SiddurWiki:About

From SiddurWiki

The origins of the SiddurWiki project are very personal in nature. My father, Walter Blum, who I would have called a "devout" atheist, died in March 2009. SiddurWiki is dedicated to him and, by developing a set of rational, analytical companion readings that I believe my father would have appreciated, I am striving to serving the goal of אלוי נשמתו - "ilu’i nishmato" – whereby his name is "elevated" so that he, and the values he stood for, won't be forgotten in the community of Israel.

Clearly, growing up in my parents’ home had an effect on my own religious beliefs. I hope therefore that, through the work I anticipate that we will do together here at SiddurWiki, I too will be able to better relate to the traditional prayers and to participate, more freely and with less baggage, in a mainstream synagogue. If that sounds like where you're coming from, I invite you to join the project.

Would SiddurWiki help my father better relate to prayer and possibly participate in synagogue life himself? I doubt it. But I know he would have enjoyed the intellectual challenge. During the last 7 years in which I have written my blog This Normal Life, he continually sent me emails to ask questions or challenge what I'd written. SiddurWiki would have elicited a similar response, I'm sure, as well as a sense of quiet pride that his son was working on a project that furthered his own beliefs in the vigilance of rational thinking in all areas...including religion.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at brian (at) siddurwiki.com - replace that (at) with @ and remove the spaces.