Basil Herring

Basil Herring
Adding New Voices to the Siddur
The standard American Orthodox prayer-book has been long overdue for an upgrade. For far too long, it has been defined by its non-literal translations of liturgy, hagiographical commentary, and male-centric language.
So when Basil Herring, a South African-born rabbi and former executive president of the Rabbinical Council of America, one of the world’s largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis, made a proposal to Koren Publishers in 2008 about collaborating on a new standard synagogue siddur, translation and commentary, the decision was unanimous.
The previous RCA siddur had been published by Artscroll in 1984, another era — and Herring, 71, was interested in creating something radically different, something that suited the majority of mainstream Orthodox synagogues, with increasingly modern sensibilities and Zionist affiliations.
“We felt that it was important that this new prayer-book reflected current scholarship,” he said. Not only does the new edition offer a more literal translation of liturgy than previous editions, as well as the more contemporary commentary of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik alongside academic historians — it is notably the first to highlight Zionist philosophy and women’s scholarship as well.
Published and already in use, the Avodat Halev Siddur — literally the Work of the Heart prayerbook — includes women-specific prayers with expanded language (prayers for new mothers after childbirth, prayer for a female head of household, a post-meal zimmun written specifically to be sung by three women); its ritual instructions use the pronoun “one” instead of “he” as default, and even discusses the importance of halakhic prenuptial agreements. Women scholars’ commentary range from Nechama Leibowitz to Devra Kay to Yaffa Eliach, among others.
“It was important for us that it be gender-sensitive,” Herring said. “Whether women use it in the synagogue or at home, we wanted the siddur to utilize women’s language — including womens voices, too.”
— Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.