There’s a siddur I’m waiting for someone to publish.

A few years ago a friend of mine gave out mini siddurs to the guests at one of his son’s bar mitzvah. He had formatted and printed them himself. The idea was that it contained only the weekday Shmoneh Esreh prayer, with none of the additional sections included in all siddurs for various special occasions throughout the year — Purim, Chanuka, Rosh Chodesh, Aseres Yamei Tshuva, etc. That means you really needed two siddurs, one for Shmoneh Esreh and another one for the rest of the prayers recited during Shacharis, Mincha or Maariv.

What I would like to see is a complete siddur with no distractions but with the complete weekday prayers. I envision it as a medium size softcover with super clear, easy-to-read print. The font would not vary from one blessing to the next, as is the case with many siddurs. On a day when you need the additions, you simply leave your siddur at home and take one from the shelf at shul.

Today many of us have distractions coming at us from all directions, from the time we get up in the morning until the time we go to sleep. It helps when you’re away from computers and phones, and turn off your smartphone before you enter the synagogue. But it would help even more if you had a distraction-free siddur in front of you.

Just as various distraction-free word processors are now available to help writers with the creative process, we need a distraction-free space to be fully engaged in prayer. When I search Google for “distraction-free word processor” I get dozens of results, but when I search for a “distraction-free siddur” I get just a handful of online resources (e.g. here) and cellphone apps. I’ve never prayed in a synagogue using a cellphone, and I don’t see myself doing so, so I really need a printed version. I suppose if I had some desktop publishing skills I could put a decent one together myself in a jiffy, but I don’t, so I don’t think I’m going to tackle the project.