Jews love their books.

I just got back from the book fair - it's National Book Week in Israel, and all of the major cities have ENORMOUS book fairs all week. Book Week started yesterday, and Haaretz (one of the newspapers) had famous Israeli authors submit their articles for the headline news. So why did I go to this book fair?

1. I love books. Not just reading them, but smelling them, feeling them.... Dad, I definitely got this from you. Even though 99.9% of the books there were Hebrew fiction and nonfiction that I wasn't intending to buy, it was such a pleasure just to walk through the kiosks in the park and revel in the thousands of books surrounding me.

2. I wanted to see if I could find the chapter of Talmud that we're studying in my class - our teacher said that in some stores, it would be available in its own binding and it'd be pretty inexpensive. I was expecting to see more sifrei kodesh at this fair (holy books, like siddurim - prayer books, volumes of Talmud, and the Tanakh - Bible) but most of the books were secular - I guess there's already enough religious bookstores in Jerusalem. Alas, Perek (chapter) "Eilu Metziot" was not to be found, but it did give me a chance to practice my Hebrew in asking for it.

3. I'd like to explore as many different events and happenings as I have the time and energy for while I'm here, especially things that don't attract quite as many tourists. Tomorrow morning, however, I'm going to Mt. Scopus with a couple of Pardes students to sift through dirt and rubble from the Temple Mount to look for artifacts! My roommate Josh did it last summer and said it was a really neat experience, and most everyone finds something. Apparently there's a mosque being build under the Temple Mount, and all of the dirt that gets displaced finds its way here so that volunteers can help with the project.

So in the end, it was probably good that there weren't many English books, because I don't think I have the room in my suitcase for many more. I already bought a new siddur, a Hebrew-only Tanakh, and a Jastrow Talmud dictionary - a must-have for the upcoming rabbinical school student. The siddur, by the way, is the Koren-Sacks siddur. For those of you that are nerds and have heard of this wonderful creation, you know how awesome it is. For those that haven't, let me enumerate its values:

1. First of all, the siddur is called "Koren-Sacks" because it's published by the Koren publishing company in Jerusalem, well known for quality siddurim and Bibles. The Sacks part comes from Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of England, who translated the prayers and wrote all of the commentary and guides in English at the beginning and end. His commentary is succinct and beautiful, offering insights on the origins of the prayers, their general thems, or specific verses that are particularly challenging or encouraging. His commentary, while modern, is timeless, addressing the concerns that we have always had with prayer - how do I pray when I'm not sure if I understand G-d and G-d's will? How do I connect my own unique thoughts and emotions to a fixed and seemingly rigid liturgy? How do I find new meaning in prayers that have become rote? And of course, how do I pray in a language that I barely understand? Rabbi Sacks is there with you, holding your hand throughout the siddur and offering nudges in the right direction.

2. The siddur itself is beautiful. The cover is gray and dark red, and it has two ribbon page markers - very helpful when it's over 1000 pages long, and you have to find the same beginnings over and over. The fonts, however, are what I love most - most of the Hebrew text is in a block, angular font that seems both ancient and new simultaneously, and the words seem to float off the pages. I read that in a review and scoffed, but once I got the siddur, I definitely see what the person meant - see for yourself!

3. Probably the most striking feature of the Koren-Sacks siddur is that the Hebrew is on the left hand page while the English is on the right. This may not seem like a huge deal, but it's in contrast to the majority of English-Hebrew siddurim available. In the others, the Hebrew and English text converge in the middle, but in this siddur, both lines flow out to the edges of the page. Also, this means that the beginnings of the Hebrew and English lines generally line up or are near each other, so it's a lot easier to go back and forth between the languages if you like to know what you're saying and learn the Hebrew words as you daven (pray).

4. Another notable fact is that it's considered a Zionist siddur. I'm not going to get into politics, but the siddur is designed for English speakers in Israel, although it can certainly be used in the Diaspora. It contains prayers for Israel's soldiers, insertions for blessings to say in the land of Israel (like "morid hatal" in the Amidah), and other unique features - I'm still trying to figure out what all of them are, and which apply to me while I'm here.

I've been using this siddur for davening Shacharit (the morning service) for the past week, and every time I open it, I still get excited - its physical beauty and spiritual insights definitely enhance my prayers. There are, however, a couple of things that jarred me at first. It's endorsed by the Orthodox Union, so I'm recognizing the places where the Conservative movement's Siddur Sim Shalom adapted some of the prayers. While the majority of the text is the same, the Birchot HaShachar (15 morning blessings thanking G-d for giving me strength, clothing the naked, giving sight to the blind, etc) are a bit different. The traditional siddur says things like "Blessed are you....for not making me a non-Jew/slave/woman (or for women, 'making me according to your will'), while Sim Shalom made all of these statements positive rather than negative: "Blessed are you... for making me a Jew/free/in your image." It's very difficult to stomach saying these negative statements, especially as my first words of prayer, so I'm inserting the positive language, and it feels much more natural. It also flows much more easily with the structure of the rest of the blessings. While Rabbi Sacks writes that these were not meant to introduce hierarchies, they sure sound like it, so I'm sticking with what I know and what I feel comfortable with. There's also another line in the Aleinu that I'm not used to, which makes very strong statements about the chosenness of the Jewish people, and it's theologically challenging, so I'm leaving it out for now. Eventually, I'll try to struggle with this line and see where it brings me.

Anyway, thanks for reading this insanely long bookish post. I don't know if any of you are actually interested in my siddur commentary one bit, but let me know if you'd like to know more. Shabbat shalom, and have a wonderful weekend!