{"id":13274,"date":"2015-06-19T00:07:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T07:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=13274"},"modified":"2015-06-17T15:59:49","modified_gmt":"2015-06-17T22:59:49","slug":"reform-has-new-prayer-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/06\/19\/reform-has-new-prayer-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform has new prayer book"},"content":{"rendered":"

This month, the Reform movement\u2019s new High Holiday prayer book, Mishkan HaNefesh<\/em>, is being published. It replaces Gates of Repentance<\/em>, which has served the movement since 1978, and is a companion to the movement\u2019s siddur, Mishkan T\u2019filah<\/em>, which was published in 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an innovative siddur in a number of ways,\u201d Rabbi Hara Person, publisher and director of CCAR Press, the Central Conference of American Rabbis\u2019 publishing division, told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cIt includes a lot of poetry and other kinds of readings that haven\u2019t historically been in prayer books. It includes both the faithful translation of the text alongside, in some cases, alternative translations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe approach is multi-focal. It\u2019s not an approach that says there is only one way to read our tradition or prayer. Instead, it opens up to people different ways of understanding, and struggling and grappling, with the text and tradition \u2026 and with theology.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an example of the new machzor\u2019s increased accessibility, Person explained that, as does Mishkan T\u2019filah<\/em> (Sanctuary of Prayer<\/em>), Mishkan HaNefesh<\/em> (Sanctuary of the Soul<\/em>) includes transliteration throughout for all of the prayers. \u201cWe wanted it to be open and welcoming to people, no matter what their background or how much or little a Jewish education they have,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

About the diversity of the people sitting in the pews, she added, \u201cSome may not be Jewish at all. They might be there with a Jewish spouse or partner. We don\u2019t want to tell them that there\u2019s nothing there for them. We want them to be able to learn and participate to the extent that they\u2019re comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another significant aspect of the machzor is its inclusivity. \u201cFor over 25 years,\u201d said Person, \u201cwe\u2019ve been speaking up about inclusion of gay and lesbians in our communities on every level, so this is just another piece of that. That\u2019s true for anybody who walks through our doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

This meant that the language of some of the prayers had to be updated.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the prayers that talk about a bride and groom, for example, is the love between a couple. \u201cSo, we changed the language to reflect that and to not exclude gay and lesbian couples,\u201d said Person. \u201cAlso, regarding being called to the Torah, we felt it should reflect the view and acceptance of all people, including those struggling with gender identity \u2026 calling people from the \u2018house of\u2019 as opposed to referring to them as \u2018the son or daughter of.\u2019…\u201d<\/p>\n

These most recent changes follow those that have come before regarding the increased participation and recognition of women.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Reform movement has a long history of egalitarianism, even from the very start,\u201d said Person. \u201cEven before women were rabbis, the Reform movement did away with separate seating in synagogues, so very early on in the history of the Reform movement, men and women were allowed to sit together in synagogues.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, these are just further steps in that progression of treating everybody with dignity and with a sense of equality and inclusiveness, and a way of saying we are all created in the image of God … women as well as men. It\u2019s true for gay or straight or trans. Why would we exclude some but not others? It\u2019s part of our value system to be inclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new machzor has been in the works for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a tremendous amount of piloting ahead of time,\u201d said Person. \u201cThe book was in development for five or six years. Over those years, we had about 350 congregations across North America who piloted different sections of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some other interesting features of the new machzor are the poetry \u2013 from American and also Israeli writers \u2013 and art.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked with an artist in New York named Joel Shapiro,\u201d explained Person. \u201cHe created an opening piece of art for each of the services. They are woodblock cuts. He spent a huge amount of time studying the services and prayers and was inspired to create the art for the services.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me,\u201d she continued, \u201cit\u2019s really exciting because some people love poetry and that\u2019s going to \u2026 be a way into the prayer book and into the experience of worship for them. For others, it will be the commentary, and for others still, it will be the art\u2026. Art may open the door for them and help them walk in. It\u2019s really exciting that we were able to do all these things within the prayer book.\u201d<\/p>\n

A large-print version of Mishkan HaNefesh<\/em> will also be available, as will an e-book version. \u201cThere is a percentage of people who actually use machzors before the holidays to do their own spiritual preparation,\u201d said Person. \u201cThis book has so much in it for that. For a tablet, maybe they\u2019d use it ahead of time, but not bring it to synagogue. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about the new machzor, visit ccarpress.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This month, the Reform movement\u2019s new High Holiday prayer book, Mishkan HaNefesh, is being published. It replaces Gates of Repentance, which has served the movement since 1978, and is a companion to the movement\u2019s siddur, Mishkan T\u2019filah, which was published in 2007. \u201cIt was an innovative siddur in a number of ways,\u201d Rabbi Hara Person, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[3980,3979,1802,3981,3978,3977,3540],"class_list":["post-13274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-ccar-press","tag-hara-person","tag-high-holidays","tag-inclusivity","tag-machzor","tag-mishkan-hanefesh","tag-reform-judaism"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}