Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

1,200-Year-Old Jewish Prayerbook on Display in Jerusalem

A Jewish prayer book believed to be the world’s oldest will be exhibited in Jerusalem for one month.

The 1,200-year-old siddur was unveiled Thursday at a ceremony at the Bible Lands Museum. In a news release, the museum described it as the oldest Jewish prayer book.

Steve Green, the museum’s chairman, purchased the book for his personal collection a year ago.

The prayer book will be displayed in the museum’s Book of Books exhibit, a collection of important biblical tests. On display are original fragments from the Septuagint, the earliest New Testament Scriptures, illuminated manuscripts, rare fragments from the Cairo Geniza and original pages from the Gutenberg Bible.

Written in Hebrew and still in its original binding, the book originates from the Middle East. It contains the morning service, liturgical poems and the Passover Haggadah.

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

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 credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link 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.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.