The Siddur of the Alter Rebbe

The Siddur of the Alter Rebbe is the prayer book (siddur) compiled by the Alter Rebbe and first printed in 1803 in the city of Shklov. It was subsequently printed twice more in Kopust, and dozens of additional times in various editions — some closer to the original and some less so. The widely used Siddur Torah Ohr, standard in Chabad communities today, is a siddur closely based on the Alter Rebbe's original, with citations and source references added.

The Alter Rebbe's intention in compiling the siddur was that it serve as a prayer book equally accessible to every soul (shaveh l'chol nefesh) — suitable for straightforward, sincere prayer. Nevertheless, important halachic rulings are woven in throughout, some of which represent significant legal innovations.

The Rebbe defined the purpose of these halachic insertions in one of his letters:

1. Halachic rulings, stated with extreme brevity, on matters that arise regularly and are relevant to everyone — material that must be readily at hand even when the Shulchan Aruch is not on one's table at that moment. 2. Individual practices (not rulings) relating to the recitation of a specific prayer or blessing.

Compiling the Text

The Alter Rebbe devoted many years to composing and refining the text of the siddur.

The Tzemach Tzedek testified about this process that "when he compiled the siddur, sixty siddurim of different textual traditions were before him, and from all of them he clarified and refined the text of his own siddur."

The Rebbe Rashab wrote: "As is known, he devoted twenty years to the text, and each year he would arrange a new version — until, by the twentieth time, it emerged clarified, refined, and purified."

The First Printing

Rabbi Avraham Dovid Lavut, in his introduction to Sha'ar HaKollel, states: "This siddur was first printed during his lifetime in the year 1803 in Shklov."

In Sefer HaSichos 5704 (1944), the Rebbe notes that "the Alter Rebbe's siddur was first printed in Shklov in 1803 — but it appears that records of the textual changes existed even earlier, since as far back as 1798 the government had already granted the Chassidim permission to pray according to their own text."

No copy of the 1803 Shklov printing has come down to us, and no copy survives of either of the two Kopust printings either.

Regarding this, the Rebbe Rashab wrote: "The first-edition siddur I have not obtained, despite considerable effort — though I would estimate that it is certainly to be found in the library in Petersburg."

In recent years, however, a copy of the first Shklov printing of 1803 was discovered.

See Also

• Siddur Im Da'ach
• Siddur Torah Ohr
• Siddur Rostov
• Siddur Tehillas Hashem
• Siddur Rabbenu HaZakein

External Links

• Rabbi Boruch Oberlander, A comprehensive article on the Rebbe's siddur (Hebrew)
• Rabbi Boruch Oberlander, The text and word count of the Alter Rebbe's siddur (Hebrew)
• Photographic scan of the Alter Rebbe's siddur, first printing, Shklov 1803
• Rabbi Menashe Loebel, The siddur of our Rebbe the Alter Rebbe — in the journal Hiskashrus, Parshas Ki Savo 5779 (Hebrew)
• Avraham Dubkin, The Siddur of the Alter Rebbe — Shoneh Halachos, issue 628, Parshas Vayigash 5783 (Hebrew)