Goldschmidt-Fraenkel Machzor, formally known as ''Machzor According to the Customs of the Ashkenazim in All Their Branches: Including the Western Ashkenazic Rite, Polish Rite and former French Rite'' is a critical edition of the

piyyutim A piyyuṭ (plural piyyuṭim, ; from ) is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. Most piyyuṭim are in Mishnaic Hebrew or Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, and most follow some p ...

(liturgical poems) found in the Ashkenazic and French prayer books. initiated this project, and after his passing his son-in-law Yonah Fraenkel continued it. This project includes collecting manuscript versions of the piyyutim used in the aforementioned customs, including those piyyutim recited today, as well as those piyyutim recited in the past which did not make it to the age of printing. The

machzor The ''machzor'' (, plural ''machzorim'', and , respectively) is the prayer book which is used by Jews on the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many Jews also make use of specialized ''machzorim'' on the three pilgrimage festiva ...

includes a commentary to all the piyyutim.

Editing and publishing

Goldschmidt published the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur volumes in 1970 under the title "Machzor for the High Holidays". He passed away in 1972, while working on "Machzor for Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah." The machzor was eventually published by his son-in-law, Professor Yonah Fraenkel, in 1981. Professor Fraenkel continued the project, publishing the Passover machzor (1993) and Shavuot machzor (2000). This completed the work on the Ashkenazic machzor for the major holidays. As a continuation of the holiday machzor project, Fraenkel began working on a machzor for the Sabbaths of circumcision and marriage, but passed away in 2012 before completing the work. The family turned to Dr. Gabriel Wasserman to finish the work on the machzor for the Sabbaths of circumcision and marriage, and it was published in 2025.

Content and importance of the Machzor

In addition to the piyyutim, the machzor also includes the standard prayers, without a full critical edition or commentary (although sometimes includes variant texts). This is so that it should not be just an academic book but can also be used by the public for prayer.Introduction to the Rosh Hashanah Machzor
Shulamit Elizur
Review: New Edition of the Machzor
(Hebrew). The machzorim are considered in piyyut research to be the most important critical edition of the Ashkenazic machzor. Part of the importance stems from the fact that before the publication of the machzor, most French piyyutim were unpublished and unknown to many, because the French rite was never printed as an independent siddur or machzor.

Shulamit Elizur Professor Shulamit Elizur (), born April 6, 1955, is a scholar of ancient and medieval piyyut (Hebrew poetry). She is the head of the Fleischer Institute for the Study of Hebrew Poetry, a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, a member of ...

, in her review of the Passover machzor (which touches on the earlier volumes as well) writes about the indispensability of these volumes for piyyut study, despite having several critiques on how the editor could have done things better.

'
review of the Passover machzor
(Hebrew)

References

{{reflist Machzor Jewish liturgical poems Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Passover Sukkot Shavuot Sifrei Kodesh

Editing and publishing

Content and importance of the Machzor

External links

Further reading

References