Sephardic Siddurim & Prayer Books
Written by the amazing Hazzan Isaac Azose and published by the Sephardic Traditions Foundation, the Zehut Yosef Prayer Book Series is the national prayer book four our Ladino-speaking Sephardic Communities in the United States. Originally published in 2000 to support the customs and traditions of our Seattle Sephardic Synagogues, today it remains the gold standard for the Sephardic Community in the United States. With five different books in the set (Daily & Shabbat, Pesah Sukko & Shavuot, Rosh Ashana, Yom Kippur, Order of the Five Fasts) the series still remains the only set of prayer books that specifically follows the tradition of the Ladino-speaking Jews (principally Turkish and Rhodesli). This incredible series is not only faithful to our Sephardic traditions, but is meticulously researched and ingeniously designed for ease of use in Hebrew, English, and Ladino.
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One of the unique features of Siddur Zehut Yosef is its incorporation of Turkish and Rhodes customs in tune with the ancestry of its congregational users in Seattle. Like Seattle’s two synagogues (Sephardic Bikur Holim and Congregation Ezra Bessaroth), Hazzan Azose’s Siddur Zehut Yosef distinguishes between Rhodes and Turkish traditions by marking sections throughout the text with distinctive editorial codes, {R} and [T] for Rhodes and Turkish practices respectively. In addition, it contains Hebrew, English, and extensive Ladino sections, as well as significant additions not contained in any other Sephardic Siddur. These additions include all Monday and Thursday Torah readings, the name list for use at the conclusion of the amidah’, collections of pizmonim, or hymns, portions of the service traditionally recited in Ladino, and instructions (in Ladino) for the selling of the mitsvot (the Sephardic custom of auctioning the honors of taking out the Sefer Torah during services).
