New Military Siddur to be Released

militarysiddur

The JTA reports that the Jewish Welfare Board will be releasing a new version of the military issue siddur during its annual conference this week.

The current siddur was last revised in 1956 and is the only officially military issued siddur in use that can be ordered through the military supply system. Chaplains and lay leaders sometimes use off-the-shelf siddurim for conducting services and Aleph now publishes an Orthodox siddur that they will send to troops (usually at no cost) who request it. Both options can be purchased with chaplain’s funds, but having an officially issued version really helps out lay leaders and individuals that don’t have a direct line to those funds.

The original version itself was a grand accomplishment of cooperation and collaboration among the three major movements. Rabbi Landman’s book described some of the challenges of getting Orthodox, Reformed, and Conservative rabbis to agree on the language and content of a siddur that would need to be used by Jews from every walk of life and observance level. The end result was an inclusive, yet traditional compilation.

This new version is reported to have the same level of cooperation going into its design. The writers are not reinventing the wheel either. In a unique occurance, the JWB was given permission to reprint Hebrew and English texts from other prayer books in the new siddur.

“We had the ability to move freely through their prayer books, allowing us to create a book that each rabbi can use differently,” said retired Rear Adm. Rabbi Harold Robinson, director of the council. “Yet for each soldier, sailor or Marine, it will be the same, no matter where he or she is stationed.”

I’ll be anxious to check out the new version. I have a personal issue with my own movement’s stubbornness to revamp and update its own siddur, especially when there are so many great options out there. I’ve used the military issued version as a lay leader mostly because it was easy to get and there was a decent chance other troops had a copy, not necessarily for the quality of its layout or content. My personal copy has special meaning to me and is something I’ll always treasure, but I would be thrilled to have something up to date and relevant to bring to my own deployed “congregation” in the future.

I will certainly post more when I can get my hands on one.