Editing Jewish prayer (section)

===Development of the prayer text===
{{See also|Siddur}}
The earliest parts of Jewish prayer are the ''[[Shema Yisrael]]'' and the [[Priestly Blessing]], which are in the [[Torah]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Benedictions |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/benedictions |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref>

[[Maimonides]] asserts that until the [[Babylonian captivity|Babylonian exile]], all Jews composed their own prayers. After the exile, however, when the exiles' understanding of Hebrew diminished and they found it difficult to compose prayers in Hebrew, [[Ezra]] and his court composed the ''[[Amidah]]'' prayer.<ref name=mt14/> Modern scholarship dating from the [[Wissenschaft des Judentums]] movement of 19th-century Germany, as well as textual analysis influenced by the 20th-century discovery of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], suggests that dating from the Second Temple period there existed "liturgical formulations of a communal nature designated for particular occasions and conducted in a centre totally independent of Jerusalem and the Temple, making use of terminology and theological concepts that were later to become dominant in Jewish and, in some cases, Christian prayer."<ref>{{cite web|author=Reif, Stefan C.|title=The Second Temple Period, Qumran Research and Rabbinic Liturgy: Some Contextual and Linguistic Comparisons|url=http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/symposiums/5th/reif00.html|access-date=2009-03-11|date=19–23 January 2000|work=Fifth Orion International Symposium LITURGICAL PERSPECTIVES: PRAYER AND POETRY IN LIGHT OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS|publisher=The Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature|archive-date=26 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026103052/http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/symposiums/5th/reif00.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The structure of the modern Jewish prayer service was established during the period of the [[Tannaim]], "from their traditions, later committed to writing, we learn that the generation of rabbis active at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) gave Jewish prayer its structure and, in outline form at least, its contents."<ref name="Overview: History of Jewish Prayer">{{cite web|title=Overview: History of Jewish Prayer|url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Ritual/Prayer/History.shtml?PRRI|access-date=2009-03-12|archive-date=5 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605012043/http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Ritual/Prayer/History.shtml?PRRI|url-status=live}}</ref> This liturgy included the twice-daily recitation of the Shema, the [[Amidah]], and the cycle of public [[Torah reading]].<ref name="Overview: History of Jewish Prayer"/>

The ''[[Amidah]]'' (or ''Shemoneh Esreh'') prayer is traditionally ascribed to the [[Great Assembly]] (in the time of [[Ezra]], near the end of the biblical period), though other sources suggest it was established by [[Simeon HaPakoli]] in the late 1st century. Even in the 1st century, though, the precise wording of the blessings was not yet fixed, and varied from locale to locale. By the [[Middle Ages]] the texts of the blessings was nearly fixed, and in the form in which they are still used today.

Readings from the [[Torah]] (five books of Moses) and the [[Nevi'im]] ("Prophets") are specified in the [[Mishnah]] and [[Talmud]], as are the order of blessings surrounding the ''Shema''. Other parts of the service, such as [[Pesukei dezimra]], have little mention in early sources, but became established by custom.

The oldest prayer books date from the time of the [[Geonim]] of [[Babylonia]]; "some were composed by respected rabbinic scholars at the request of far-flung communities seeking an authoritative text of the required prayers for daily use, Shabbat, and holidays."<ref name="Overview: History of Jewish Prayer"/> The earliest existing codification of the prayerbook was drawn up by Rav [[Amram Gaon]] of Sura, Babylon, about 850 CE. Half a century later Rav [[Saadia Gaon]], also of Sura, composed a [[Siddur of Saadia Gaon|siddur]], in which the rubrical matter is in [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. These were the basis of Simcha ben Samuel's [[Machzor Vitry]] (11th-century France), which was based on the ideas of his teacher, [[Rashi]]. Another formulation of the prayers was that appended by [[Maimonides]] to the laws of prayer in his [[Mishneh Torah]]: this forms the basis of the Yemenite liturgy, and has had some influence on other rites. From this point forward, all Jewish prayerbooks had the same basic order and contents.

The siddur was printed by [[Soncino family (printers)|Soncino]] in Italy as early as 1486, though a siddur was first mass-distributed only in 1865. The siddur began appearing in the [[vernacular]] as early as 1538. The first English [[translation]], by Gamaliel ben Pedahzur (a [[pseudonym]]), appeared in London in 1738; a different translation was released in the United States in 1837.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fr.jpost.com/Tags/satellite|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108185002/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1176152818456|url-status=dead|title=Satellite News and latest stories &#124; The Jerusalem Post|archivedate=8 January 2012|website=fr.jpost.com}}</ref>

Over the last 2000 years, the various branches of Judaism have resulted in small variations in the Rabbinic liturgy [[Minhag|customs]] among different Jewish communities, with each community having a slightly different [[Minhag#Nusach|nusach]] (customary liturgy). The principal difference is between [[Ashkenazic]] and [[Sephardic]] customs, although there are other communities (e.g., [[Yemenite Jews|Yemenite]] and [[Italian Jews]], and in the past [[Palestinian minhag|Eretz Yisrael]]), and rather recent liturgical inventions such as [[Hassidic]], [[Nusach Ari|Chabad]] and other communities also have distinct customs, variations, and special prayers. However, the differences between all these customs are quite minor compared with the commonalities. [[Reform Judaism#Practice|Reform Judaism]] also has its own version.