Minhag America; Tefilot B'nai Yeshurun, Isaac Mayer Wise, Cincinnati: Bloch, 1857

318 pp (6  1/4  in.; 158 x 102 mm). pagination: German:[v], 6-171, [i] and Hebrew: [vii] 6-144. Title pages reinforced; marginal tears or losses to only a very few leaves expertly repaired; soiling and light staining commensurate with typical usage. Page 90 (Hebrew) misprinted (upside down). Edges gilt. Original blind and and gilt tooled black leather, gilt fading; rebacked. Though labeled on the spine and both title pages as volume one, no other volumes were printed. The additional volumes (High Holidays) only appeared in 1866.

This prayer book was created in 1857 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise was intended to address the conflict between supporters and opponents of traditionalism in early Reform Judaism in the United States. The roots of the siddur date back to a program Wise had laid out in the May 1847 issue of Isaac Leeser’s Occident.There, Wise described how American Jews had come "from different countries, and, brought with them diverse Minhagim; and this circumstance must always prove a source of confusion and disagreement in the various Synagogues" and that the need to create a new Minhag was to "bring unity among... all the American Synagogues" and to "uphold the Word of the Living God... in the free country of America", without "the desire for innovation, nor the thirst for fame, nor a giddy disposition for reform".

In 1857, he published Minhag America; T'fillot B'nai Yeshurun, in two versions, both with Hebrew text, and one translated into English and the other into German. The Hebrew/German edition carried the additional title: Gebet-Buch fur den offentlichen Gottesdienst und die Privat-Andacht - Prayer Book for Public and Private Worship). Largely retaining the format of the traditional siddur, Wise made modifications to reflect "the wants and demands of time", including changing the Hebrew word goel (redeemer) to geulah (redemption), reflecting a removal of references to a personal Messiah. The prayer book retained many portions of the traditional Hebrew language text, while adding concise and accurate translations into the vernacular. Minhag America eliminated calls for a return to the Land of Israel, the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, the reinstitution of sacrifices, the restoration of the priesthood and the primacy of the Davidic dynasty. References to resurrection were changed to reflect a spiritual immortality.

The prayer book was accepted by the majority of Reform congregations in United States and remained the standard siddur until the publication of the Union Prayer Book in the 1890s. (Singerman 1489; Goldman 44).