A Guide to Jewish Prayer

Rating:
Summary: excellent guide
Review: As most books of Even-Israel (or Steinsaltz) this is a highly readable book, clearly explaining the traditions and regulations of prayer. Read it once to get a basic grip, and then keep it as a reference work.

Rating:
Summary: Accessible
Review: Our Talmud group studied from Rabbi Steinsaltz's translations. He is a tremendous scholar, but writes accessibly for the layperson. Where some rabbis of this stature are cool and arrogant, R. Steinsaltz is warm. Most importantly, he makes *you* feel like a scholar, even if you don't read a bit of Hebrew.

--Yitzhak Ya'akov ben Yosef

Rating:
Summary: Steinsaltz is a Great Gift to us All
Review: The above reviewer spoke for me. I'll only add that for beginners or those not steeped in Judaica, or for those not Jewish, who want to get his work, I recommend starting with "The Thirteenth Petalled Rose." It's short, exquisite and an excellent introduction to this also great book

Rating:
Summary: A help to better prayer
Review: There are a number of good books on the subject of Jewish Prayer. Seth Kadish's ' Kavvana' perhaps does most to explain the actual problems a Jew faces in praying in the proper way. There are books by Haim Donin, by Rabbi Munk who provides great insight into the meaning of the prayers, by many others. Rabbi Steinsaltz is a great Talmid Chacham and his work provides a most detailed explanation of the meaning of prayer and of various individual prayers. I have read parts of the work and learned from them . I highly recommend this work for all those who would know its meaning in a richer way.

Rating:
Summary: For those who wonder why
Review: This is a largely a how-to book written by a Jew for primarily a Jewish audience. The primariy focus is on the order of prayer as used through the use of a Siddur. I found the background to why certain traditions exist interesting (my primary motive for reading it), but found the many chapters devoted to what order certain aspects are performed on what occasions taxing. In fairness, this is primarily because I'm not Jewish, not because of the writing. However, for the Jewish person wondering why they do certain things at certain times, this book will prove to be very educating.

I did find the discussion of how the certain traditions relate to the Bible or the Torah a bit lacking, since the text largely is devoted to syntax and order of the tradition, not the reasons. In summation, for a Jewish reader, this book will prove to be extremely helpful for your studies. For the non-Jewish reader, unless you are scholarly this may not be the best choice for you.