Machzorim

A siddur holds the daily and Shabbos prayers; a machzor holds the prayers for the festivals. The daily siddur does not contain most of what is said on Yom Tov, so the machzor is what you daven from on the day itself.

It depends on what you want from it. An interlinear machzor puts the English directly under each Hebrew word and is the fastest route to following along. A Hebrew-only edition is lighter and less cluttered once you know the davening. A pocket edition is for carrying rather than for sitting with, and a full leather set is for a seat you keep.

Two separate volumes — one for Rosh Hashanah and one for Yom Kippur — or a set that contains both. Sets sold for the Yamim Noraim usually cover both days, and the five-volume sets on this page cover the full cycle of the year.

Yes. The shalosh regalim have their own festival davening, and a five-volume machzor set covers Pesach, Shavuos and Succos alongside Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. On Pesach the machzor is for shul — the haggadah is a separate book for the seder table.

Yes. Ashkenaz, Sefard and Edot HaMizrach differ in the order and wording of the tefillos, and following a machzor in a different nusach from the shul is more confusing than helpful. Most of the sets here are made in more than one nusach — check before ordering.

A machzor is a personal choice and hard to buy for someone else unless you know which nusach and which edition they use. A beautifully bound set with a name stamped on the cover is a fitting present for a bar or bat mitzvah, a chosson or kallah, or any milestone worth marking.