Meet the Future Today: The Open Siddur Project

Imagine an open source software project developing a socially networked siddur crafting workshop for preserving tradition, encouraging creativity and sharing in communal and personal prayer. One who gives participants a siddur to call their own.

Well, you no longer need to imagine. Say hello to The Open Siddur Project – an interactive community workspace for crafting personally crafted siddurim that can be adapted to the kavavah of an individual’s practice and which are imbued with the authenticity of Judaism’s diverse communal prayer traditions.

Conceptualized by New Yorker, Aharon Varady, The Open Siddur Project has the potential to make praying interesting to those who otherwise wouldn’t bother while providing us the resources needed to engage in this essential creative process.

Aharon tells us, “Imagine if the first siddur presented to a day school student was actually crafted by that student while being introduced to the liturgy in class, all the while engaging their personal art, poetry and other inspired thoughts into their structured daily t’filah. Imagine a young professional struggling to find time in the morning to continue their daily practice and keep it meaningful rather than a rote routine. Imagine the possibilities when you can leverage community knowledge and aggregate thousands of years of Jewish creative inspiration.” All this, and more, is possible.

You can learn more about The Open Siddur Project, and contact Aharon through the project Website.

The Open Siddur Project is one of the ventures to emerge from this summer’s cohort of the PresenTense Institute.