Harebrained Schemes 3

Not all my schemes are impossible. Nor dumb. Rather than propose such today I thought I'd dredge up one from the past (2006) that I started but remains incomplete. Anyone who considers it plausible should contact me via “Comments.” I've listed part of the proposal I made at the time which I think will explain the project. It was for a book that I felt would be important but which wasn't available. Remember that this proposal was written a while back and may no longer be usable. Such a volume may now be on the shelves.

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I recently looked through an Artscroll catalog and, though I was not surprised, I noted that the type of siddur for which I was looking was not included in their library. Similarly, I have not seen such a siddur from any other source, though I have looked through the years and wondered about the possibility of there being such a volume. What I seek is one designed for the individual who is davening alone or, though among others, without a minyan. This is a situation which I have faced both on the road and even while attending a failed minyan at home, or when there are ten present but I am at a different place in the service from the rest of the group, or when I am with the group but some of the others are not following the service. I have numerous questions about these situations and there is usually no way to answer them when they arise.

I think that a siddur that is designed for people like me would be useful and successful. Everyone prays without a minyan at some time. It would require sections on the nature of a minyan with clear instructions for the order of prayers, insertions, deletions and other information so that the individual user would be able to daven daily and on Shabbat and yom tov without any doubts about halakhically acceptable procedures. Where necessary, both majority and minority opinions might be included in notes so that the user would understand the questions involved and know about legitimate alternatives. Similarly, the user should be aware of different minhagim and nusachim, and how to deal with them.

A guide for the traveler should be (included, or be the content of) a separate volume helping the traveler plan for a trip which may or may not include a Shabbat, and that guide might help in obtaining appropriate housing accommodations, solving food problems and the like, as well as helping the user deal with the difficulties and questions involved in finding a minyan in a strange place, davening alone, and in observing any halakhot pertinent to the traveler, including the traveler to Israel.

I don’t know if a single volume should encompass all of the above, or if a series of individual pocket-sized books would be better to deal with the different situations. A list of questions and areas for discussion follows, though it may not be possible to address all the issues involved. While it’s the kind of project that interests me, I lack the knowledge and ability as well as the tools, and access to them, in order to do it. I have questions but no answers. But I think the questions can be answered and would prove useful to many.

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I didn't include the questions in this piece though I had pages of them which I thought then, and still think, are valid, I wrote the Hebrew version, color-coding parts to be used under different circumstances, but the translation was never written, and the text was never properly proof-read nor checked for accuracy. I'm not a Rabbi and undoubtedly made numerous errors. In addition, notes and explanations would be necessary since the ones I wrote are incomplete and would need to be reviewed and corrected). And some explanatory material. I leave that to anyone interested and knowledgeable. I'm not qualified.