A Guide to Jewish Prayer

One of the world's most famous and respected rabbis has given us the one guide we need to practice Jewish prayer and understand the prayer book.

From the origins and meaning of prayer to a step-by-step explanation of the daily services to the reason you're not supposed to chat with your friends during the service, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz answers many of the questions likely to arise about Jewish prayer.  Here are chapters on daily prayer; Sabbath prayer; prayer services for the holidays; the yearly cycle of synagogue Bible readings; the history and make-up of the synagogue; the different prayer rites for Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Yemenites, and other cultural/geographic groupings; the role of the rabbi and the cantor in the synagogue; and the role of music in the service.

The book also contains a glossary, a bibliography, and biographical sketches of the rabbis who were instrumental in creating and ordering the prayers through the ages.

Rabbi Steinsaltz's guide is an essential volume both for the newcomer to Jewish prayer and for those who have been engaged in prayer for years.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz is internationally renowned as the author of a landmark commentary on the Talmud, twenty-two volumes of which have been published in English by Random House.  He is also the author of many books of Jewish thought, among them The Thirteen-Petalled Rose and, most recently, Simple Words.  Rabbi Steinsaltz lectures throughout the world and has been a resident scholar at both Yale University and the Institute for Advanced Study.  He lives in Israel with his family.