A siddur is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word siddur comes from the Hebrew root ס־ד־ר, meaning 'order.'
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October.
Kol Nidre is an Aramaic declaration which begins Yom Kippur services in the synagogue. Strictly speaking, it is not a prayer, even though it is commonly spoken of as if it were a prayer. This declaration and its ceremonial accompaniment have been charged with emotional undertones since the medieval period, creating a dramatic introduction to Yom Kippur on what is often dubbed "Kol Nidrei night", with the entire Yom Kippur evening service popularly called Kol Nidrei.
Kiddush, lit. 'sanctification', is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Additionally, the word refers to a small repast held on Shabbat or festival mornings after the prayer services and before the meal.
In Judaism, the High Holy Days, also known as High Holidays or Days of Awe consist of:
- strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur ;
- by extension, the period of ten days including those holidays, known also as the Ten Days of Repentance ; or,
- by a further extension, the entire 40-day penitential period in the Jewish year from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur, traditionally taken to represent the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai before coming down with the second ("replacement") set of the Tablets of Stone.
Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the few centuries following the forced expulsion of unconverted Jews from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497. They should therefore be distinguished both from the descendants of those expelled in 1492 and from the present-day Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal.
Marc D. Angel is an Open Orthodox rabbi and author, Rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York City, a position he has held since 1969.
The baqashot are a collection of supplications, songs, and prayers that have been sung by the Sephardic Syrian, Moroccan, and Turkish Jewish communities for centuries each week on Shabbat mornings from the early hours of the morning until dawn. They are usually recited during the weeks of winter, from the Jewish festival of Sukkot through Purim, when the nights are much longer. The baqashot services can last for three to four hours. The Ades Synagogue in Jerusalem is the center of the Syrian practice today, and communities in Ashdod and Montreal are the center of the Moroccan practice.
Syrian Jews are Jews who live in the region of the modern state of Syria, and their descendants born outside Syria. Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: from the Jews who inhabited the region of today's Syria from ancient times, and sometimes classified as Mizrahi Jews ; and from the Sephardi Jews who fled to Syria after the Alhambra Decree forced the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.
Congregation Mikveh Israel, is a Sephardic Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 44 North Fourth Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The congregation traces its history from 1740. Mikveh Israel is a Spanish and Portuguese congregation that follows the rite of the Amsterdam esnoga. It is the oldest synagogue in Philadelphia, and the longest running in the United States.
The Congregation Shearith Israel, often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 2 West 70th Street, at Central Park West, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States.
The history of the Jews in Iceland starts in 1625. In 2018, around 250 Jews were living in Iceland. They often gather to celebrate the Jewish holidays. The first rabbi to be permanently located in Iceland since 1918 moved to the country in 2018.
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and has one of the largest Jewish communities in the state.
Congregation Mickve Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 20 East Gordon Street, Monterey Square, in Savannah, Georgia, in the United States. The site also contains a Jewish history museum.
Rosh Hashanah is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah. It is the first of the High Holy Days, as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summer/early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah begins ten days of penitence culminating in Yom Kippur, as well as beginning the cycle of autumnal religious festivals running through Sukkot which end on Shemini Atzeret in Israel and Simchat Torah everywhere else.
Rabbi David Abraham Jessurun Cardozo was a Dutch-born American Sephardic Rabbi who served as assistant minister of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York City, the oldest synagogue in the United States and was the first rabbi to conduct High Holidays services in Spain since the Alhambra Decree of 1492 expelled Jews from that country.
Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation (SBH) is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, in the United States, that practices in the Sephardic tradition.
Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, also called The Sephardic Temple, is an unaffiliated Jewish congregation and synagogue that adopts Sephardi nusach, located at 10500 Wilshire Boulevard, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, in the United States. Established on February 1, 1920 as the "Sephardic Community of Los Angeles", the congregation exists today as the merger of three major Sephardic organizations with approximately 600 member families.
The Lauderdale Road Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, more commonly called the Lauderdale Road Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Maida Vale on Lauderdale Road in the City of Westminster, West London, England, in the United Kingdom.
Congregation Shearith Israel is a historic Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 5835 Park Heights Avenue, in Park Heights, northwest Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States.
