Promoting The Study Of The Siddur As A Primary Text
The attached is found in a Siddur written in 1471. It is the first time that I have seen the Bracha שעשתני אשה ולא איש. The wording of the Siddur is otherwise very similar to Nusach Roma. Click here to view the entire Siddur:
In the first image below, the word גוי was censored in the ברכה of שלא עשתני גוי. Someone replaced the word גוי with the words בלתי מדבר. In my opinion the one who inserted the words בלתי מדבר wanted to send the following message to the censor: you can erase the words but I am not mute and I will still recite the word that belongs in that ברכה; the word גוי. In the second image, the ברכה was changed to שעשתני ישראל ולא אלם; that You, G-d, made me a Jew and I am not mute; i.e. I can proudly declare that I am glad to have been born a Jew. Neither version survived until today. Today those who follow the Roman Nusach simply say: שעשני ישראל.
Here are some images that I collected from a Machzor that is marked Machzor Roman Rite With Romaniote influences.
What is unique within those images is that you see three Brachot that were recited each morning before people read excerpts of Torah learning; אשר בחר בנו before an excerpt from the Torah; אשר בחר בכתבי הקודש before an excerpt from תהילים and אשר בחר בדברי חכמים before an excerpt from משנה. A Bar Ilan Digital Library search revealed one source that discussed these Brachot; a comment by Rabbi Yissachar b. Zvi Tamar (1896-1992) in his ספר עלי תמר. He notes that it reflects an old Minhag Eretz Yisroel custom. He found a reference to that custom in a footnote that Professor Daniel Goldschmidt included in his edition of Shadal’s (Samuel David Luzzatto) מבוא למחזור רומא. Here is what Rabbi Tamar wrote:
Here is Professor Goldschmidt’s footnote:
To complete the discussion, I include the excerpt from מסכת סופרים referred to by Rabbi Tamar:
מסכתות קטנות מסכת סופרים פרק יד הלכה א
ברות, ובשיר השירים, בקהלת, באיכה, ובמגילת אסתר, צריך לברך, ולומר על מקרא מגילה, ואף על פי שכתובה בכתובים. והקורא בכתובים צריך לומר, ברוך אתה י”י אלהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו וציונו לקרוא בכתבי הקודש