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May 15, 2018 9:55 pm at 9:55 pm
#1521215
lesschumras
Participant
There are many misconceptions about siddurim and and how we davened prior to the 16th century. There could not have been too many siddurim around before the printing press was invented in the 15th century. They had to be hand copied, making them expensive and subject to errors. The Rhineland/Ashkenazi communities were small, but I can’t imagine every mispallel could afford his own siddur.
in addition, unlike today, tefillos were constantly being added. The Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur piyuttim were composed mainly between 700 and 1200. Kol Nidre was composed as late as the 1100s or as early as the 700s. Kabbalas Shabbos was added about 500 years ago.