CeleBraTe

Prayer Books Spark
The Meditative Spirit

or many Jewish worshipers,
prayer is both the most famil-
iar, yet unfamiliar, tool toward
achieving enriching spiritual experi-
I ences.
The official roadmap to the litur-
gy is the siddur, the prayer book
that contains three separate week-
! day services as well as different ser-
vices for holidays and the Sabbath.
But the traditional prayer book is
I not easily accessible to those not
I fluent in Hebrew, or those disturbed
by gendered language and issues
such as the revival of the dead. For
some,the structure, content and lan-
e guage of the siddur can be more
!intimidating than inspirational.
"If people feel shut out of prayer,
!they feel shut out of the communi ty,"
says Rabbi Mordechai Leibling,
:executive director of the Jewish
Reconstructionist Federation, which
Rahel Musleah Special to The AppleTree
in 1989 pioneered the publication
:of the first siddur with gender-neutral
mahzor, even more unfamiliar terri-
books try to provide a curriculum of
language.
tory than the usual liturgy. Every Per-
prayer.
The series of siddurim, Kol Hane-
son's Guide to the High Holy Days
JPS's fall titles include Studies in
1 shamah, includes Shabbat and holi-
by Rabbi Ronald Isaacs, due out
Modern Theology and Prayer by
days, as well as daily prayers.
next month, offers an opportunity for
Reform scholar Jakob Petuchowski,
Rabbi Liebling says the movement's
renewed participation in Rosh
and The Shema: Spirituality and
new prayer book is "accessible
Hashanah and Yom Kip-
1 Law in Judaism by Ortho-
and inclusive" to those with little
earch
for
In
their
s
pur services.
dox Rabbi Norman
Jewish education, Jews by choice
ity,
Jews
spiritual
The need for fixed,
Lamm.
and gentiles in intermarriages.
rywhere
turn
eve
rather
than spontaneous
Entering the High Holy
"People are eager for the intimacy
traditional
from
the
prayer has been a long-
Days: A Complete Guide
and spontaneity of prayer but don't
to
a
new
siddur
standing
debate in Jewish
1 to the History, Prayers
:have the training or tools," agrees
itten
by
a
book wr
tradition. Alternative
and Themes by Reuven
Ellen Frankel, editor-in-chief at the
st-in-resi-
psalmi
prayer books now being
Hammer, also from JPS,
Jewish Publication Society. "New
den
ce."
published offer both the
faces the challenge of the
official
prayer texts, as
High Holiday season.
Rahel Musleah is a journalist
well as new and original commen-
The holiday service, which is
1 and author of "Sharing Blessings:
taries to deepen a reader's under-
longer,
more
repetitious
and
fea-
Children's Stories for Exploring the
standing.
tures once-a-year prayers, is con-
Spirit of the Jewish Holidays" (Jew-
"American Jews are recapturing
1
tained
in
a
separate
siddur
called
a
ish Lights).

•,•-••

•,••",,' • ••••::,

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.„„

•

Finding the perfect siddur.

"

"

9/18

1998

182 Detroit Jewish News

the sense that prayer is their person-
al conversation with God, and they
don't necessarily need anybody
else's script," says Stuart Matlins,
publisher and president of Jewish
Lights.
My People's Prayer Book: Tradi-
tional Prayers, Modern Commen-
taries, a seven-volume series edited
by Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, to be
completed by the year 2000 and
published by Jewish Lights, helps
unravel the spiritual messages of the
siddur. It makes use of interpretive
comments from teachers and schol- c-
--;
ars who explore prayer through the
prisms of Torah, history, Jewish law,
Kabbalah, feminism and modern
developments.
The first volume, The Sh'ma and
Its Blessings, which examines the
affirmation of faith and the pivotal
point of Jewish prayer, sold three
times as many copies (3,000 in six
months) as projected, mostly
through bookstores, Matlins says.
Volume II, The Amidah, was just
published = with advance sales of
2,000 copies. Volume Ill, P'sukei
D'Zimrah (Morning Psalms), is
scheduled for December 1998.
The Rabbinical Assembly has
revised Siddur Sim Shalom, the
prayer book originally published in
1985 and widely used in Conserv-
ative synagogues. It now features
more transliterations, extensive
home rituals, interpretive material
and gender-sensitive language. The
volume for Shabbat and holidays
will be released this fall.
Similarly, Wings of Light (Ktav), by
Reform liturgist Rabbi Richard Levy,
will be published this winter. A Sab-
bath prayer book, it will offer a