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Siddur:
The Siddur is a traditional holy Jewish prayer book with several variations. It typically contains the three daily prayers and prayers for Shabbat, Rosh-Chodesh and the festivals. “Siddur” means “order,” and within the book we find our prayers in their proper and fixed order. Sometimes, for the sake of convenience, the Shabbat and Rosh-Chodesh prayers may be printed in a separate volume. The prayers for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are usually printed in separate volumes, called machzor (“cycle”). Sometimes the prayers for the Three Festivals (Shalosh Regalim) — Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot — may be printed in separate volumes. The oldest known Siddur prayer book that has come down to us is that of Rav Amram Gaon, Head of the Yeshiva of Sura, in Babylon, over 1100 years ago. He had prepared it at the request of the Jews of Barcelona, Spain. It contains the arrangements of the prayers for the entire year, including also laws concerning prayer and customs. It was used not only by the Jews of Spain, but also in France and Germany, and was, in fact, the standard prayer-book for all Jewish communities. Seder Rav Amram Gaon remained in handwritten form for about 1000 years, until it was printed for the first time in Warsaw in the year 1865.