5Dear friend -If you do not yet read Hebrew, and need an alternative resource for your daily davvenen (prayer), or if you are not used to reading the Hebrew with comprehension and the ability to dilate it from its literal meaning, I offer you this concise translation of the Jewish siddur or prayer-book, which I frequently use for my own davvenen.I have translated the liturgy of the siddur here according to the way in which I experience it in my own feeling-consciousness. Thus, my translations do not so much offer the p'shat or the literal meaning of the words as they do a devotional interpretation that can make them into prayers of the heart. . . .This siddur is meant to help you stay in touch with God on a daily basis, to gain divine assistance, to lighten your burdens, not to add to them. May you come to experience your own prayer as a blessed meeting with your own God.- Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi