Memorbuch Online
The YU library has posted online a digitized version of the the 18th c. Breslau/Auras Memorbuch. From a description of the book,
The manuscript includes lekha dodi, mi-sheberakh prayers, Yizkor prayers, blessings for the haftarot of Yom Kipur and Shalosh Regalim, blessings for the Purim Megilah, and the circumcision ceremony, among others. The unifying factor among these seemingly disparate prayers is that historically they were not part of the official, formal liturgy, such as shaharit or musaf. To denote this distinction, these additional prayers were recited by the cantor from the bimah (platform in the center of the synagogue) rather than from the amud (platform in the front of the synagogue). This collection of prayers is not unique to our manuscript. Identical groups of prayers are found in other manuscripts, followed by a list of names of the deceased of a particular community. The pairing of this specific selection of prayers with a list of names, forms a Memorbuch (German plural – Memorbücher, English plural – Memor books). Memor books were used on days when Yizkor was recited, although based on the prayers they include, they were used on other occasions as well. According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, the genre of the Memorbuch received its name either because the book was placed, for the convenience of the cantor, on the al-memar (Central European Jewish term for bimah), or from the Latin word memoria. The use of communal Memor books was common in Central European Jewish communities from the Middle Ages until the mid-nineteenth century.