Several years ago one of my congregants captured the essence of a discussion about a future Reform Machzor by saying, “I would like the liturgy to be like a coat of many colors.” All of us present for the conversation understood. This congregant was referring to the way in which the standard High Holiday liturgy mostly presents a single image of God. “He” is enthroned on high; God rules, decides, and forgives a very frail humanity.
Before Mishkan Hanefesh had taken shape, my congregants and I were hoping for a Machzor that went beyond the “black and white” theology presented in the historic liturgy. We were hoping to move, you might say, to “full color,” to the multi-faceted way in which Jews of the past have explored divinity, prayer, and life as well as the ways in which contemporary Jews continue that process.
The good news from my perspective is that, on the whole, my prayers and those of my congregants are on their way to being answered.
Back on a chilly Sunday morning in April, we used the new pilot service for Yom Kippur Morning and found much of what we experienced moving, challenging, and relevant.
Opposite Mi Chamocha, we encountered a reading based on the Mechilta’s assertion that the mighty God can sometimes be a silent God. Later in the Viddui another text began with these words, “It is not easy to forgive God…The human suffering that surrounds us feels utterly unforgivable.”
There was sweetness too among other readings. A beautiful poem on the page facing Ki Anu Amecha played with the metaphors of God as a Shepherd or Master. The text invited worshipers to imagine God was a caring Gardener (1) and to consider what it might be like to experience love and tenderness from such a divine source.
From my perspective, several translations also elegantly reframed the connection between God and humanity. “Avinu, Malkeinu, enter our names in the Book of Lives Well Lived.” “For all these wrongs, God of forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, help us atone.”
As you can tell, I liked this new presentation of the Yom Kippur liturgy. Perhaps because my congregants have spent so much time with me considering and reconsidering faith and theology, they too were intrigued. There was less formality in this proposed Machzor. God isn’t as high. Then again, we humans are not as low. Both parties play a more balanced and significant covenantal role. Both parties are where they need to be in order to have the kind of encounter that can make the High Holidays as meaningful as they really ought to be.
Mark Shapiro is the Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Learn more about the new CCAR Machzor. For more information about participating in piloting, email machzor@ccarnet.org.
What does it feel like
when a human-made law
tells you your relationship isn’t worth as much as that of others
even when you’ve been together 10 years, 20 years, 60 years?
What does it feel like for your religious marriage ceremony to not be backed by your government?
Before today, I couldn’t tell you, because it was too oppressive,
and I didn’t want to explore the pressures it forced upon my life.
But today, on this side of history, I can say
that the Supreme Court decisions of June 26, 2013
feel like sunshine breaking through the clouds.
That the Creator is shining down
renewing the covenantal promise
that we are indeed created in the Divine image.
It feels like a heavy rush hour traffic suddenly clearing
and all road blocks have been taken away.
It feels like we are 10,000 feet up and now free to move about the cabin.
It feels like news that a disease has gone into remission.
One of life’s major obstacles have been removed
and instead of our government working against our family unit,
it is supporting it, rooting for us.
It feels like we are marching through the parted waters of the Red Sea,
on our way to freedom.
It feels like people have confidence in our ability to make the world a beautiful place,
instead of begrudgingly tolerating us.
It feels like justice.
It feels like intentional, sincere hugs and cheers.
It feels joyous, empowering and deeply affirming.
It feels like we are a true part of the community and that we are blessed.
Rabbi Heather Miller serves several congregational communities in Los Angeles, CA. Prior to ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2008, she majored in Peace and Justice Studies and Africana Studies at Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA. She and her wife, Melissa de la Rama, were named the 2013 Liberty Hill Foundation “Leaders to Watch.” Learn more at www.rabbiheathermiller.com.
Today is a true historic day! A moment when you can feel the chains of bondage breaking. The Supreme Court has ruled that DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, is dead. The Gay and Lesbian married couples cannot be denied federal rights and benefits. And Proposition 8, the hateful ballot proposition in California that went into affect in November 2008 taking away the right to marry is also history. The court ruled that the people who sponsored Prop 8 who took the case to court when the State of California Governor and Attorney General refused to sponsor the court case, had no standing to do so. Thus Prop 8 which was declared void and unconstitutional by a lower court ruling is just that unconstitutional.
While the Supreme Court avoided ruling on a sweeping marriage equality platform across the United States, the ruling means that now in 13 states (including CA) and the District of Columbia where marriage is legal, the Feds must recognize that marriage in the over 1138 rights and benefits and privileges at the Federal level.
The marriage equality fight isn’t over in the United States. There are many places where gay men and lesbians cannot legally wed. And there are 33 states in the US where you can still be fired for being gay! That is why it is time for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to pass the House and Senate. The marriage equality and adoption rights must still be fought state by state.
We aren’t full citizens yet. But today for sure… a little more.
I am grateful to God for this day. A day of blessing for sure. A day where we feel God’s justice showering down upon us and encouraging each of to continue the work of Tikkun Olam-repairing a broken world.
Rabbi Denise Eger is Vice President and President Elect of CCAR. She is the rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami of West Hollywood, CA.
Today’s Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality is a significant victory for the protection of Americans’ civil rights. No longer will lesbian and gay couples remain invisible to the federal government; no longer should there be doubt about the legal legitimacy of these partnerships.
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which we vigorously opposed when it was first considered, has been an offensive and discriminatory measure since its passage in 1996. Since then millions have been denied fundamental rights because of the impact of this ill-advised law. Though that law still stands, today’s ruling in Windsor v. United States promises to lessen some of its most damaging effects. By striking down Article Three of DOMA – a section of the law that the Obama Administration stopped defending several years ago – the Court has enabled legally married same-sex couples to receive the same federal benefits, rights and responsibilities as married heterosexual couples.
Sadly, too many couples across America are still denied the fundamental right to marry. The Court’s ruling in Hollingsworth v. Perry effectively expands that right to tens of millions more Americans. The Court missed an opportunity to take a stronger stand for marriage equality today, yet it is a step toward greater civil rights for millions of Americans.
There is no more central tenet to our faith than the notion that all human beings are created in the image of the Divine, and, as such, entitled to equal treatment and equal opportunity. Many faith traditions, including Reform Judaism, celebrate and sanctify same-sex marriages. Thanks to the Court’s decision, the federal government will now recognize these marriages as well, while still respecting the rights and views of those faith traditions that choose not to sanctify such marriages.
Inspired by our Movement’s longstanding commitment to civil rights, we joined in amicus briefs to the Court in both the Perry and Windsor cases. We look forward to the day when full civil marriage equality is the law throughout the country, reflecting our nation’s historic commitment to the civil rights of every individual. In the meantime, today’s decisions will inspire us to continue to seek justice for all.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting Pope Francis, accompanied by my wife, Susie, and members of a small delegation of Jewish leaders from IJCIC (International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations), of which the CCAR is a member.
We met at the Apostolic Palace, the Pope’s official residence, though he has chosen to live in more modest accommodations at Casa Santa Marta residence, adjacent to St. Peter’s Basilica. On the way to the meeting, we passed through a number of ornately decorated rooms, some containing elevated papal thrones. Our session, however, took place in an intimate, relatively unadorned parlor. The Pope entered without fanfare and sat in an armchair at floor level, garbed in a plain white cassock and comfortable-looking black shoes (no red Pradas!)
He told us that this was his first time, as Pope, to talk with an official group of representatives of Jewish organizations and communities, expressing firm condemnation of anti-Semitism, commitment to greater awareness and mutual understanding among Jews and Catholics, and genuine personal friendship.
The Pope told us that “Humanity needs our joint witness in favor of respect for the dignity of man and woman created in the image and likeness of God, and in favor of peace which is above all God’s gift,” concluding his remarks with “Shalom,” and asking for our prayers and assuring us of his own.
It was a moving and memorable experience to meet a man of such genuine humility, piety, sincerity and inner strength, who is already making a powerful impact on the Roman Catholic Church and a world of admirers.
Rabbi Rick Block is Senior Rabbi of The Temple – Tifereth Israel in Cleveland and Beachwood, Ohio, and President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
We’re very excited about our new release, Mishkan T’filah for Children, edited and with texts by Michelle Shapiro Abraham with art by Katie Lipsitt. We took this opportunity to speak to the artist about her work.
CCAR Press: Let’s start with an introduction. Tell us about your background.
Katie Lipsitt: I was born in NYC and raised in Brooklyn. I went to Saint. Ann’s School (a private, secular school) and then Barnard College in Manhattan, where I truly discovered my love of making art! After college I moved to Los Angeles to study fine art at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena and to be with my then-boyfriend/now husband. But after a year I found myself production designing student films at USC, and before you knew it, I left art school and was working full time as a set decorator in TV and Film! After having children, I became an elementary school art teacher, then became an art teacher at Environmental Charter middle school here in LA, and made more time to create my own collage art!
CP: How did you become interested in art?
KL: There was never a time that I wasn’t interested in making art! I grew up surrounded by artists and creative people. My mom was a fashion designer and is an artist. My Dad was a creative director of an ad agency. Being interested in art is just in my blood!
CP: Tell us about being chosen to do the art for MT for Children
KL: When I was chosen to illustrate the Mishkan T’filah for Children, I was just THRILLED! My personal Jewish journey has been so enriched by sharing in my children’s experiences at Jewish preschool and later, Hebrew School. It felt so significant that I would get to make images for OTHER children to enjoy during prayer at religious school and family services.
CP: What did you learn in the process?
KL: For the first time, I learned something about what the prayers actually MEAN. Now, when I’m in synagogue, I imagine my own illustrations and understand the services more deeply.
CP: What do you think is important about art in a prayerbook for children? What does it add to their prayer experience?
KL: I think that artwork in a prayerbook for children needs to be simple, bold and graphic. It needs to bring the essence of the words to life in a way a child can comprehend.
CP: It’s interesting to note that the people all have different skins tones and looks, and there aren’t any “traditional” families. Why did you choose this approach?
KL: I wanted the depiction of the children to reflect the more diverse Jewish community that one finds in the Reform Movement today. I wanted no child to feel excluded. I wanted it to represent the reality of the families who belong to synagogues and are raising Jewish children.
CP: How did being a mother and a teacher impact on the choices you made in creating the art?
KL: Both of those helped me to truly imagine how a child would experience this prayerbook. I could imagine my own children’s reactions and associations to imagery, as well as those of my students.
CP: Can you describe the technique that you used to create the art? And who are your artistic inspirations?
KL: The technique I used to create the illustrations was collage and where needed, a bit of watercolor, colored pencil and pen. The simple, fluid lines of Henri Matisse’s late collages and the layered, bold cut paper technique of Romare Bearden were my artistic inspirations.
CP: Which is your favorite image and why?
My favorite image is the image of the girl reading a prayerbook. She looks so much like my daughter, Lucy, and she has the same intensity and focus that Lucy has when she is in T’filah!
This blog post is excerpted from the prepared remarks shared on Friday, June 21, 2013 by Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk, Senior Rabbi of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple in a meeting with Ohio Senator Rob Portman, convened together with Rabbi Rick Block (CCAR President and Senior Rabbi of The Temple – Tifereth Israel in Cleveland, Ohio), Rabbi Lewis Kamrass (Senior Rabbis of Isaac M. Wise Temple of Cincinnati, Ohio), and a broad coalition of supporters of comprehensive immigration reform in the US. Coalition partners included: HOLA, NAACP, Global Cleveland, American Nursery Alliance, University Hospital, National Latino Evangelical Churches, Hispanic Roundtable, Huntington Bank and America’s Voice each conveyed their support to the Senator of the current bill before the Senate. Partners in the Jewish community included the American Jewish Committee board leadership who also contributed abundantly to the success of the meeting in terms of the Jewish community voice to Senator Portman.
Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk and Rabbi Rick Block, who serves as President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, spoke emphatically and in solidarity with other many Ohio rabbis and the Rabbis Organizing Rabbis affiliate within the Central Conference of American Rabbis. They each urged Senator Portman about the stakes seen in this moment to change in the current system, and the desire of Jewish American citizens to see progress made. Rabbi Rick Block urged the Senator to not see the “perfect” as the enemy of the “good” in his deliberations on the bill and to take steps to assure its passage. In addition, Joy Friedman, Senior Organizer from Just Congregations, a division of the Union for Reform Judaism joined these rabbis at the meeting and offered resources and data points to the Senator about substantial support within the Reform Jewish movement nationally.
Senator Portman, my name is Rob Nosanchuk. I am Senior Rabbi of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple and I am here with Rabbi Rick Block of The Temple Tifereth Israel, Rabbi Lewis Kamrass from Wise Temple in Cincinnati and Joy Friedman, of the Union for Reform Judaism. We recognize the gravity of this particular moment in the U.S. Senate. We approach you to ask that you stand in alliance with the coalition meeting with you today, in advocating strongly for a just solution to the broken U.S. immigration system.
As Jews, our heritage is one of lifting up values of justice and compassion. Our efforts to exhort are congregants as rabbis are built on the idea that Judaism emphasizes both dinand rachamim, both strictness to the law and mercy that we ask God to look upon human efforts. As Jews we believe that it is our task to approach situations in which we find no one acting with humane instincts, environments situations which defy humane understanding, and that in those environments we strive to give of our humanity.
Today our heritage over generations of immigrants leaves us to ask- what to do with the freedom we have been given? Where can we find sources to lift up justice and freedom?
But it is difficult to answer those questions. For justice can’t easily be located in today’s immigration system, which you’ve as much as agreed today is broken. It is not even a system. It is a non-system!
There’s no fairness offered to the millions of undocumented immigrants who, because we have failed in the past to make a difference in the public square on this issue, have been living in the illegalities of society.
There’s no goodness in the offing for the 5,000 children of immigrants forced into the foster care system.
There’s no equality in the system for LGBT Americans who are deemed illegitimate to protect a spouse or partner the way others can.
So we as Jews and as Rabbis feel commanded to fix this broken system and do our part in helping you to lead on this issue and to fulfill the legislation once it is signed and passed. For we believe that the legislation before you, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, is a crucial way to begin to address the problems I’ve mentioned and that you’ve outlined. We believe it is consistent with the humane and compassionate ideals we write and teach about to thousands of your constituents, and we commend you on your feeling that you want a comprehensive bill, and say to you that you should vote for the most just most fair comprehensive immigration bill that is placed before you.
I remember meeting you Senator a couple of years ago at an event where we each spoke acknowledging the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. We exchanged letters after that gathering. I remember the image you spoke of that day of remembering your travel back after 9/11 to be with your family and community in Ohio. You spoke of the feeling of profound pride and unity you had while watching Ohio first responders driving on the same highway toward New York, contributing with every fiber of their being to the acts of life affirmation, of healing and saving and redeeming lives.
I have held that image with me, when I think of you. I ask you today to hold on to that feeling of unity, to remember the idea you had on 9/11 that even during those perilous days, there is nothing we cannot be responsive to as a nation when we draw from what unites us. The first responders that ran from departments across the nation to help address the crisis in New York did not wait to secure the best reimbursement system. They had no idea whether there would be any real positive outcome for their extraordinary efforts. But they knew that people in our society were in harm’s way and that a time comes to decide to get involved in promoting safety and decency and justice, no matter the price.
Senator Portman, we urge you to lead and then to exhort legislators you know in the House, to lead and pass this bill, and to address some of your specific concerns when this bill goes to a conference between the branches. For this is just such a moment. Americans are counting on our leaders to get something done, in a productive, healing, just and redemptive path. This is a moment for you Senator, to be among those first responders to a broken system and promote a path that is more just and compassionate.
Thank you for your time and for meeting with our coalition!
The most traditional texts for the Torah reading on Rosh HaShanah morning are Genesis 21 and Genesis 22. In many congregations that observe two days of the holiday, it is most customary to read 21 on the first day and 22 on the second day. Genesis 21 begins with the notion that God remembered our matriarch Sarah and enabled her to have a child. The idea of remembering is tied to a name of Rosh HaShanah in the Bible: the Day of Remembrance. This is the lesson: God remembers us as God remembers Sarah. To paraphrase a very different cultural artifact: “God knows when we have been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.”
Genesis 22, the famous Binding of Isaac story, may be read on the second day for the prosaic reason that it is the next part of the Torah, and thus no Torah scroll maneuvering is needed. There are also connections between the ram in the story and the sounding of the ram’s horn. In addition, there are a multitude of sermonic challenges, explaining why God would test Abraham in such a way. But then maybe that is the point of Rosh HaShanah: we are all being tested.
When Gates of Repentance was adapted more than thirty years ago from the British liberal machzor, the committee decided to omit Genesis chapter 21, perhaps due to its negative treatment of a non-Israelite, but also because of lack of space. Space was lacking because Genesis 1 was added. Rosh HaShanah is considered by the ancient Rabbis to be the birthday of the world, so it follows that reading about the birth of the world is apt.
Mishkan HaNefesh, the new CCAR machzor, will include all three of these three choices, enabling congregations to have more options about what to read on Rosh HaShanah. In addition, the editors wish to also add a fourth option: chapter 18 of Genesis. Why? Genesis 1 is beautiful but offers no human narrative. Genesis 21 and 22 feature the founder of what will become Judaism acting in ways that modern readers easily find questionable, i.e., casting out his son Ishmael and her mother and then readily agreeing to kill his beloved Isaac. On the other hand, Genesis 18 features Abraham questioning God, like a loyal but confident subordinate might question his or her boss. When God chooses collective punishment for all the inhabitants of Sodom, Abraham asks God, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth not also act in a just manner?” We the editors feel that a story showing the positive side of Abraham’s development as a leader is inspirational for all of us who aspire to act with righteousness, even if at times that means questioning authority.
We hope that the Torah choices included in the new machzor will prompt many years of conversation about important topics and lead as well to chesbon hanefesh, a searching of our own souls for the good and the true.
Rabbi Edwin Goldberg has served as the senior rabbi of Temple Judea in Coral Gables since 1996. In July he will begin serving as the senior rabbi of Temple Sholom of Chicago. Rabbi Goldberg is the coordinating editor of the forthcoming CCAR Machzor and is the author of five books including, Saying No and Letting Go: Jewish Wisdom on Making Room for What Matters Most and Love Tales from the Talmud. This post also appeared on http://www.reformjudaism.org.
Learn more about the new CCAR Machzor. For more information about participating in piloting, email machzor@ccarnet.org.
Ordination of Yeshivat Maharat. Photo by Anne Cohen
It was a beautiful Sunday and a perfect day for an ordination. The hall was crowded, and everyone joyfully hugged and wished each other a mazel tov. There was a ritual, some spirited singing and clapping, giving of documents, speeches, and of course, food. Just like every other ordination I’ve been to.
But this one was special. On this day, at this event, Rachel Kohl Finegold, Ruth Balinsky Friedman, and Abby Brown Scheier, the three women who were graduates of Yeshivat Maharat, were ordained. Three women who are Orthodox. Three women who will be working in Orthodox synagogues and communities are each called now “Manhiga hilchatit ruchanit v’Toranit” or Maharat. They were ordained by Rabbi Avi Weiss, senior rabbi at Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and founder of the Yeshiva, Rabbi Daniel Sperber, halachic posek and professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University, and Rabbi Jeffrey Fox, their Rosh Yeshiva. As they were ordained, the women were each “found worthy and granted authority to teach and determine halachic rulings for the Jewish people, and has been ordained as a spiritual leader and a decisor of Jewish law.” With these words, the three women were authorized to render halachic judgements for the community. Rabba Sara Hurwitz, the Yeshiva’s dean and Rabbi Weiss’ first ordinee, who blazed the path to this day, called up each woman by name, and blessed each one under a banner embellished with the blessing “At hayi l’alfei r’vava”- “Our Sister, may you become thousands of myriads.”
Each ordination was followed by standing ovations, cheering, clapping. As each woman spoke, with the joy and light of Torah streaming from her soul, all present were carried into the reality and power of the moment. Blu Greenberg presciently spoke of this possibility. And we were there, to see, to witness and to celebrate.
As a Reform rabbi, I found myself wondering about my fascination with this moment, about the reason for my own tears, about the sense of witnessing history in the making. Accompanied by David (Rabbi David Ellenson), and with our trailblazer Rabbi Sally Priesand sitting just a few seats away, I could not help but reflect on how our world and our community have changed. I found myself wishing that I had been present for Sally’s ordination, even though at the time I was a 16 year old girl who knew nothing about the historic events unfolding in Cincinnati in 1972. But even though I have been present to witness the remarkable emergence of women’s rabbinic leadership in the Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Renewal movements, even though my work brings me into daily contact with the reality of the lives of women Reform rabbis, even though women rabbis may not be seen as something new or innovative in the liberal Jewish community, I still felt the profound historical power of the day. I felt deeply that I was witnessing something that for so long and for so many had only been a distant and unattainable dream. Rabba Sara Hurwitz herself said it, “Halom halamti-I dreamed a dream.” Many have dreamed this dream and most of those dreams have not been fulfilled. Many wish they could have become a mahara”t.
Yet, on Sunday, I witnessed women, Orthodox women, taking their rightful place as religious, halachic and spiritual leaders in the Orthodox community. On this day, many dreams came true.
After the ceremony a friend mentioned that she thought the day would soon come when this ceremony wouldn’t be seen as so significant or so filled with history. I had to disagree. I still marvel at the reality of 686 women ordained as rabbis at HUC-JIR in the past 41 years. I don’t ever want to forget how amazing it is, how radical a reconceptualization of Judaism and of leadership it required. But I do think that one day, we will know that this is normal; that women in religious leadership, no matter what movement they may belong to, are an essential and vital expression of our community’s values. I don’t ever want to forget the struggles of individuals who blazed the trails in order for me to become a rabbi. But I do want to insure that women rabbis are an integral, integrated and recognized part of the landscape of Jewish leadership, that they claim their rights and responsibilities as legal and religious leaders, that they and their communities see their work as sacred work, that their presence in the religious sphere will have an immeasurable impact on current and future generations. No, I don’t ever want to forget how revolutionary the ordination of women as rabbis and mahara’ts is. But I do want them to be completely normalized, accepted and celebrated.
I celebrate the rabbis and lay leadership who brought the dreams of this yeshiva and the possibility of women’s ordination into reality, who contributed their halachic and financial resources to create this innovative seminary. I rejoice in the ordination of Rachel, Ruth, and Abby, and in the fact that all three of them have positions within their communities, and two of them will be working as part of a clergy team in Orthodox synagogues.
It was an ordination like so many others I’ve been to. And it was an ordination like none I’ve ever seen. It was the ordination of women rabbis, something so regular and normal. And it was the ordination of Orthodox women as Maharats, remarkable and innovative. I remember how revolutionary, radical and controversial our ordinations were at the time. I remember how hard my predecessors worked to pave the road for me, and I know how hard my contemporaries and I worked to pave the road for our younger colleagues. There is still much to do, but we have also accomplished so much. But I take none of it for granted. It has all been a dream.
Our congregation, Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York, has been worshipping with a draft copy of Mishkan HaNefesh for three years now, on the second day of Rosh Ha-Shanah. About four hundred congregants and members of the community-at-large show up for this service, and we have taken the opportunity not only to pilot the new machzor from the pulpit, but also to invite the participants’ feedback. In general, opinion about the machzor is positive, with many praising the dignified, uplifting, and poetic English prayer-renderings and meditations, and others appreciating the opportunities for study and reflection built into the machzor.
Because the draft copy we have been piloting does not feature a Torah service, we have jumped back into Gates of Repentance for the Torah Service and we have produced our own one-page handout for the Shofar Service. The Torah service, however, prompts a fascinating question about which our congregation and clergy have been wondering aloud for a couple of years: what Torah readings will Mishkan HaNefesh propose for reading on First and Second Day Rosh HaShanah?
This spring I taught an eight-week adult education course in midrash using Akedat Yitzhak (The Binding of Isaac, Genesis 22) as our primary text. While many of the students feel spiritually and emotionally drawn to the Binding of Isaac and recognize its importance within Judaism–an importance that led to our Reform Movement proposing it as the reading for First Day Rosh HaShanah, instead of on Day Two, where it is found in Orthodox and Conservative circles–many agreed that the time has come to re-locate Akedat Yitzhak on Day Two, and replace the Torah reading for First Day Rosh Ha-Shanah with the traditional Scriptural passage, Genesis 21, which not only sets up the drama for day two (Genesis 21 details the birth of Isaac and his place in Jewish genealogy), but also beautifully meshes with Rosh Ha-Shanah themes of birth and hopefulness.
I would warmly support the re-introduction of this text. It would embrace the value of Klal Yisrael, the unity of the Jewish People, by bringing us into common practice with other streams of Judaism. It would also invite the rabbi to explore new and varied preaching topics on Rosh HaShanah morning, and offer new discussion topics for congregants.
Knowing our Reform Movement, and the format of Mishkan T’filah, I suspect that choices will be offered, including the choice of reverting to Genesis 21. Readers, what do you think?
Rabbi Jonathan Blake serves Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, NY.
Learn more about the new CCAR Machzor. For more information about participating in piloting, email machzor@ccarnet.org.
