0

k

Rabbi Paul Yedwab of Temple Israel
has turned his
creative sensibility to liturgy.

JULIE WEINGARDEN

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

abbi Paul Yedwab used
to write poetry. Now he's
writing prayers.
Come June, members
of Temple Israel will see
original writings of the
rabbi in Shema Yisrael —
Here 0 Israel, The Tem-
ple Israel Siddur, a new
prayer book he wrote and
edited in an effort to of-
fer a siddur that uses
slightly different language and a format
members can relate to.
The look of the book will be more like
a Passover Haggadah than a prayerbook,
with colorful graphics and illuminated
letters that showcase a spiritual mix of
prayer and song.
For generations, Reform congregations
used The Union Prayer Book, and in 1973
The Gates of Prayer was published — a
book that represented the diversity of the
Reform movement's perspective on the-
ology and practice. The purpose of the
book was to show that one formal service
would not fulfill the needs of every wor-
shipper. Therefore, 10 Sabbath eve ser-
vices and six Sabbath morning services
were included — each with a different fo-
cus and creative reading.
But Rabbi Yedwab felt the need to take
The Gates of Prayer one step further: to
offer a prayerbook that is gender-neutral.
Shema Yisrael is a Shabbat and holiday
siddur only. The temple will continue
with its current siddur for the daily ser-
vice.
"There was a space that needed to
be filled," Rabbi Yedwab said. "In our
congregation, it is difficult to use the
[The Gates of Prayer] book anymore; you
find yourself stumbling over pronouns."
He said that a common critique of The
Gates of Prayer is that it speaks of God

as a he.
'There is not an understanding of a de-
sire for a gender-neutral liturgy. In Ju-
daism, God is not supposed to have
human qualities," Rabbi Yedwab said.
Contrary to what members may think,
he stressed that his reasons for writing
the book had nothing to do with being po-
litically correct.

"We are sensi-
tive to the feminist
critique of 'God'
language, but the
reason we feel it
is so important to
change it goes be-
yond thinking
of God as a man. It's
not about whether or
not God as a man is
fair — it is not theo-
logically true."
Rabbi Yedwab
added that speaking
of God using
terms such as
King, Lord, Him or
7
He becomes a prison
ie<;11.
for ideology.
Rabbi Paul
"For example, if
Yedwab writes
we only referred
a new page of
to God as the Rock
/0,
history.
of Israel, children
would grow up
thinking God was
a mineral," he said.
"A Jewish God is
beyond labels, and our
liturgy should reflect
his book contains some distinct differ-
that."
The Central Conference of American ences: The notes which explain what is
Rabbis (CCAR) has recognized a need going on in the liturgy are located in the
for a new prayerbook and intended to margin and printed in blue, while the
publish one, but the task has been put off prayers are printed in black. The book
for about a decade, according to Rabbi also gives many options — people can
Yedwab. "We couldn't wait that long," he pray in a traditional format or use cre-
ative readings.
said.
"You can pray for 20 weeks and never
Congregants at Temple Israel's Shab-
bat services are currently reading from do exactly the same service," Rabbi
an "experimental edition" of the rabbi's Yedwab said. He considers the medita-
The New Temple Israel Siddur — an ex- tive readings, which focus on the same
perimental sampling of prayers and read- theme as the prayers they accompany, to
ings meant to introduce members to what be the most unique innovation in the
is to come and encourage them to share book.

•

their views.
"We haven't been able to get our mem-
bers to go back to The Gates of Prayer.
This is a clear indication that the exper-
imental book is a success," said Rabbi
Yedwab.
Rabbi Yedwab and his colleagues drew
heavily from The Gates of Prayer because
of the liturgical beauty of its prayers, but

bach — who worked closely with him on
the book.
"We'd sit around the table and go
through every page aloud — read it, pray
it, critique it, change it and change it
again," the rabbi said.
The inaugural edition was made pos-
sible by a contribution of Dr. Allen Berlin
and his Wife, Batya. The temple printed
4,000 booklets, and members were given
a copy and a comment sheet to provide
feedback.
The siddur will be distributed only at
Temple Israel.
"We promised the CCAR that we
"I'm hoping that as you are praying, would not sell the book," the rabbi said.
you see yourself standing there holding The temple has offered to donate the type
hands with each other spiritually and and graphics to the CCAR so that it can
be used as an interim book.
moving through our history," he said.
The book will also be given as a gift, to
Rabbi Yedwab served as the editor and
did much of the creative writing. He also each member of Temple Israel who is bar
credits his colleagues at Temple Israel — or bar mitzvah in memory of bar mitz-
Rabbis M. Robert Syme, Harold Loss and vah tutor Adrienne Milin, who died re-
Joshua Bennett and Cantor Harold Or- cently, ❑