Composers and interpreters of Jewish prayers and synagogal customs in the centuries before the rise of the critical and historical approaches championed by proponents of the Wissenschaft des Judentums were motivated, among other considerations, by halakhic, mystical, or poetic agendas. They were rarely interested in, or even aware of, what more modern analysts would come to identify as the broader historical, theological, and cultural foundations of liturgical changes. Had they indeed been informed about such foundations, they might well have preferred to ignore them as a threat to the authoritative nature of the rulings and preferences that they were enthusiastically promoting. It is the task of contemporary specialists in the evolution of the various prayer texts and customs to examine these medieval interpretations and to offer their own assessments of the historical process.

Kenneth Berger has lightened the workload of today's historical analysts by providing a rich compendium of medieval statements and explanations relating to many parts of the Jewish liturgy. Originally inspired by Joseph Heinemann at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and by Menahem Schmelzer at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and more recently encouraged by Ruth Langer, he has, while also serving as a congregational rabbi and a lecturer, devoted more than four decades to the close study of such sources, and this volume is the product of his scholarly efforts. The aim of his book is to trace the interplay of custom and tradition over many centuries and to demonstrate that “the liturgy of Ashkenaz was never static” (11) and that “new liturgies and liturgical practices were incorporated into the service, the inclusion of various prayers was challenged, and variant readings of prayers became standard” (355).

To that end, Berger has cited at length, often in his own English translations, the reasons put forward for the manner in which prayer texts were being used on different occasions, had been adopted or rejected, and had acquired new significance. He has also identified which adjustments were inspired by Sephardic and/or kabbalistic precedents, which were intended to “protect one from danger” (255), and which “liturgical practices performed by the living can alleviate the suffering of the dead” (271). Among the items that receive lengthy attention are the use of the verses from Psalms 78:38 and 20:10 (ve-huʾ raḥum); the various additions made to the evening service on Friday, including the recitation in the synagogue of the Kiddush, which began as a domestic ritual; and the diverse choices of biblical verses used to accompany the removal of the Torah scroll from the ark and its return there, as explained by Ruth Langer. Berger suggests that the inclusion of the Alenu prayer at the end of most services was because of its “stirring rhetoric, its emphasis on the contrast between the true religion of Israel as compared to the beliefs and practices of the gentile nations, its ascribed antiquity, and its stress on the theme of the kingship of God” (193).

Berger provides a detailed textual study of the Hashkivenu prayer of the evening service and relates some synagogue wall paintings to the adoption of customs promoted by the kabbalists. The Mourner's Kaddish and the numerous medieval suggestions about how it originated and how it should be recited also receive extensive attention. In connection with this custom, Berger correctly notes that prior to the twelfth century “there was no consistent, universally affirmed Jewish conception of the nature and duration of the soul's punishment in Gehinnom” (292), and, following David Shyovitz (AJS Review 39 [2015]: 49–73), refers to parallel developments among Jews and Christians. Some pages later he justifiably goes further than this and notes the “influence of new ideas about the nature of the after-life taking hold within European Christianity during the twelfth century” (303).

In his introductory remarks, Berger states that he has “written this book for an audience that includes both the specialist in Jewish Studies and the general reader interested in the history and development of Jewish liturgy” (xv). Full credit is due to him for providing such a readership with a helpful, reliable, and detailed compilation of a welter of medieval data, as well as some sound summaries of modern scholarship, and conclusions that are generally convincing. The volume will undoubtedly serve as a useful vade mecum for students in many classrooms, as well as for their teachers. It will also, one hopes, encourage a wider engagement with medieval Jewish liturgy, as well as a better understanding of the dynamic evolution of rabbinic prayer. The chosen methodology and the discursive style of presentation may prove to be of considerable assistance to the general reader. In addition, the excursus, the tables, the appendices, and the indices are highly informative. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the specialist in Jewish liturgy, as distinct from the specialists in the broader area of Jewish studies, may find the many introductory remarks, the numerous repetitions, the constant rehearsal of the same information, opinion, and conclusion more than a trifle otiose and even somewhat tedious. Explaining that פלוני is equivalent to “John Doe” (282) and that אותו האיש means “that man” (294) is perhaps too elementary for many potential readers of such a volume. Some serious editorial pruning could have improved what is otherwise a welcome addition to the scholarly literature. That said, this specialist reviewer must admit to a personal delight at encountering here so many important references to the liturgical texts and comments of Shabbetai ha-Sofer of Przemysl, about whom he himself has spilt so much ink over the years, and who is often ignored in such studies.

More specifically, greater emphasis should have been given in many instances to the late dating of some of Seder Rav Amram; any reference to the life and work of Maimonides (24) must surely note the splendid volume of the late Joel Kraemer, The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds (New York: Doubleday, 2008); the discussion about Kaddish (280–302) might have benefited from the volume Death in Jewish Life, ed. Stefan C. Reif, Andreas Lehnardt, and Avriel Bar-Levav (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2014); mention is made (232) of Shabbetai ha-Sofer's inclusion of berikh shemeh but not of his translation of that text from Aramaic into Hebrew; it is odd that in the discussion about the repetition of leʿeylaʾ in the Kaddish (10), no mention is made of its origin in the ancient rite of ʾEreẓ Yisraʾel; and Professor Wieder always gave his forename as Naphtali, and not Naftali, after he left Berlin and settled in the United Kingdom.