Wednesday nights - Rav Benzion's Tanya shiur..........Please continue to daven for the good health of the Rebbe (Yechiel Michel ben Devorah Leah) and Rebbetzin (Feiga bas Sarah).

Monday, March 7, 2011

Nusach: Weekday Shmone Esrei

Shemoneh Esrei from the Radviller Siddur
I have received a number of requests to post about the differences between the Siddur Tefila Yeshara and the actual nusach of the Rebbe, shlit"a.

The first thing we need to remember is that while the Rebbe, shlit"a, does daven from the Tefila Yeshara siddur, it is impossible to clarify the actual nusach of Hornosteiple in any conclusive manner.

There is a letter in the back of Pele Yoetz from the Rebbe Reb Mottele, zy"a, to his youngest son Reb Burich Duvid'l, asking him not to forsake his nusach in favor of the nusach of the Baal Hatanya and that he should rather daven according to either the Siddur Nehora or Siddur Radvil.

Now, I have toyed excessively with possible theories as to what the Rebbe Reb Mottele could have meant when he wrote "either Nehora or Radvil", since they are two distinct siddurim, the differences between them vastly outweighing the similarities. While the Siddur Nehora is basically Ashkenaz, the Radviller nusach is clearly a Chassidishe nusach (although it too resembles Ashkenaz to a much greater degree than other Chassidishe siddurim).

For the sake of getting to the point, I have kept out a lot of details and history. Maybe I'll get to write a post about the whole topic in greater depth...

We start with Siddur Tefila Yeshara (Radvil), printed for the second time in 1820 (date of the first print is up for discussion).

It was printed a number times after that and eventually found its way to Barditchev  in 1894 where it was combined with the by then famous commentary Keser Nehora (which was previously printed in a different siddur). The siddur we have today is called Siddur Tefila Yeshara v'Keser Nehora Hashalem Bardichev and it was printed with some amendments in Premishla in 1929. Until the new edition came out this past Chanuka, all prints of this siddur were copies of the Premishla edition.

Without further ado, let us begin. 

Weekday Shmone Esrei (the number connotes which bracha):
1) same as printed.
2) "ורב להושיע" also in all three tefilos, not just Mincha.
3) same, in Kedusha we say "לעומתם ברוך יאמרו" as is customary in Chernobyl. The chazzan doesn't say "לדור ודור נגיד גדלך" rather ואתה קדוש
4) The Rebbe Reb Leibele's son, Reb Nuchim from Tel Aviv, wrote that in Hornosteiple they said "חכמה בינה ודעת". However, in Pele Yoetz (Parshas Vayigash) and in the Siddur Radvil the nusach is "דעה בינה והשכל". The Rebbe, shlit"a, says דעה בינה והשכל
5) same.
6) same, without what's in the parenthesis.
7) same, without what's in the parenthesis.
8) same. (9) same. (10) same. (11) same.
12) same. In the letter from Reb Nuchim he mentions some differences regarding this bracha but the Rebbe, shlit"a, davens like in the siddur.
13) same.
14) same (k'minhag ashkenaz).
15) same.
16) שמע קולנו ה' אלקינו אב הרחמן חוס ורחם עלינו
17) same. (18) same.
19) We say שים שלום by all the tefilos. 


That's all for now. I would appreciate any corrections or additional information. Thanks!

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