As a religion Judaism has always
been changing. While some might claim that every detail, law, and instruction
was given, by God, to Moses on Mount Sinai; it is clear that Judaism is a
religion that has been constantly evolving and reimagining itself.
To pick just two moments in our history; with
the destruction of the Second Temple the Rabbis had to “reinvent” a Judaism
that could survive without a single centralized place for worship. At this time
they replaced the Priests as the primary leaders of the Jewish community and
they did away with the animal sacrifices that had been our major means of
worshipping God. Then in the early 1800s as the Jewish community came into
contact with modernity a number of “reformers” started to challenge many of the
long held traditions within the religion, establishing what would come to be
known as Reform Judaism. This new generation of Rabbis sought to embrace the
modern world and so they changed the form of the prayer service and started to
question many of the laws that had previously been immutable.
Judaism has always been changing
and Reform Judaism has embraced the need for us to constantly be questioning
our religious traditions and the way that we do things. In this way it is
hardly surprising that every generation, or two, a new prayer book is
introduced, seeking to move our community and to respond to the changes that
have taken place in the intervening years.
It is against this backdrop that we are introducing our
new ruzjn Machzor, apbv ifan Mishkan
HaNefesh, for this year’s High Holy Day services. As you may note the name
is similar to that of our current Siddur, vkp, ifan Mishkan
T’filah. To explain the name, ifan Mishkan was the term
given to the Tabernacle in the wilderness, the meeting place between the people
and God. In this way our rusx Siddur is the “Tabernacle of
Prayer” and our ruzjn Machzor is the “Tabernacle
of the Soul”.
One reason for introducing the new ruzjn Machzor
is that our regular Shabbat services have adapted through the use of vkp, ifan Mishkan T’filah, and now, against that
backdrop Gates of Repentance (our previous ruzjn Machzor,
dating back to 1978) may seem out of date to many who have grown to love and
appreciate the Siddur we use every week. In reflecting on the need for apbv ifan Mishkan HaNefesh, the Central Conference
of American Rabbis (CCAR) wrote: “The fact that it [Gates of Repentance] does not
include transliteration is a stumbling block for many in our communities. So
too, many of today’s Jews feel disconnected from prayer and from theological
and ideological concepts that do not seem consistent with a contemporary
sensibility.”
Having seen the new ruzjn Machzor I am very excited that we will be using it for
the forthcoming High Holy Day services. apbv ifan Mishkan HaNefesh provides us with a wealth of resources for
deepening our relationship with these most sacred days of our calendar. As a
prayer leader the new ruzjn Machzor challenges me to be more thoughtful in the
choices that I make in terms of what we include in the services. For our
community it will provide an abundance of resources and material to find new
meaning in our High Holy Days.
Introducing a new prayer book is never
easy. People grow attached to the old texts and there is something comforting
about having an old, familiar book in our hands. But we must remember that
Gates of Repentance was not handed down
to Moses at Mount Sinai, and there were probably similar concerns when that ruzjn Machzor was introduced almost four decades ago. And I am
sure that in years to come (hopefully not too soon) there will be further
debates when a new prayer book is proposed to eventually replace apbv ifan Mishkan
HaNefesh. Judaism has always been changing and evolving, and it is important
that on our most sacred days of the year we keep pace with the changes that
have taken place within our community.
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