistic texts speak of "three hidden lights" in the "root of all roots."
The Arians, needless to say, believe in one God also.
Artscroll Transliterated Daily Siddur
Artscroll Sabbath & Festival Transliterated Siddur
I'm sure there are others as well.
The Book of Jewish Values: A Day-by-Day Guide to Ethical Living by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin might fit what you're thinking of? There are also a few basic-level mussar books that have daily readings, but mussar should really be done with a teacher, at least at first.
I also found this, this, and this on amazon, but I haven't read these and so can't vouch for them.
Also, if you're willing to hear a more orthodox perspective, ArtScroll has a whole selection of daily learning and inspirationals.
http://www.amazon.com/Koren-Talpiot-Siddur-Prayerbook-Instructions/dp/9653011480/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1323071261&sr=8-3
This is baller. All my friends love it.