The Standard Prayer Book

The Standard Prayer Book, commonly called Singer's Prayer Book after its translator Simeon Singer, a British rabbi, is an English translation of the traditional Ashkenazi Jewish daily and Sabbath liturgy first published in 1890 and reprinted here from a 1915 edition. As a primary liturgical text it is the strongest possible source for what the traditional siddur itself contains and says, translated for English speaking congregations rather than analyzed from outside. Its limit is that it is over a century old, so its English renderings reflect Victorian and Edwardian translation conventions rather than a modern idiom, and the specific prayer texts and customs of any single congregation can vary from this standardized version, so it should be read as documenting the traditional liturgy rather than one particular community's exact current practice.