MAHZÔR (MAHÂZÔR). - Synagogal ritual for the annual feasts (literally “cycle,” from hâzar, “to return periodically,” originally an astronomical term); in the Syrian Church mahâzôra is equivalent to Breviary. It is not excluded that the earliest m. was a calendar enriched with indications concerning the liturgy. As the texts were augmented by the synagogal “pajjetani” (poets), the calendar was omitted.
Unlike the siddûr (“order” of prayers), which contains only the fundamental prayers, the m. also contains the poetic parts (pijjûtim) of a later period. The oldest m. date from the sixth century A.D. The best known and most esteemed is that of Simhâh di Samuele da Vitry (ca. 1100). The siddûr of R. H. Šelômôh Jishâqî was published in Berlin in 1911. The m. varies according to the rite (Spanish, German, Italian). A complete m. includes, besides the prayers and festal poems, the lessons from the Pentateuch (pârâfâth) and the prophetic readings haphtârâth, as well as the mêghillâth.
BIBLI: I. Elbogen, Der jüdische Gottesdienst in seiner geschichtlichen Entwicklung, 2nd ed., Francoforte s. M. 1924, pp. 6-8.