Category: Prayer

Categories
Books CCAR Press Prayer

Introducing ‘Mishkan T’filah: Siddur for Shabbat Evening,’ New from CCAR Press

Mishkan T’filah: Siddur for Shabbat Evening, edited by Rafael Chaiken, Rabbi Hara E. Person, and Rabbi Annie Villarreal-Belford (left to right), offers a refreshed and updated approach to Shabbat evening worship, building on the foundation of Mishkan T’filah and Mishkan HaNefesh. In this excerpt from the introduction, the editors reflect on the evolution of Reform worship and the values and innovations that shaped this new siddur.

The publication of Mishkan T’filah: A Reform Siddur in 2007, led by editor Rabbi Elyse D. Frishman, was a watershed moment. Its innovative design, gender inclusivity, theological diversity, and use of creative alternative options transformed Reform worship as it spread across Jewish communities. It launched a new series of liturgical publications from CCAR Press, most notably Mishkan HaNefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe, published in 2015.

Now that nearly twenty years have passed since Mishkan T’filah was released, the time has come for a refreshed and updated version of the prayer book. Mishkan T’filah: Siddur for Shabbat Evening is built on the solid foundation of the original Mishkan T’filah and the beautiful scaffolding created by Mishkan HaNefesh, combining beloved elements of each. The design and philosophy of these revolutionary volumes informed every decision that led to this new edition. The volume presents a lightweight siddur for Shabbat evening, including the full Kabbalat Shabbat and Arvit liturgy along with a Torah service for communities that read the Torah on Friday night. The siddur maintains Mishkan T’filah’s dynamic two-page spread, with the Hebrew, English transliteration, and faithful English translation on the right-hand side, and creative English interpretations on the left. New material from a wide variety of sources has been added, while some favorite readings from the original Mishkan T’filah are retained.

In addition to refreshing Mishkan T’filah’s groundbreaking layout in the style of Mishkan HaNefesh, this edition borrows the machzor’s elegant new translations by Rabbi Janet Marder and Rabbi Sheldon Marder. As they wrote in the introduction to Mishkan HaNefesh, these are “original, faithful translations. This means that we render texts ‘idea for idea’ or ‘feeling for feeling’ instead of ‘word for word.’ And it means that we may use an English idiom that differs from the original idiom. Our goal is to convey the intention of the Hebrew prayer and its impact, though a given English word may not match a dictionary gloss of the corresponding Hebrew word. Fidelity in the translation of a prayer book requires faithfulness also to the overall experience of Jewish worship.” The shading of the pages, an innovation of Mishkan HaNefesh, is introduced here in order to highlight that these are creative options to complement the original Hebrew text.

One of the guiding values of this edition remains the same as the original Mishkan T’filah—a commitment to diversity and inclusivity. Since Mishkan T’filah was introduced, much has changed in our culture, including a broadened understanding of gender identity and expression. To that end, Mishkan T’filah: Siddur for Shabbat Evening does not include gendered language in translations (for example, the Hebrew word achim, previously translated “brothers and sisters,” is translated here without gender specificity). Nonbinary Hebrew options are also included for Birkat Kohanim—the Priestly Blessing—and a new prayer for healing, El Na R’fa Na Le.

This siddur includes the entirety of the psalms of Kabbalat Shabbat, allowing for additional musical settings of Shabbat liturgy and broadening the options for exploring this part of the worship service. The translations of these psalms rely on Rabbi Richard N. Levy’s Songs Ascending: The Book of Psalms, a New Translation with Textual and Spiritual Commentary (CCAR Press, 2017) with additional inspiration from the translations in The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (Jewish Publication Society, 2023). Rabbi Richard Sarason, PhD, provided invaluable guidance in making these translations as accurate and clear as possible. This edition also includes a variety of songs that have become popular for worship in recent decades, many of which are printed on the left-side pages for convenience. The text of Y’did Nefesh now reflects the author’s original manuscript.

We hope this siddur will bring renewed meaning, fresh melodies, and a sense of joy to your Shabbat prayer.

Learn more about Mishkan T’filah: Siddur for Shabbat Evening at ccarpress.org. Discounts are available for congregations, Hillels, camps, and other organizations.

Rafael Chaiken is the Director of CCAR Press. Books he has published have been winners or finalists for the National Jewish Book Awards, Jordan Schnitzer Book Awards, Foreword Indies Book of the Year, Independent Publisher Book Awards, and Canadian Jewish Literary Awards.

Rabbi Hara E. Person is the Chief Executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. She is the coeditor of Mishkan HaSeder: A Passover Haggadah, managing editor of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, and executive editor of Mishkan HaNefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe.

Rabbi Annie Villarreal-Belford is the Editor at CCAR Press. She served congregations in Missouri and Texas and holds a doctorate in Pastoral Logotherapy from the Graduate Theological Foundation.

Categories
Prayer

Jewish Blessings and Readings for the 25th Anniversary of the September 11 Attacks

Twenty-five years ago, on September 11, 2001, 2,977 people lost their lives at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Virginia, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in the most fatal act of terror on American soil. 

Twenty-five years later, we stand at the precipice of another year, as we welcome Rosh HaShanah at the same time that we remember one of the greatest tragedies of our time. 

Below, the Central Conference of American Rabbis has compiled prayers and readings by CCAR rabbis and CCAR Press authors to mark the 25th anniversary of September 11 and Rosh HaShanah. They may be included in services and ceremonies with attribution.

May these words remind us of the power of gathering in community, of renewing each other’s hope, of remembrance and reflection, and of moving forward—together.

Excerpt from “September 11, 2001: Crossing the Narrow Bridge,” by Rabbi Serge Lippe

“We began Rosh HaShanah services by singing the song ‘Kol HaOlam Kulo Gesher T’zar M’od’ based on the teaching of Reb Nachman of Bratzlav. The song is usually translated as ‘The entire world is but a narrow bridge the most important thing is not to be afraid at all.’

Reb Nachman’s original text isn’t about denying fear. It is about not allowing fear to freeze us in place.

I’m not sure how long we sang together, but it was a good while. I think every one of us felt caught up in the power of that song. Connected and reflective. Exercising spiritual muscles that had been locked and rigid for the past week. I could not move forward, I could not grieve, and I certainly could not comfort or lead if I remained locked in place denying, avoiding my own fear, pain, and loss. None of us can. 

Singing that song, I realized: We were in this together. My fears were real, but now acknowledged and shared with those who would help me—even as I helped them cross the bridge.”
—Rabbi Serge A. Lippe, from The Sacred Struggle: Jewish Responses to Trauma, edited by Rabbi Lindsey Danziger and Rabbi Benjamin David

Two Candles

On Shabbat we light two candles, one for
remembering Shabbat and one for observing Shabbat.
Today, we light two candles.
This one for Building One, This one for Building Two,
This one for the Pentagon and this one for Pittsburgh,
This one for the hundreds of firefighters and this one for the hundreds of police,
This one for all the men and this one for all the women
This one for all the girls and this one for all the boys,
And these candles for the husband and wife who leapt out of
the tower holding hands,
This one for our luck running out, this one for the New York skyline,
This one for the walking wounded, this one for the critically wounded,
This one for the survivors, this one for the dead,
This candle for Building One, this candle for Building Two.
—Rabbi Zoë Klein Miles; used by permission.

When Evil Darkens Our World

When evil darkens our world, let us be the bearers of light.
When fists are clenched in self-righteous rage, let our hands be open for the sake of peace.
When injustice slams doors on the ill, the poor, the old, and the stranger, let us pry the doors open.
Where shelter is lacking, let us be builders.
Where food and clothing are needed, let us be providers.
Where knowledge is denied, let us be champions of learning.
When dissent is stifled, let our voices speak truth to power.
When the earth and its creatures are threatened, let us be their guardians.
When bias, greed, and bigotry erode our country’s values, let us proclaim liberty throughout the land.
In the places where no one acts like a human being, let us bring courage; let us bring compassion; let us bring humanity.
—Rabbi Chaim Stern, z”l, from Mishkan HaNefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe

A Prayer for Nonviolence

God of life and Maker of all creation, every act of violence in our world, in our communities, and in our homes, destroys a part of Your creation. 
Stir in our hearts a renewed sense of reverence for all life. 
Give us the vision, the wisdom, and the courage
to create a community of safety for our children. 
Guide us in Your ways so that we may break the cycle of violence. 

This we believe: that peace, love, and healing begin with us. 

Tonight, let us begin.
Amen.
—Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar, from Amen: Seeking Presence with Prayer, Poetry, and Mindfulness Practice

A Prayer of Courage and Consolation 

Holy one of blessing,
grant us the will to stand firm
in the face of evil and hostility,
not to be silent or afraid.
To work diligently and faithfully
to banish wickedness from the earth.

Holy One of Blessing,
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,
understanding, and acceptance.

Because there is hate, dear God, help us heal our fractured and broken world.

Because there is fear, dear God, grant courage and faith to those in need.

Because there is pain, dear God, bring healing to the shattered and wounded.

Because there is hope, dear God, teach us to be a force for justice and kindness.

Because there is love, dear God, help us to be a beacon of light and compassion.

As it is written:
Be strong and let your heart have courage. (Joshua 1:6)
Depart from evil, do good, seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:15)
—Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar, from Amen: Seeking Presence with Prayer, Poetry, and Mindfulness Practice

At the Hand of Terror: A 9-11 Memorial Prayer

Source and shelter,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To those who died in the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Remember the works of their hands
And the message of their hearts.
Grant their families peace and comfort for Your name’s sake
And for the sake of those who perished.
Bring an end to violence and terror,
Speedily, in our days.
May their memories be sanctified with joy and love.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.
—Alden Solovy, tobendlight.com; used with permission.

Categories
CCAR Press Israel Poetry Prayer

El Malei Rachamim for October 7

Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar shares this poem to commemorate one year since the October 7 attacks. It is entitled El Malei Rachamim (“Merciful God”) after the traditional Jewish memorial prayer. CCAR Press has also put together a full collection of poems, prayers, and readings to mark one year since October 7. Download the collection here.

El Malei Rachamim

In blessed memory of you

hiding in the fields and bushes,
and the joggers out for a run,
and the moms and dads making breakfast for their toddlers in their kitchens,
and the parents in their safe rooms, holding the door handles for hours,
and the babies—innocent infants—and the grandfathers, and the grandmothers,
and entire families, parents watching their children die, children watching their parents,
and entire neighborhoods of young adults who were waiting to begin their lives,
and you, the brave, throwing hand grenades back out of the shelters without doors
over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again,
and you, the courageous, who ran towards the carnage to save who you could over again,
and you who were trapped in hundreds of incinerated cars,
and the fathers who frantically drove from the north to find their children
who cried, Abba, they are near, and I’ve been shot, find me,
and the friends who escaped but returned to rescue their friends and were killed,
and you who were raped and maimed and mutilated,
and you, who danced as the sun rose and will never see another sunrise and never dance again,
and the hostages stolen, beaten, tortured, starved, kept in dark tunnels and family homes,
and killed cruelly in captivity,
and the young women who stood guard on the towers over Gaza and who watched from screens
in darkened rooms showing us, warning us, and were ignored, and were slaughtered,
and the civilian guard who held the line to the last bullet without help for hours,
and the brave police who fought to the end, and the superheroes of the Israel Defense Forces,
valiant, brave lions of Judah…

Your lives were brutally taken on October 7, 2023 and in the relentless aftermath.
El malei rachmim, have compassion upon your souls,
El malei rachmim, have compassion upon our broken hearts.

Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar is Rabbi Emerita at Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Deerfield, Illinois. She is the author of Omer: A Counting and Amen: Seeking Presence with Prayer, Poetry, and Mindfulness Practice, both from CCAR Press.

Categories
Books CCAR Press Prayer Rituals

A Year of Spiritual Practice: Rabbi Debra Robbins on ‘New Each Day’

Rabbi Debra J. Robbins is the author of New Each Day: A Spiritual Practice for Reading Psalms, recently published by CCAR Press. In this interview, she discusses how this book differs from her first volume focused on Psalm 27, the musical accompaniments written to complement the daily psalms, and how readers can engage with psalms in their own lives.

What inspired you to write New Each Day?

The readers of Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27 inspired and encouraged me to write New Each Day. It was so gratifying that people found the daily practice of reading Psalm 27 over a seven-week period so meaningful that they wanted to continue their connections to psalms and their spiritual experiences throughout the year. I felt Shir Shel Yom, the daily psalms of our tradition, might be meaningful.

What was the most challenging part of creating this book?

There were two challenging experiences in working on this book. First, it was important to make the introduction new and fresh while maintaining the core of the spiritual practice laid out in the first book. I was able to address this challenge by learning a lot more about other authors’ writing practices, and I was able to enrich the introduction by doing research about how the seven psalms were selected and understood across history. The second challenging experience was how hard some psalms are to understand and confront over and over again. I found this especially with Psalm 94 for Wednesday. I just kept reading it, writing about it, and trying to find inspiration in it for my life and our world.

Cantor Richard Cohn wrote and recorded nigunim to complement the written text of New Each Day. How does music contribute to the book’s spiritual practice?

As Richard and I write about in the book and as we’ve taught, music helps our minds and hearts encounter sacred texts in new and inspiring ways. The suite of nigunim build upon each other and come to manifest qualities of each day in the cycle. As he writes in the Composer’s Commentary, “the seven nigunim are offered as a scaffolding…the meaning or significance…will emerge organically…”

New Each Day is your second volume with CCAR Press; both focus on a psalm practice. How does this new book differ from Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27?

New Each Day is different from Opening Your Heart primarily because it provides an opportunity to read and write, and sit and sing, with eight different psalms (seven for the days of the week and for the start of each month) instead of only one psalm over seven weeks. The spiritual practice is the same, but the organizing structure is a bit more complex to navigate. I think we developed tools to help the reader easily make their way through each month. The Opening Your Heart app has a variety of musical settings for verses of Psalm 27, as well as prompts for writing, and photographs to accompany each Reflection for Focus. I hope someday we might have these resources for New Each Day as they have been very popular with readers.

How do you recommend that readers use New Each Day?

There are many ways to use New Each Day. It was designed to be used for daily practice, following the flow of the designated psalms throughout the week and then back again, with each new month punctuated with Psalm 104, and a thematic Reflection for Focus. It can also be used monthly, using only the Psalm 104 section, or it can be used as an anthology to explore and reflect on a range of emotional, spiritual, and intellectual ideas, all raised by the ancient psalms and deeply resonant with our modern world. I look forward to hearing more from readers about how they are using the book!

Rabbi Debra J. Robbins serves Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas. She is the author of Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27: A Spiritual Practice for the Jewish New Year and New Each Day: A Spiritual Practice for Reading Psalms, both from CCAR Press.

Categories
CCAR Press High Holy Days Prayer Technology

‘Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27’: What Will Season Five Bring?

It’s been four years since the publication of Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27: A Spiritual Practice for the Jewish New Year by CCAR Press. I have not only been blessed to engage in this work myself, but I also have been able to share it with my congregation and students around the world, sometimes in person, and more often and regularly, online. As Elul’s 2023 season of reflection and renewal begins, I am preparing to see this psalm and myself as new, yet linked eternally to the past. This is your invitation to the practice.

The month of Elul begins on Friday, August 18, and with it the daily practice of reading Psalm 27 for seven weeks—from the arrival of the month to the close of the festival season on Simchat Torah. With only fourteen verses and 149 Hebrew words (roughly two hundred in English depending on the translation), it’s a psalm to savor. Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav understood the danger of the twenty-first-century binge when he wrote, “…But even if you are not motivated to t’shuvah”—the spiritual work of turning, changing, being at one with oneself, others, and God—“. . . the regular recitation of Psalms will lead you to awakening; you will come to the gates of t’shuvah and find the key to open its closed gates. In this manner you will attain complete t’shuvah.”[1] It does not matter if we read or sing, in Hebrew or English. What matters is that we engage with Psalm 27 slowly over the seven week season; in this way, the psalm holds the keys to open the gates of the heart.

At this season of the year, I try to be a strict adherent of the poet Wendell Berry’s advice, “Breathe with unconditional breath the unconditioned air … stay away from screens…”[2] It’s not easy to stay away from the phone or computer screens, but I am successful in staying away from television screens. I don’t watch much TV to begin with, but there are times when I miss an entire season of a show and binge-watch it to catch up. The seasons of TV shows, going back to school, even vacation, have become linked to frenzied rushed behavior rather than an embrace of the unfolding evolution of seasons in nature or the healthy pace of this sacred High Holy Day season in our Jewish tradition. Each season of the year is different, just like each year is unique, and so too our experience with Psalm 27, year after year, or for the first time.

Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27 was published in 2019, and Season 1 began with celebratory singing and chanting[3] at each private reading and public gathering. Season 2 launched in Elul 2020 as the COVID pandemic pushed us apart. Words of Psalm 27 shared weekly online were a light and a salvation,[4] and in those moments we were not abandoned.[5]

The Psalm 27: Opening Your Heart app arrived in time for of Season 3 in 2021, bringing photographs, music, multiple voices, and gentle guidance to the sacred work. There were still enemies roundabout[6] and each day was chaotic[7] but from our Zoom boxes we saw God’s face[8] in each other; this gave us hope and courage to continue to wait[9] until we could be together in person again. By the start of Season 4 we were confident that we could make our way along an apparent path[10]; each of us and each word of Psalm 27 could be new each day.

And what to expect in Season 5? Surely the original characters of fear and doubt will reemerge from their hiding places[11], and alongside them, courage and hope.[12] Season 5 is also Season 1, meaning it doesn’t matter whether you’ve been reading the psalm for five years or fifty years. In this 2023 season, it is: fresh and new, an invitation to rest on a rock[13], seek shelter in a sacred place[14], lift the head and raise the gaze[15], to offer an offering[16] in song or deed, to seek out a new upright road[17] and to continue to wait and hope, to do the spiritual work and find the keys to open the heart in this new year.

Any season was and is a great time to begin the practice, and any day is great. It is never too late and never too early, and there’s no need to catch up or cram. This season is a gift of our tradition, a time to lounge and linger with the language of Psalm 27, finding in it the keys to open the gates of memory and tears, of gratitude and faith, of t’shuvah and transformation.

Rabbi Debra J. Robbins serves Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas. She is the author of Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27: A Spiritual Practice for the Jewish New Year and the app that accompanies it, Psalm 27: Opening Your Heart. Her second book, New Each Day: A Spiritual Practice for Reading Psalms, will be available from CCAR Press in December 2023.

[1] Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, Kitzur Likutei Moharan, PartII 73:1. Poetic translation by Rabbi Jonathan P. Slater.

[2] Wendell Berry, “How to Be a Poet (to remind myself),” in Given (Washington, DC: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2005), p. 18.

[3] Psalm 27:6

[4] Psalm 27:1

[5] Psalm 27:9

[6] Psalm 27:6

[7] Psalm 27:5

[8] Psalm 27:8

[9] Psalm 27:14

[10] Psalm 27:11

[11] Psalm 27:11

[12] Psalm 27:14

[13] Psalm 27:5

[14] Psalm 27:5

[15] Psalm 27:6

[16] Psalm 27:6

[17] Psalm 27:11

Categories
Israel Poetry Prayer

Praises in Peril: Singing Hallel during Israel’s Judicial Crisis

Liturgist and poet Alden Solovy discusses the challenge of praising God during a period of political distress and uncertainty.

A strangely festive undertone animates the weekly Saturday evening demonstrations against the so-called judicial reforms here in Jerusalem. I’ve attended many of these protests in the thirty-two weeks since they began in January.

The post-Shabbat protests outside the president’s residence have become a place to catch up with neighbors and friends, hear music, cheer for speakers, blow kazoos in call and response with a circle of drummers, and chant slogans with enthusiasm.

Most of the demonstrations across the country occur without incident, while some have been marred by police violence and attacks on protesters, typically when major news breaks about the government’s relentless attempts to eviscerate the Israeli justice system or when protesters seek out government officials at their homes or when they are out in the field on government business. Here in Jerusalem, the typical mood at the weekly demonstrations is a strange combination of upbeat enthusiasm and downbeat disappointment, anger, and fear.

This dichotomy is manifested by the costumes that some protesters wear. While some are humorous digs at the government—a clown on stilts and various wild animals, for example—others are deadly serious, like the women dressed as “Handmaid” characters from The Handmaid’s Tale, silently calling attention to the potential of the “reforms” to erode women’s rights.

Photo courtesy of Mike Sager

In spite of the onset of “protest fatigue,” people are still coming out to demonstrate. Each week, the protests take on a different tenor. Two weeks ago, around the country, the mood was more somber. In Jerusalem, the musical act was eliminated from the program in respect after a terror attack in Tel Aviv earlier in the day. We sang Hatikvah (“The Hope”), Israel’s national anthem, at the end of the rally and went home early.

The leaders have called the weekly protests a “festival of democracy”—a festival that comes hand in hand with dark fears for the future of the State.

Jews around the world will soon bring in the new month of Elul, beginning a forty-day period of introspection and change including the High Holy Days. Our traditional t’filah for Rosh Chodesh includes singing Hallel, psalms of praise and rejoicing.

How can we rejoice in the face of this deep fear, pain, and sorrow for the State of Israel? Much like the somber realities combining with the festive atmosphere of many of the protests, this year the traditional Hallel may need a more layered and nuanced set of emotions.

Two and a half years ago—in the heart of the pandemic—I asked a similar question in the context of COVID and the approaching Passover seders, during which Hallel is also recited. How can we sing Hallel with a full heart at socially distanced seders? I crafted an alternative called “Hallel in a Minor Key,” inviting singer-songwriter Sue Horowitz to compose music for the opening poem. Partnering with the CCAR, Sue and I offered the liturgy as a thank-you gift to the congregations, rabbis, cantors, and spiritual leaders who have used our work.

We offer this liturgy to you again in answer to a new question: How do we recite Hallel as we fear for the future of the State of Israel? You can download a PDF of the full liturgy, along with the sheet music. You can also download a recording of the music. Read about the spiritual and musical influences behind this liturgy in our original RavBlog post “Hallel in a Minor Key.”

We encourage you to add music or additional readings that would deepen the meaning of your worship. If you use this liturgy, we’d love to hear from you. Reach Alden at asolovy54@gmail.com and Sue at srrhorowitz@gmail.com.

Alden Solovy is a liturgist who made aliyah to Jerusalem in 2012. He is the author of This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings, This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine in Poetry and Prayer, and These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah, all published by CCAR Press.

Categories
Inclusion interfaith Prayer

Blessing for a B”Mitzvah by Non-Jewish Family Members

I am the rabbi of a tiny community in the Rocky Mountains of Montana—the largest congregation in the state. Easily over eighty percent of our members have intermarried. Non-Jewish family members and friends are part of the life of my community.

B”Mitzvahs have become moments of interest to me. They are large gatherings with guests from all over the country. They obviously mean a lot to my families and their relatives, who almost always are excited to be a part of the service—and who cry no less than their Jewish family! They also are, by very nature, moments of commitment and exclusivity.

In thinking about a possible way for non-Jewish family members and friends to accompany, celebrate, and support their grandchildren, nephews and nieces, cousins, and friends, I wrote the following blessing.

Blessing for a B”Mitzvah by Non-Jewish Family Members

For generations, each member of our family has paved their own road.

Whenever we come together, we celebrate the vastness of our traditions, the depth of our stories, and the care that connects us.

On this day, you are taking upon yourself a heritage older than most others on this planet.

From this day on, you are a bearer of Torah, one of the sacred books of humanity.

We see that you are strong, wise, and ready to hold on to this book and make its teachings part of your own story.

We are proud of your pride in being Jewish.

We respect the respect you show for your heritage.

We love the love you feel for a people and a wisdom you chose for yourself.

Go, _______, find your own way. Take our blessings with you.

Rabbi Sonja K. Pilz, PhD is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Shalom in Bozeman, MT.

Categories
CCAR Press omer Prayer Shavuot

CCAR Press Interview: Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar on ‘Omer: A Counting’

Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar, senior rabbi at Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Deerfield, IL, shares insights on writing Omer: A Counting. It is available as a print book, an inspirational card deck, a print book and card deck bundle, and as a companion app on Apple, Google Play, and Amazon.

What is the Omer? What spiritual meaning can it provide for contemporary Jews?
The seven weeks of the Omer offer an invitation to walk a spiritual path from constriction to expanse. On the holiday of Shavuot, we will explore seven spiritual principles: decision, discernment, choosing, hope, imagination, courage, and praying. Each one, powerful on its own, can be a sort of north star and illuminate a path toward personal and spiritual growth.


How do you suggest that someone who has never counted the Omer before get started? How can Omer: A Counting enhance their practice?
For forty-nine days, or seven weeks, we take on a discipline, an obligation to mindfully enter the day, to be aware of its potential power to matter, to make a difference, to count for something. Awaken your routine with intention, with attention.


To get started simply begin or end your day with a moment of thought. Perhaps you sit in a beautiful place in your home, perhaps you leaf through a book that’s been inspirational to you. Perhaps you just take a walk or look out the window. It doesn’t have to be for a long time, even five minutes will do. And you say to yourself, today I make myself count for something good.


The book is divided into seven spiritual principles. How did you come up with these principles? What is their significance?
I offer an original set of spiritual principles for the seven weeks of Omer, listed above. These principles are points of light to illuminate a path towards spiritual awareness as we attempt to be free from what enslaves us.


Was there something new that you learned while writing this book?
It was very powerful for me to articulate the seven spiritual principles as stepping stones. Each one can be an entire practice on a spiritual path that sometimes feels more like a zigzag than a straight line. For example, every internal change begins with the spiritual principle of decision: we decide to behave a different way, to live a different way, to interact in a different way.

Rabbi Kedar is available to teach online on topics in her books. Email bookevents@ccarpress.org for more information.

Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar is the senior rabbi at Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Deerfield, Illinois. She is the author of two CCAR Press books, Omer: A Counting (2014) and Amen: Seeking Presence with Prayer, Poetry, and Mindfulness Practice (2019).

Categories
CCAR Press Passover Pesach Poetry Prayer

CCAR Press Interview: Jessica Greenbaum on ‘Mishkan HaSeder’

Jessica Greenbaum, coeditor (with Rabbi Hara E. Person) of Mishkan HaSeder: A Passover Haggadah, shares her experience working on the Haggadah. Mishkan HaSeder is available as a print book, ebook (Kindle and Google Play), and now as a Visual T’filahTM.

How did you come to serve as a coeditor for Mishkan HaSeder?

Mishkan HaSeder was one of those long-gestating dreams. I met Rabbi Hara Person in 1990, and as we became friends and I reveled in the poems she had paired with Torah text in the Women’s Commentary, it seemed inevitable that we would also pair passages of the Haggadah with poetry —and for the same reason, to feel closer to the text. We also knew that by choosing poets of any faith, time, and place, their work would reflect the universality of the story of the Exodus. We wanted participants to feel the seder as a microcosm for the human experience.

Mishkan HaSeder contains a wealth of poetry alongside the seder text. How did you choose which poems to include?

From her work with the The Torah: A Women’s Commentary and other texts, Rabbi Person had a clear method. We looked at every page of the Haggadah and then distilled meanings, symbols, and philosophies found at that moment in the seder. To find poems that reflected or refracted those ideas, we cross-indexed them with our own knowledge of poets and poems, with online databases of poems, and we thumbed through books upon books. It’s not hard to find poems that have a relationship to the story, but finding the very right ones that pop open the moment to new understandings and resonance—that was our goal, and it was thrilling. Like Torah, the story of Passover is ever-expanding; we wanted to find poems that sparked this dynamism.

What role can poetry play as part of the Passover experience?

Emotional intimacy! For example, Mishkan HaSeder’s very first poem, by Karl Shapiro, imagines a 151st psalm (there are only 150 in our liturgy) that begins, “Immigrant God, You follow me.” From the start the reader is offered, within this story of moving toward freedom, an example of freedom to reimagine one’s relationship to God and to the story. “The 151st Psalm” is followed by Jane Hirshfield’s great poem “Optimism,” which begins “More and more I have come to admire resilience”—because not only does Passover embody resilience, but so does survival for peoples all through time. When the Haggadah instructs us to honor the stranger, resilience is needed there as well, to strengthen our resolve against forces of exclusion on any number of levels.

What makes Mishkan HaSeder different from other Haggadot?

Many wonderful Haggadot offer paths from the traditional liturgy to a deepened awareness of the living presence of the Exodus story in the present day. One thing Mishkan HaSeder holds is an entire second Haggadah within it; people who want to conduct a seder with very little of the traditional liturgy can lean on the poems themselves to reflect the signs and wonders of the story. And because readers are used to understanding poems through a very personal scrim, participants can come to the evening knowing that their individual sensibilities have a seat at the table and a voice for the discussion. Mishkan HaSeder can also act as the salt and pepper at the table—the poems sprinkled within whatever text a host chooses.

Did you learn something new while editing the book?

I was grateful to become more conversant with the traditional liturgy and the relationship of one part of the seder to another. There will always be more to know, of course, but each layer of understanding offers new layers of discovery—and new ways of feeling profoundly connected.

Learn more about Mishkan HaSeder at mishkanhaseder.ccarpress.org

Jessica Greenbaum is a poet, teacher, and social worker. She is the coeditor, with Rabbi Hara Person, of Mishkan HaSeder: A Passover Haggadah.

Categories
Healing News Prayer

‘Fear of Antisemitism’: A Prayer of Hope

During Shabbat services on Saturday, January 15, 2022, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three congregants were taken hostage for nearly twelve hours at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. His fortitude, strength, and bravery led to Rabbi Cytron-Walker and his congregants’ safe escape. During this terrifying incident, thousands of Jews and supporters gathered virtually for a Zoom vigil to send Rabbi Cytron-Walker and those involved prayers and strength. Rabbi Hara Person, Chief Executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, read the following prayer, “Fear of Antisemitism,” written by Rabbi Marc Katz, during the vigil. Many who attended have reached out inquiring about the piece. We share Rabbi Marc Katz’s words here in hopes that they bring you hope and strength in the face of adversity.

“Fear of Antisemitism” appears in the Supplement to L’chol Z’man V’eit: For Sacred Moments, a recently published expansion to the CCAR clergy manual that contains prayers, readings, and rituals for a wide variety of contemporary situations.  

“Fear of Antisemitism”
As in so many times throughout history, 
our Jewish community is surrounded by uncertainty. 
Unsure of what danger, what vitriol, what violence might await us,
in this era of rising antisemitism, 
we call upon You, God, 
to be our partner:

When we face enmity, 
fill our hearts and those of our detractors with love.
When we meet bigotry, 
puncture the ignorance surrounding us with truth.
When we see only shortsightedness, 
open the eyes of the blind.
When fear overcomes us, 
show us the light of courage.
When we feel alone, 
find us hands to soothe us. 
When we seek to turn inward, 
find us partners with whom to stand in solidarity.

We stand in the footsteps of our ancestor Beruriah —
praying not that the wicked will disappear, 
but rather that their wickedness will. (BT B’rachot 10a)
Let those inclined to hate 
question their intolerance, 
break their fanaticism, 
and burst open their narrow-mindedness. 

Guide our leaders to speak out, 
our law enforcement to stand firm, 
our judges to rule justly. 
Let all those who profess faith 
walk with us along this unsteady and rocky path, 
and let us, in turn, 
walk with them along theirs. 

We are a people blessed with perseverance, boldness, and fortitude.
Help us to tap into these virtues. 
All darkness will disappear 
when we join our light with the lights of others.
May this happen speedily in our day 
so that we, along with all humanity, 
find our place each under our vine and fig tree
and none of us shall be afraid. (Micah 4:4)

Rabbi Marc Katz serves Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey.