[Avodah] Format of Tehillim

[Alan Rubin]

To my question

 > > Why do the vast majority of siddurim print most tehillim as if they
 > > were prose? Doesn't this obscure the poetry of the tehillim?

Micha Berger answered
 > To really answer your question, I think in many cases it reflects the
 > fact that most people aren't shopping for a siddur based on their
 > knowledge of what the tefillos mean. In other cases, e.g. interlinear
 > siddurim (whether to English or Modern Hebrew), it's more like what I
 > had when I tried doing my mini-siddur -- the technical work is heavy,
 > especially given the interwoven translation.

 > Not a Torah answer at all, more Areivim than Avodah, but there it is.

Pity that the only answer is so prosaic!

It seems to me that the advantages of having tehillim formated 
'properly' would make the effort worthwhile. It may be relevant that the 
only siddur I have seen, with most tehillim formatted like verse, the de 
Sola Pool siddur, does not include weekday davening so there may have 
been more room to play with.

Our siddurim tend to be Swiss army knives and include everything that 
might ever be required. So we find Yom Tov Amidah in the siddur even if 
nearly everyone uses a machzor (though it is useful for the occasional 
idiot, usually me, who has left his machzor at home). A common, sight 
is an otherwise pristine siddur with the pages for shabbos musaf amidah 
falling out. Is there a case for a better produced and formatted siddur 
which doesn't have everything (including that tool for removing stones 
from of horse hooves).

Alan Rubin