​This is the Worms Machzor open at a page that contains the following prayer:

This prayer is part of the Amidah which is recited three times a day on a weekday and at least four times on Shabbat and festivals. Zion, meaning Jerusalem, is mentioned in the prayer.

Interestingly, the word Israel ישראל is not written in full here; it is missing the last two letters (aleph, lamed) which make up the name of God and in its place is an apostrophe. This probably stems from the prohibition of erasing the full name of God. In order to make sure this doesn’t happen, some people are careful to never write the full name of God.

The text is mainly written in black ink, while words that indicate the beginning of a new prayer are written in red ink. The Worms Machzor contains what is thought to be the first written Yiddish text. It can be found on page 55 and is written inside the large letters of the text of part of the Pesach prayer services. It reads:

According to the inscription written in the front of the Worms Machzor, it was written by “Simchah ben Yehudah the Scribe for his uncle Baruch ben Yitzchak for use in the synagogue for the sake of his soul.” This machzor was originally used in the Wurzburg community in Bavaria. The first volume of the book was originally written in 1272 and the second in 1280. It is thought that the machzor was brought to Worms by refugees from Wurzburg after the community’s destruction in the Rindfleisch persecutions of 1298. It was used for centuries in the Worms Synagogue until its destruction on Kristallnacht, November 1938, when the city’s archivist hid the machzor in the cathedral. In 1957, the manuscript was transferred to the National Library in Jerusalem.

Would You Like to Know More?

The Jewish Community of Worms - The Jewish community of Worms dates back to 1034. The community suffered from various pogroms and bouts of anti-Semitism. Despite the hardships, great Jewish scholars such as Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki), a famous commentator on the Bible and Talmud, lived and studied in Worms. 

Machzor - A machzor is a prayer book which contains the specific prayers for the High Holidays. This machzor is unique as it contains prayers for all of the festivals, as well as for Shabbat, and it is, as a result, particularly large and heavy.