Machsor

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A Machsor or Mahzor ( Hebrew מחזור: “repetition”, “cycle”), pl: Machsorim , is originally the name for the sun or lunar cycle , since the 13th century , initially only in Ashkenazi Judaism, also for the special cycle Jewish Holidays .

In particular, it is a prayer book with selected prayers and passages from the Tanakh that are to be read aloud on holidays (in contrast to the everyday prayers in Siddur ). The Machsor was mostly a particularly large-format book in two volumes, which was commissioned by an individual member of the community and was also kept in his house, but was used by the community as a group. On the eve of the holidays it was carried from the owner's house to the synagogue by the synagogue servant and remained there, probably on a lectern, until the end of the festival, which sometimes lasted several days. In the Machsor, the beginning of the festive liturgy, which begins with chants ( piyyutim ) that are customary on festive days and adorns the core prayer Shema Israel ( Hear Israel ), is in many cases provided with an initial word or a larger full or half-page miniature. As shown in the Leipzig Machsor , the prayer leader went to the lectern, covered his body, including his head, with a large tallit , a prayer shawl, and began to recite the prayers and piyutim.

Famous machsorim

See also

literature

  • Katrin Kogman-Appel : Jewish visual culture in medieval Germany. In: Dorothea Weltecke (ed.): Visiting Jews. Life in the medieval city. Accompanying volume for the exhibition. Stadler, Konstanz 2017, ISBN 978-3-7977-0734-5 , pp. 48–59.
  • Sarit Shalev-Eyni : Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts from Lake Constance before 1348. In: Dorothea Weltecke (Hrsg.): Zu Gast bei Juden. Life in the medieval city. Accompanying volume for the exhibition. Stadler, Konstanz 2017, ISBN 978-3-7977-0734-5 , pp. 32–47.

Web links

Commons : Mahzorim  - collection of images, videos and audio files