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S I was in school this morning, and I was davening with a siddur that has interlinear translation into English. I only daven with translated siddurim because I don’t see a point in saying words that you have no idea the meaning of. So the girl sitting next to me turns to me after davening and asks, ” are you a baalas teshuva?”
So I tell her I’m not and she is like, ” then wassup with the siddur?”
Should I be embarressed that i use a translated siddur?
i forgot the exact details, but there’s a story that a rav asked a boy where he learnt and he said ner yisroel. and then he quickly added not the bt one , im not a baal tshuva. and his rav asked him, why not?
please do not be embarrassed….. whatever works for you. you should never be embarrassed when doing the right thing in hashem eyes.
Oh, gosh! Don’t be embarrassed! Interlinear siddurim FTW!
Don’t feel bad about yourself. Feel bad about those people who are too proud to learn the meaning of the words they mumble through every day.
nothing wrong with it. if anything you are doing the mitva min hamuvchar – in order to be yotzei shemone esrei one needs to be mechaven to pirush hamilos. For Yomim Noraim and Selichos the interlinear (Yesod Malchus) Machzorim are invaluable to me.
Don’t be embarrassed in the slightest. Honestly answer that it helps your Davening. It’s the same reason (well, one of them) I often use an Artscroll Gemara, even though I very rarely uses the English side.
I almost never pray in English — my first language is Russian.
iknow,
You mean Ohr Sameach. “I’m in Ohr Sameach but I’m not a bt.”
the-art-of-moi,
There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a translated siddur! It can increase your kavanah and enhance your davening tremendously. That girl doesn’t know what she’s talking about and she should learn to think before she speaks. Don’t get caught up in everything people say. Just nod and move on in life.
Absolutely not. You SHOULD understand what you are davening – otherwise you are not connecting with your tefila in the best way that you can. Good for you. There will come a day when you will be way more comfortable in davening with ANY type of Siddur, but knowing what you are saying gives greater meaning to your davening. DO NOT feel embarrassed about that, ever!!! I applaud you.
Embarrassed? Of course not! Be proud of yourself. Understanding what you’re saying makes your tefilla all the more special.
May all your tefillas be answered l’tova.
More power to you!
It’s better to understand what you’re praying than to mutter words in vain that you don’t know the meaning of.
Many years ago, one of the first things I ever learned thoroughly was the siddur and machzor. I went through all the tefillos line by line, learned the meanings of these prayers, perfected the correct phraseology of the words (listening to proper chazzanim), and went through a good perush on the tefillot. That has helped me enormously, and every summer, I generally do a study of the nusach for the high holidays and look through a good explanation of the tefillot so that I have better kevah and kavvanah.
Quite likely someone confused a translated siddur with a transliterated siddur.
And that may be why there was the confusion.
Ya, srsly, some ppl need a kesher w/ ?’ and like, its easier in english!!!!
Mybe u shuld tell her that in a nice way that you dnt care what she thinks and this is the best way u connect w/ hashem…
You may even inspire her to buy one too!
I also use interlinear siddur. It’s great. English helps me with concentration.
it’s great if she understands all the tefillos, her Hebrew acquisition must be amazing. But most people i know either don’t understand every word, or don’t understand how the phrases flow, or don’t think about what the words they’re saying mean while they’re davening. B’H for Artscroll! Im ffb n went through bais yaakov and even got great dikduk marks, but i still dont understand all of davening or close. I can understand most words, but not the sentence. To be embarrassed about it though? Never crossed my mind :). By using a translation, i know it means i’m working to improve, as opposed to not bothering. I’m proud in fact. You should be too!
You certainly should not be embarrassed. Personally, I find I cannot daven from an interlinear siddur. The pages are way too busy and confusing and it’s hard to concentrate on the davening because one is used to reading English from left to right and in the interlinear you have to read the English backwards. You will eventually learn the meaning of the words.
I have more of a problem with the actual Artscroll translation. I think the old Birmbaum translation was truer to both the meaning and the meter of the tefilos. The Artscroll translation is mostly accurate but too literal. There are a few important mistranslations also. My own pet peeves are 1.) lechayos meisim does not mean “to resuscitate the dead.” Resuscitation is a technical term to restore breathing. The Birbaum translition of “revive the dead” is much better. “Revive” means to “restore to life.” 2.) “Ad-noi Elokeinu” does not mean “God our L-rd”. As it is printed, “YKVK Elokeinu means YKVK our G-d” The term of Adnus means Lord or Master. Therefore, the Traditional translation, “the L-rd our G-d”. is the correct one. I get the feeling that Artscroll just changed the translation to sound “Frummer”.
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