2017 Reform Judaism Rosh Hashanah Online Prayer Book Readings
Rabbi Apr Davis is the editor of the new supplement to L'chol Z'homo five'Eit, the CCAR'due south clergy manual and life-cycle guide. In this blog post, she reflects upon her own experiences using L'chol Z'human v'Eit and offers a glimpse into the supplement's contents.
לַכֹּל זְמָן וְעֵת לְכׇל־חֵפֶץ תַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם׃
A season is set for everything; a time for every feel under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
I received my re-create of L'chol Z'man 5'Eit from my rabbi, Andy Klein, when I was ordained in 2015. In the notation that accompanied the gift, he told me that I would exist part of people'south near tender and intimate moments and this book would be my guide. Looking back on my 7 years in the rabbinate, it truly has been. Holding the binder, taking a few pages on the run, or using the electronic version on my iPad, I take joined people in marriage, named babies, led conversions, and stood at hospital bedsides. I know you take, too. Information technology is a steady companion as we navigate traditional and new sacred moments with the many people nosotros serve.
Published in 2015, Fifty'chol Z'man v'Eit/For Sacred Moments: The CCAR Life-Bike Guide offered traditional rituals and new blessings to clergy in joyous and mournful moments. Not only were some of the resources new, merely the guide was published in a unique format: a binder with pages that could be removed and reordered every bit necessary. It was besides released as a digital PDF. In both the substance and the design, the old was made new and the new was made holy (Rav Avraham Isaac Kook).
True to the pattern and intent of the original, we can and should continue adding content to reflect our changing rabbinates and our rapidly evolving world. Today nosotros are called to witness and anoint increasingly diverse moments. Sometimes we are present at an unfolding tragedy; at other times we bring Judaism and joy to a new situation. For everything there is a season, a fourth dimension for every feel under heaven. To that stop, CCAR Press decided to publish an update to the guide in the form of a print and digital Supplement. I was honored to serve as editor of this project. The goal of the Supplement to L'chol Z'man five'Eit is to recognize even more of those times and seasons and marking them as sacred.
Including new material for all facets of the life-cycle, the impress Supplement is designed to fit into the existing guide (instructions are provided on the showtime page). The digital Supplement is available as a separate PDF or integrated into the original PDF transmission. In the Nativity section, there are prayers and rituals for people hoping to excogitate or experiencing miscarriage, premature birth, the illness of a child, or adopting an older child who is able to participate in the ceremony. There is unique liturgy for a wedlock that includes children, along with new rituals for divorce and ending relationships.
Expanding the Healing department are prayers for minor disease or injury, a sick child, eating disorders, habit, assault, and abortion. The Mourning department includes new meditations to address communal loss and the death of a hurtful parent along with a framework for the funeral of someone who died by suicide.
On the communal level, we are often called on to accost both our congregations and the communities in which we live. For the congregation, we included rituals such equally a reconsecration anniversary and a prayer for people leaving a customs. Outside the doors of the synagogue, there are rituals for people moving into or out of a residence, a child leaving home, people moving in together as a step in their relationship, and an individual entering long-term care. About of the Community department, though, is devoted to the difficult moments nosotros confront in the world. Organized into three parts—In Times of Fear, Acute Crisis, and When Healing Comes—at that place are multiple meditations and readings for a variety of difficult situations. Natural disasters, climate change, gun violence, racism, and antisemitism are specifically addressed.
The supplement reflects the inventiveness and generosity of CCAR members. Committee members Rabbis Carolyn Bricklin-Small, Alan Cook, Lisa Edwards, PhD, Jen Gubitz, Marc Katz, and Ben Zeidman, and CCAR editor Rabbi Sonja K. Pilz, PhD, were partners in seeking the moments to be reflected in the Supplement. Through searches of the CCAR and Women's Rabbinic Network Facebook pages, online requests, and direct questions posed to our colleagues, we created a list of the nigh needed blessings and readings. Nosotros then compiled these from various sources, with some previously published, only many others written specifically for the Supplement.
Colleagues who have solemnized these new life-bicycle moments contributed their wisdom. In particular, the Community section is a powerful drove of reflections from those who take been in the midst of crises. Their rituals and readings have been tested under difficult circumstances and generously shared. I am grateful to everyone who contributed to this Supplement and, especially, to the committee and to Rabbi Pilz for their effort and dedication. It is my promise that this Supplement moves u.s. towards finding and mark holiness in every time and season. I am adding the pages to my guide and know that they will exist part of many tender and intimate moments of my rabbinate in the years to come.
The Supplement to L'chol Z'man v'Eit is available as a impress and PDF bundle at ccarpress.org. It can also exist ordered together with the original edition in print, as a PDF, or as a print and digital bundle.
Rabbi Apr Davis is a rabbi at the Eye for Exploring Judaism at Fundamental Synagogue in New York Urban center
Information technology was Friday morning, the day after Yom Kippur. Even though we were exclusively worshiping on Zoom throughout the Loftier Holy Days, I felt a sense of peace and contentment, and a strong connection to the Temple Sholom family. All of our services were held using Visual T'filah. Without machzorim in hand, we were able to truly pray equally a community with our electronic devices. I was very tired after all the preparation leading upward to the Holy Days and after leading so many different types of services, simply Shabbat comes every week, prepare or not. I could have reused a previous Visual T'filah Shabbat service I had put together, but I had a stiff desire to create a new service. Then it dawned on me that crafting a Visual T'filah service is a form of praying for me, in and of itself.
I starting time with a set of Mishkan T'filah Visual T'filah slides from CCAR Printing, which have all the prayers from the prayer book. I focus on the service as a whole and explore the feeling I want the 24-hour interval's prayers to convey. What is going on in the earth around us? What inspiration can I glean from the Torah portion? Should the service be upbeat and celebratory, or more wistful and calming? What exercise we, as a customs, demand this particular Shabbat?
Next, I focus on 1 prayer at a time. What is this particular prayer saying to me today? I look through my collection of photographs and art to find the image that best portrays that feeling. I too search through my drove of music to find just the right tune to enhance the feeling of the prayer equally it speaks to me. Equally I work on each prayer slide, finding the best way to arrange the text around the picture, the words of the prayer permeate my soul. I am praying as I create each slide.
For example, the Mi Chamochah has many unlike melodies. Many of them are joyous. Others are more contemplative. The celebratory melodies reflect the excitement of the Israelites finally making information technology to the other shore and rejoicing in their newfound liberty. I run into the more contemplative melodies reflecting amazement and awe. "Wow. Did we actually arrive? Are nosotros really prophylactic now?" I choose a particular melody based on the emotion the congregation might most benefit from that Shabbat.
And so I attach a visual. I often employ visuals containing water for Mi Chamochah. Information technology doesn't have to be the Red Sea; it tin be a river or an body of water. The visual helps me—and the congregation—feel every bit if we were there with the Israelites on their journey. As I put each prayer slide together, playing the music to brand sure it goes with the visual, I discover myself praying the Mi Chamochah as I compose the slides. I feel completely immersed in the message of the prayer and feel connection to God through those words.
Some of the images I use are photos. Others are graphics. Sometimes I cull more abstruse images to allow for each person'southward imagination to explore the words of the reading or prayer.
Shabbat is near creation. In the Kiddush we read, Zikaron l'maaseih v'reishit —"A reminder of the work of Creation." Fabricated in the image of God, each Shabbat I create a prayer world, for myself, and for the congregation.
Rabbi Michele B. Medwin, DMin serves Temple Sholom in Monticello, New York. Her Mi Shebeirach Prayer for Chronic Illness appears in Mishkan R'fuah: Where Healing Resides, published past CCAR Printing.
The S'lichot prayers are traditionally recited on the Sat night earlier Rosh HaShanah to assistance gear up u.s. for the soul-searching and transformation that we hope to do during the High Holy Days. S'lichot is thus the opening scene of our efforts each Jewish year to build a life of meaning, a life of consequence.
We want to pause through the routines to which we have get accustomed. Equally we entered adulthood, nosotros developed certain habits that served us well at the time. Some of these are still valuable practices that serve important functions for one reason or another, merely many others are useless, pointless, or even counterproductive. Sometimes nosotros develop workarounds that achieve what needs to exist done in the moment merely not necessarily in the best way. There is a story nearly a person who takes their car to a mechanic because the brakes aren't working. When they come back the next twenty-four hours, the mechanic tells them "I couldn't prepare your brakes, only I made your horn louder." Isn't that what nosotros have often done when facing challenges in our lives? We did the best we could, patching things over in social club to conduct on.
Real change is hard. In fact, information technology's well-virtually incommunicable unless there is some sort of burning internal or external motivation. If the doc were to say to us, "You lot have 1 year to live," so we might go home and, after pouring ourselves a potent drink, really decide to modify everything, living in a completely dissimilar way than we had been upwardly to that betoken. At that place are other dramatic moments in life that can compel usa to spontaneously pass up everything that we have always washed and motion in a completely different direction.
Yet I don't think that S'lichot is trying to push u.s.a. to impetuously alter our lives 180 degrees in one evening. Then don't trade in your Ford Explorer for a Porsche. Don't purchase a airplane ticket to Bharat in order to spend the rest of your life in an ashram. Don't book your seat next to Elon Musk to fly off to Mars. Rather, I would argue that what Judaism is asking united states to practice on Due south'lichot evening is to evaluate and reevaluate our lives in club to endeavor to realize our full potential for lasting fulfillment.
Several years ago, I was the editor of a CCAR Printing book titled A Life of Meaning: Embracing Reform Judaism's Sacred Path. Our goal was to become people thinking about what Reform Judaism could mean in terms of how we find significant in our lives. Though published before the pandemic started, the chapters remain timely and relevant. As we enter a cogitating way during this S'lichot season, I promise this book tin inspire u.s. to create positive modify, both in our communities and in ourselves.
We are reminded past the words in the prayer book that we are granted the gift of life, a gift of uncertain duration simply of sure laborious attempt. However much we protestation or negotiate, this short fourth dimension is all we get. For many, fate overwhelms, truncates, or destroys their journey. To the best of our knowledge, this is the i life that nosotros accept, and we accept a sacred obligation to make the most of it. And so, allow u.s. pray that this new year 5782 may exist a year of wisdom caused and shared, a year of virtue and the strengthening of our characters, a year of mitzvot and the meaningful practise of ritual, and a year of community and the sharing of our delivery to making the world a better place. May God's presence in our lives this new year strengthen our souls and renew our spirits.
Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan, PhD, serves Temple Beth Shalom of the Westward Valley in Dominicus City, Arizona. He is the editor of A Life of Meaning: Embracing Reform Judaism's Sacred Path, published by CCAR Press.
Here we become again. It's just a few weeks from the High Holy Days, and hopes of worshiping in a mail-COVID world of congregational togetherness are speedily being dashed. Communities that planned to concur communal, indoor, and possibly maskless prayer services are reassessing. Whatever happens on the individual congregational level, it will be another year outside the premises of what we once idea every bit normal for holy day worship.
Nosotros have been dreaming of our spiritual reunion with each other for the upcoming holy days; that blessing appears to exist postponed. Peradventure, all the more than, we should pray for blessings across our wildest dreams. Nosotros know these are unprecedented times. About of us could non have imagined the losses and suffering that the pandemic would bring. For those of us who have lost friends or family unit to COVID—for those who lost income, livelihood, personal connections, mental health, stability—it can only be described as a nightmare.
This Rosh HaShanah, let us renew our hopes in large and beautiful dreams of peace, the kind of peace that means wholeness, health, renewal, vitality, and resilience.
To share that prayer together on Erev Rosh HaShanah 5782, Rebecca Schwartz, cantorial soloist at Congregation Kol Ami in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, created a new musical setting for my brusque prayer "Pervasive Peace." The prayer reads as follows:
Pervasive Peace
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ, אֱלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ וְאִמּוֹתֵֽינוּ
שֶׁהַשָּׁנָה הַבָּאָה תָּבִיא שָׁלוֹם מֻחְלָט וְשָׁלֵם
,עַל כָּל יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל
.מֵעֵֽבֶר לְכָל חֲלֹמוֹת הָאֱנוֹשׁוּת
Y'hi ratzon mil'fanecha, Elohei avoteinu v'imoteinu,
Shehashanah habaah tavi shalom muchlat v'shaleim
Al kol yosh'vei teiveil,
Mei-eiver l'chol chalomot haenoshut.
May it be Your will, God of our fathers and mothers,
That the year ahead bring a pervasive and consummate peace
On all the inhabitants of the earth,
Beyond all the dreams of humanity.
The prayer uses a classic conception—Y'hi ratzon mil'fanecha…, May it exist Your will…—imploring God for specific blessings. This formula is typically used in the Rosh HaShanah seder aslope dipping apples in honey, connecting the sweet ritual to the chain of traditional prayers for the New year.
"Pervasive Peace" was written earlier COVID, simply it took on a deeper significant of peace as healing medicine last twelvemonth as the Jewish community experienced our first pandemic Loftier Holy Days in lockdown. Information technology has, yet again, taken on a longing for renewal as we move toward our 2nd High Holy Days under returning public health restrictions.
Rebecca's music captures both the hope and the longing that the words are intended to convey. We envision cantors using the prayer to open up and ready the tone for Erev Rosh Hashanah. Hear Rebecca sing the music in this video. An MP3 file is available for download. The sheet music can exist purchased on oySongs.
Singing "Pervasive Peace" might also be paired with reading an associated prayer written last yr called "Wildly Unimaginable Blessings":
Wildly Unimaginable Blessings
Let united states of america dream
Wildly unimaginable blessings…
Blessings so unexpected,
Blessings and then across our hopes for this globe,
Blessings so unbelievable in this era,
That their very existence
Uplifts our vision of creation,
Our relationships to each other,
And our yearning for life itself.
Allow us dream
Wildly unimaginable blessings…
A complete healing of listen, body, and spirit,
A complete healing for all,
The end of suffering and strife,
The stop of plague and illness,
When kindness flows from the river of dearest,
When goodness flows from the river of grace,
Awakened in the spirit of all beings,
When God's light,
Radiating holiness
Is seen past anybody.
Let u.s. pray—
With all our hearts—
For wildly unimaginable blessings…
And so that God will hear the phone call
To open the gates of the Garden,
Seeing that we haven't waited,
That we've already begun to repair the world,
In testimony to our faith in life,
Our faith in each other,
And our faith in the Holy Ane,
Blessed exist God'south Proper name.
"Pervasive Peace" lyrics © 2019 past Alden Solovy, music © 2021 by Schwalkin Music (ASCAP).
"Wildly Unimaginable Blessings" © 2020 past Alden Solovy.
Alden Solovy is a liturgist based in Jerusalem. He is the author of This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day,This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings, andThis Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer, all published by CCAR Press. Read more of his writing at tobendlight.com .
Rebecca Schwartz is Cantorial Soloist and Music Director at Congregation Kol Ami in Elkins Park, PA. She is a professional person vocalizer, guitarist, and honor-winning songwriter. Hear more than of her music at rebeccasongs.com .
Sorrow and joy meet on Rosh Chodesh Av. Rosh Chodesh—the commencement of each new Hebrew month—is a pocket-size festival of rejoicing. We accept notation of the cycle of the moon, the grandeur of creation, and the gifts of God by signing Hallel Mizri, the Egyptian Hallel. At its core are Psalms 113 through 118.
There's a jarring dissimilarity between the joyous and oftentimes raucous singing of these psalms with the general mood of the period. Tishah B'Av, our national religious day of mourning, commemorates the devastation of both temples in Jerusalem. It's a 24-hour interval of tragedy and then profound in the optics of the rabbis of the Mishnah that they went to great lengths to attach other disasters to this date.
In Masechet Taanit 4:6, we read: "On the Ninth of Av it was decreed upon our ancestors that they would all dice [in the wilderness] and not enter the land; and the Temple was destroyed the get-go fourth dimension [by the Babylonians], and the second time [by the Romans]; and Beitar was captured; and the city [of Jerusalem] was plowed, as a sign that it would never be rebuilt."
The tradition of linking ending to Tishah B'Av continued in afterward periods. Some say that the Jews were expelled from England on Tishah B'Av in 1290 CE, that the deadline in 1492 on which Jews in Spain needed to leave or convert was Tishah B'Av, and that the Beginning Earth War began on Tishah B'Av.[ane] Perchance nearly startling: The Hebrew date that Treblinka began operations as a death army camp was Tishah B'Av.[two]
The Talmud decrees: "Non only does ane fast on the Ninth of Av, but from when the month of Av begins, one decreases acts of rejoicing."
Even before Av begins, some Jews observe a three-week period of mourning, called "The Iii Weeks," from 17 Tammuz until Tishah B'Av. The Mishnah relates that on 17 Tammuz five catastrophes also befell the Jewish people, and the day is observed past some every bit a minor fast.
Right in the heart of the three weeks, Rosh Chodesh is observed, every bit always, with vocal and praises. "Hallel in a Minor Key"—an alternative Hallel that I created with music past Sue Radner Horowitz—was written for moments like these, when joy and sorrow encounter.
This liturgy began with a question concluding winter: How can we sing God's praises fully as we move into the second yr of COVID-induced, socially distanced Passover seders? In the writing, the question expanded: How do we sing God's praises after a profound personal loss? How practice we praise God when our spiritual calendar places joy and sorrow side-past-side? How do nosotros observe a vocalisation of rejoicing when our hearts are in mourning?
My personal experience with this contrast still informs my writing. My wife Ami, z"50, died of traumatic brain injury simply before Passover. The religious expectation of our agenda was roughshod. Later on two days of shivah, nosotros were expected to shift into the spiritual joy of Pesach, celebrating our liberation from chains, singing Hallel as part of the Passover Seder and then again at services. Although it was twelve years agone, that experience of dissimilarity was a core motivator for creating this liturgy (read more than about the creation of "Hallel in a Modest Key" on RavBlog).
After Tishah B'Av, the rabbis have given usa 7 weeks of healing, seven weeks in which special haftarot of consolation are chanted. Hither are several prayers for the season:
- 17 Tammuz: "The Temple"
- Rosh Chodesh Av: "Hallel in a Pocket-size Key" (A PDF published past the Central Briefing of American Rabbis, including the canvas music, can be downloaded here.)
- Tishah B'Av: "In Sorrow" from This Grateful Eye: Psalms and Prayers for a New Twenty-four hour period (CCAR Press, 2017)
- Seven weeks of alleviation: "Tears, Too Close: A Prayer of Alleviation" from This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Verse and Prayer (CCAR Printing, 2021)
It is said that God permitted the destruction of the Second Temple because of sinat chinam, the groundless hatred of one Jew against another. Throughout this season, let us pray for the well-being of all of the people of Israel, and everyone, everywhere. "Let Tranquility Reign," from This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings, includes a line from Psalm 122: "For the sake of my comrades and companions I shall say: 'Peace be within you.' For the sake of the House of Adonai our God I volition seek your good."
Alden Solovy is a liturgist based in Jerusalem. His books includeThis Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day,This Joyous Soul: A New Vocalisation for Ancient Yearnings, andThis Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer, all published by CCAR Press.
[1] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/946703/jewish/What-Happened-on-the-Ninth-of-Av.htm
[2] https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/7-tragedies-that-befell-the-jewish-people-on-tisha-beav-598199
Rarely does 1 accept the opportunity to create a new edition of a book many in our movement accept grown upwards with: B'chol 50'vavcha: With All Your Centre: A Commentary on the Prayer Book, the beloved magnum opus of Rabbi Harvey J. Fields, z''fifty, who was a rabbi, teacher, and friend to many Reform rabbis, cantors, and congregants alike. His warm, articulate, and accessible writing provided introductions to and meditations on the major prayers of the previous Reform siddur, Gates of Prayer, for adults, teens, and children—equally useful in adult pedagogy, bar and bat mitzvah training, and religious school.
And it withal does. Notwithstanding, the third edition of B'chol L'vavcha, just released by CCAR Press, adds new layers of learning and instruction to the familiar volume. Many female and queer rabbis and teachers take plant their way onto the pages as commentators; the book itself is the product of the labors of one Reform cantor, Sarah Grabiner, and ii Reform rabbis, Hilly Haber and myself. Many gimmicky poems and prayers accept been added to bring diversity, new depths, new meanings, and new Torah to the familiar liturgy. Newly added sections—Kiddush and Havdalah—reflect today'south reality in which nosotros, as Reform Jews, practice not pray only in our synagogues, just just as often in our homes, particularly during the by pandemic twelvemonth. All the same, perchance the nearly bones but also the virtually remarkable change is the shift from the language and layout of Gates of Prayer to the words and aesthetics of Mishkan T'filah, making the third edition the perfect companion for any education on prayer, including iyunei t'filah.
Let me give you two examples:
Accompanying the Sh'ma, yous will find this prayerful version by Rabbi Emily Langowitz:
Sh'ma Listen.
Yisrael God-struggler.
Adonai Was-Is-WillBe
Eloheinu Is our God
Adonai Was-Is-WillBe
Echad Is One.
Listen, God-struggler. Was-Is-WillBe is a reflection of my own divinity. Was-Is-WillBe, the One who moves the universe, the One who knows that being tin never be static, the 1 in whose image I am fabricated, bears witness to my ain unity.
I requite thanks to that Spirit of life who allows for the continued revelation of self.
I marvel at the wonder of sexuality unfolding.
I elevator up the truth of all the ways I accept loved, do dear, will honey.
.בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָהּ, אַחְדוּת הָעוֹלָם, שֹֹֹֹּּּּוֹמַעַת הָאֱמֶת
B'ruchah at Yah, achdut ha-olam, shomaat ha-emet.
Blessed are You, Oneness of the world, who hears my Truth.[1]
And the book closes with a moving reflection by Rabbi Andrea Weiss, PhD, Provost at HUC-JIR:
Lech L'cha
Get forth on a journey.
Go by yourself.
Standing at a crossroad
You venture from the known to the unknown.
Some journeys must be fabricated alone.
Go to yourself:
Spiral inward and unwrap your by
And your potential.
Remember that the soul which you have made
Is unique and holy.
Go for yourself:
Odour the fragrance
Which spread across the land
As you roam and wander.
Refresh yourself
Nether the tree which grows by a spring
At the side of the route.
Make your name slap-up and
Make your life a approval.[2]
Go and have a look at this book, so that it can accompany you and your people on your journeys!
Rabbi Sonja K. Pilz, PhD, is the Editor at CCAR Press.
[1] Previously published in Mishkan Ga'avah: Where Pride Dwells , edited by Rabbi Denise Eger (New York: CCAR Printing, 2019). Copyright © 2019 by Emily Langowitz.
[two] Previously published in The Torah: A Women's Commentary (New York: CCAR Press and Women of Reform Judaism, 2008). Copyright © 2008 past Andrea Weiss.
We face another year of pandemic Passover. About congregations are still shuttered, and Pesach worship volition be remote and online. Seders will exist modest or socially distanced, a far cry from our usual crowded, joyous gatherings. Nevertheless, nosotros will withal sing Hallel, our liturgy of praises, as part of the Haggadah.
Hallel (praise), Psalms 113 to 118, is sung or recited in the synagogue on all festivals (including intermediate days), as well equally on Rosh Chodesh (the first day of a new month), on all eight days of Chanukah, and, in recent years, on Yom HaAtzma-ut (Israel's Independence Twenty-four hours). Hallel is too recited on the eve of Pesach during the seder.i
On these sacred days of communal rejoicing, nosotros are asked to fix aside our sorrows to praise God. Just how do we sing God's praises during a fourth dimension of catastrophe or pandemic? How do we sing God's praises after a profound personal loss?
Depending on personal practice—what one chooses to include in the seder, how often one goes to services, whether an private participates in two seder nights, and how many days are observed—Hallel tin can exist recited as many every bit x times during the festival flow.
This raised a difficult question for me every bit a liturgist. How can we sing God's praises fully as we motility into the 2d year of COVID-induced, socially distanced Passover seders? Could I find a liturgical response? Personally, I know how difficult this can be. My wife passed away the Shabbat before Passover twelve years agone, and the shivah ended abruptly after merely two days.
I began by rereading all my prayers written about COVID and came across a line in a slice called "These Vows: A COVID Kol Nidre." A line from it reads: "How I wish to sing in the primal of Lamentations." From there, the thought for "Hallel in a Small Key" was built-in.
As I started writing, it became important to me to create a liturgy that was robust enough to stand every bit a full alternative Hallel, reflecting praise in the midst of heartbreak and sorrow. To me, this meant two things. First, I wanted to make sure that each psalm in the classic Hallel was represented by at least one Hebrew line in this liturgy. Second, I wanted to include the sections for waving the lulav in this liturgy, to ensure that information technology could exist used on Sukkot past those with that practise.
Notwithstanding, something was missing—music specific to this liturgy. Song is a vital part of the public recitation of Hallel, and it serves to create a personal connexion with prayer. So, I adjusted the opening poem into lyrics—conveying the aforementioned name equally the entire liturgy—and began searching for someone to etch the music. I listened to a lot of Jewish music online, starting with my small circle of musician friends. When I heard Sue Radner Horowitz's Pitchu Li, my search for a musician was over.
"Hallel in a Small-scale Key" begins in minor, but mid-chorus, with words of hope, it switches to a major key. In discussing the music, nosotros both felt it was important to follow the tradition of catastrophe even the most hard texts with notes of hopefulness. Indeed, the shift reflects our prayer that sorrows can exist the doorway to greater love, peace, and—eventually—to growth, healing, and joy.
We as well talked about drawing on Eichah trope—used to dirge Lamentations on Tishah B'Av, as well as the haftarah on that day—as a musical influence. This thought follows the tradition of bringing Eichah trope into other texts every bit a sort of musical punctuation. Many will recall its apply in M'gillat Esther on Purim. Eichah trope is also traditionally used during the chanting of Deuteronomy 1:12, as well as in selected lines from the associated haftarah for Parashat D'varim, Isaiah i:ane–27. Sue wove hints of "the trope of Lamentations" into the chorus melody of "Hallel in a Minor Key."
A PDF of the liturgy, including sheet music, tin can be downloaded here. You lot tin hear a recording of the music here. Sue'south rendition of Pitchu Li, written prior to this liturgy, is besides included equally role of "Hallel in a Minor Fundamental." That music tin exist found on her album Eleven Doors Open.
This is our gift to the Jewish world for all the many blessings yous have bestowed upon us. Nosotros offering it with a blessing. We encourage you to add together music or additional readings that would add together significant to your worship. If you use the liturgy in your worship, nosotros'd dearest to hear from you lot. You may achieve Alden at asolovy545@gmail.com and Sue at srrhorowitz@gmail.com.
Portions of "Hallel in a Small Primal" were first presented during a Ritualwell online event, "Refuah Shleimah: A Healing Ritual Marking a Twelvemonth of Pandemic." Portions were likewise shared in a workshop session at the 2021 CCAR Convention, held online.
Alden Solovy is a liturgist based in Jerusalem. His books include This Grateful Center: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day, This Joyous Soul: A New Vocalisation for Ancient Yearnings, and This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer, all published past CCAR Press.
ane Rabbi Richard Sarason PhD, Divrei Mishkan T'Filah: Delving into the Siddur (CCAR Press, 2018), 190.
As Reform rabbis, we unequivocally oppose today'south tragic insurrection and set on on the U.S. Capitol and on American democracy. We pray for peace in our nation's majuscule, for the safety of all, and for an finish to the treacherous and divisive demagoguery that threatens our precious democracy and is a rejection of our foundational American values.
We're grateful to Rabbi Barry Block for penning this prayer for a nation in crisis.
Gracious God,
We come before You as supplicants today,
Seeking comfort and promise,
Every bit terror reigns at our nation's Capitol,
Spreading fears of violence throughout our land.
We beseech You on this terrifying twenty-four hours:
Spread your shelter of peace
Over the United states of america of America,
Upon all who dwell within its borders.
Embolden every American
To defend commonwealth,
To uphold our Constitution,
To protect the Showtime Subpoena right to assemble in protest,
And to eschew violence and mayhem.
Sustain us in faith
That the "better angels of our nature"[i] will be victorious,
That republic will triumph,
That peace will prevail.
Bless the Capitol Police,
And all who are entrusted with restoring peace in Washington
And throughout this land.
Grant wisdom to
The President,
The Vice-President,
And to every Senator and Member of Congress.
Exist with the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect,
Charged with unifying
This divided country
In the days and weeks alee.
We Jews have ever been
"Prisoners of promise."[ii]
Restore us to hope today.
Grant united states trust,
Even on a terrible day,
That we may look forrad to a new day dawning,
Rapidly and soon.
Amen.
—
Rabbi Barry H. Block serves Congregation B'nai Israel in Trivial Rock, Arkansas. A fellow member of the CCAR Lath, he is the editor of The Mussar Torah Commentary, CCAR Press, 2020.
[i] President Abraham Lincoln, Start Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.
[ii] Zechariah 9:12.
"One should follow the attributes of the Holy 1 of Blessing…But as the Holy One of Approval visits the sick every bit it is written with regard to God'due south appearing to Abraham post-obit his circumcision: 'And the Eternal appeared unto him past the terebinths of Mamre' (Genesis 18:1), then too, should you visit the sick." (Sotah 14a)
Bikur cholim is, of class, a large part of our job as rabbis, particularly these days during the midst of the pandemic. And the visiting is difficult, considering it is all virtual. We don't get to be like God and visit Abraham while he was sunning himself outside his tent as he healed from his formal, ritual entry into the b'rit with God. And nevertheless, nosotros know how important our presence is, even an online one or a telephone call. The visit is existent, even if the technology is virtual.
Every bit someone with chronic illnesses, both "physical" and mental, I am oft on the receiving end of bikur cholim. Whenever I am in the hospital, I always ask for a visit from the chaplain function, Jewish or not; I like a chance to talk theology and theodicy, and I detect relief in a visitor that is concerned for me, but not then upset at my illness that I accept to condolement them in render. Over the years, I have (equally I am sure many of you have), collected favorite "what non to say" sayings. Ane chaplain (a lay person, not Jewish) came into my room as I was recovering from a medication reaction. With a big smile, she said, "Hullo, I'm Marie, from the chaplains office. I understand yous are Jewish. I beloved the Jews!" Information technology's hard to follow upwardly on that. I mean, I want to be loved, simply…
We all know, at to the lowest degree in theory, that bikur cholim is all about the "I-One thousand" moment, the being together, person-to-person, recognizing the Divine in the other, and opening ourselves up to the other, to adventure showing who nosotros are, the Divine in ourselves. And truly doing that, creating that safe, gentle holding infinite for the sick person to just be—well, that, after a while may exist, non merely moving and profound, but also exhausting. Being vulnerable is risky; information technology may be frightening. And in the midst of all the other things ane has to do these days merely to keep one's congregation, one's nursing habitation or other chore role, summoning all that energy to be fully present when calling/ Zooming with yet some other sick person may simply feel similar too much.
Instead, we text or email: "I'1000 thinking of you. R'fuah sh'leimah." And that is not zippo. Existence remembered matters, at to the lowest degree to me, when I am ill. It is non, however, the aforementioned as the gift of your presence—even if our time together is only a short phone phone call. The warmth of your voice on the phone (even but a message on my voicemail) feels healing, and I salve information technology for months to play back in hard moments; if nosotros actually connect, you lot might make me laugh for a moment or permit me cry in your presence. All of this matters more than y'all can imagine.
And all the more than then when my illness is psychological and non just physical. From the depths of my depression, I practise not have the energy to attain out, to figure out what I need and inquire for the help I need. When you extend your mitt, information technology tin be a lifeline into my completeness.
In the time that I have been struggling with my depression (over 35 years and counting!), likewise as my struggles physically with my stroke and its backwash, I have been visited by rabbis and friends of all sorts. And so many of them, of you, accept talked with me, fabricated jokes, sat with me in silence (although most people find that difficult to do, it is necessary at times; a good thing to think!). And many, virtually all of the rabbis, every bit well equally my best friend, who is an Episcopal priest, have offered to pray for me, to put me on their Mi Shebeirach list. I was, and am, always grateful for that; praying for me, for anyone, is, in my belief, is a way of placing me, metaphorically, from one's eye into God'south hand. Just in that time, merely one person, a rabbinic friend, has ever offered to pray WITH me at that moment.
And that is besides what I needed. When I am depressed, information technology is not just that God feels hard to achieve. It is that when I reach out to God, I experience a deep, dark, whirling abyss, and I fear that I shall fall into in, falling forever into nothingness. I can't pray. But if someone were to pray with me (and sometimes I find the strength to ask a clergy friend to pray with me), then I have a hand to hold. My theology, my belief feels tenuous at all-time, only when you pray with me, I can lean on your faith, as it were, if merely for a moment. And that is a blessing.
I know it might experience awkward to inquire each person: would you like me to say a prayer with yous? But if you don't enquire, you lot don't know. Some people might just like to say the Sh'ma together, or sing whatever Mi Shebeirach your community is using, while others might like a Psalm or a prayer you make up in the moment, just for that person or family. Peculiarly in these days, when we cannot hold the mitt of the person nosotros are visiting, offering a prayer every bit part of our bikur cholim may exist yet another fashion of connecting with those who are hurting. It is bringing the Holy One of Blessing correct there, into the FaceTime phone call.
Rabbi Sandra Cohen teaches rabbinic texts, provides pastoral care, and works in mental health outreach, offering national scholar-in-residence programs. She and her husband alive in Denver, Colorado. She may exist reached at ravsjcohen@gmail.com
Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar is a poet, spiritual counselor, inspirational speaker, and author of CCAR Press publications Omer: A Counting, published in 2014, andAmen: Seeking Presence with Prayer, Verse, and Mindfulness Practice, published in 2019.In this unprecendented fourth dimension of senseless racist killing, violence, and unrest, she shares a prayer for courage, originally published in Amen.
Holy One of Approving,
grant us the courage and resolve
to speak when there is hatred,
to act when there is confusion,
to join with others in building a world of safety,
agreement, and acceptance.
Because there is hate, dear God,
assistance usa heal our fractured and broken world.
Because there is fright, dear God,
grant backbone and faith to those in demand.
Considering there is hurting, love God,
bring healing to the shattered and wounded.
Considering there is promise, dear God,
teach us to be a strength for justice and kindness.
Considering at that place is love, dear God,
help u.s. to be a beacon of light and compassion.
Equally it is written:
Be potent and let your heart accept courage. (Joshua 1:6)
Depart from evil, do expert, seek peace and pursue information technology. (Psalm 34:fifteen)
Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar is the senior rabbi at Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Deerfield, Illinois.
Source: https://ravblog.ccarnet.org/tag/prayer/
0 Response to "2017 Reform Judaism Rosh Hashanah Online Prayer Book Readings"
Post a Comment