FAQs / Which prayer book do you use, and why?

We use the new Koren/Sacks edition of Nusah Sepharad.  Nusah Sepharad is the name of the prayer book that the Hasidic movement developed in the eighteenth century.  It is a mixture of Ashkenazic (northern European) and Sephardic (Spanish) prayer traditions.  The Hasidim were Ashkenazic Jews, but they were heavily influenced by the mystical traditions that had developed in the Sephardic world, so the prayer book that they created is a mixture of both.  At The New Shul, we use the Hasidic liturgy because we are deeply influenced by Hasidic ideas about prayer and spirituality.