Everything about Mahzor totally explained
The
mahzor (alternately
machzor, plural
mahzorim,
Hebrew מחזור, and [maxzoˈrim]) is the prayer book used by
Jews on the
High Holidays of
Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur. Many Jews also make use of specialized
mahzorim on the three "pilgrimage festivals" of
Passover,
Shavuot, and
Sukkot. The prayer book is a specialized form of the
siddur, the prayerbook used by Jews the world over.
The word
mahzor means "cycle" (the root Ħ-Z-R means "to return"). It is applied to the festival prayer book because the festivals recur annually.
Origins and peculiarities of the mahzor
Some of the earliest formal
Jewish prayerbooks date from the
10th century; they contain a set order of daily prayers. However, due to the many liturgical differences between the ordinary, day-to-day services and holiday services, the need for a specialized variation of the
siddur was recognized by some of the earliest
rabbinic authorities, and consequently, the first
mahzorim were written incorporating these liturgical variations and additions.
The
mahzor contains not only the basic liturgy, but also many
piyyutim, which are liturgical poems specific to the holiday for which the
mahzor is intended. Many of the prayers in the
machzor, including those said daily or weekly on the
Sabbath, have special melodies sung only on the holidays. Most
mahzorim contain only text and no musical notation; the melodies, some of which are ancient, have been passed down orally.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Mahzor'.
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