Educational Resources

This Digital Resource Library was created by the Jewish Museum London learning team. The Library brings together objects, video and audio that relate to the Jewish experience in Wales from collections across the country and is specifically designed for teachers and students.

Siddur (Object)

Copyright/attribution: St Fagans National Museum of History

What do you see?

We can see some writing in Hebrew. We can also see an address. Look closely, what do you see?

What do we know?

This is a Siddur (Prayer Book) for Synagogue, Home & School. The word for prayer in Hebrew is ‘Tefilah.’ In Judaism it is traditional to pray 3 times per day, in the morning, the afternoon and the evening. Daily prayer is one of the 613 mitzvot or commandments in Judaism. For many Jewish people prayer is way to feel connected to both God and their community. It is traditional to pray in Hebrew, however some prayers might be in Aramaic or even recited in English if an individual does not speak Hebrew.

What do you wonder?

We might wonder who owned this prayer book? We also might wonder if the owner spoke Hebrew? What do you wonder?

Discussion Questions

Why might it be important for some Jewish people to pray in synagogue together?

Does it matter what language you pray in?