c. 2007 Religion News Service

NEW YORK _ Worshippers at Reform synagogues across the U.S. are beginning to hold a new prayer book, or siddur, in their hands during services. Along with a dramatically new design, worshippers will find the words of Pete Seeger, Helen Keller and Langston Hughes.

It’s the first new prayer book in more than 30 years for the country’s 1.5 million Reform Jews, and leaders say the prayer book itself _ and the process that created it _ embody a uniquely Reform approach to Judaism.

“Our prayer book reflects our identity,” said Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, professor of liturgy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “If our identity changes just a little bit, you can revise the prayer book and that suffices. If our identities change considerably, then the prayer book begins to look like a cracked mirror.”

Hold a mirror up to a typical Reform congregation and there will be a wide range of people _ lifelong Jews, non-Jewish spouses in a growing number of interfaith families, former Orthodox and even those who don’t believe in God but value a Jewish community, said Rabbi Elyse Frishman, who edited the new book.

“When it comes to anything religious, change is always traumatic,” said Frishman, who leads Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, The Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes, N.J. “The awareness was building within our movement that the words of our prayer book were not meeting our needs. We needed to broaden our conversation about God.”

The new book, which is called “Mishkan T’filah” (Sanctuary of Prayer), broadens that conversation with significant changes in design and content. Like the movement, it has elements that are traditional (more prayers in Hebrew) as well contemporary (gender-neutral references to God).

And while congregations are not required to adopt the new book, the first printing of 150,000 has already sold out.

The most revolutionary changes were the layout and design. Unlike the previous prayer book, the book opens right to left, like a Hebrew book. Instead of page after page of prayers, the two-page spreads feature a Hebrew prayer on the right, accompanied by an English translation and transliteration, which allows those who don’t speak Hebrew to sound out the prayers.

“We wanted a Hebrew text which reflected where the Reform movement is today in terms of it commitments to Israel, to tradition, to ritual, social justice,” said Rabbi Peter Knobel, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, “and we wanted transliteration because we have been using considerably more Hebrew than we used to.”

On the left side of the page, worshippers may find English prayers or poetry by a variety of writers, including Langston Hughes. The new book also includes lyrics to songs like “Turn, Turn, Turn” by Pete Seeger, and commentary and quotes by writers ranging from rabbis to Helen Keller.

“It draws upon the whole breadth of Jewish tradition,” said Rabbi Aaron Panken, vice president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “It allows someone who is coming new to prayer in a Jewish context to read along and pull up a nugget here and there of something interesting to think about.”

The different elements on the pages are reminiscent of the Talmud, with the text in the center of the page surrounded by commentary, said Rabbi Elaine Zecher, who served on the editorial board. And like visitors to a Web page, worshippers can “click” on something that interests them. The layout allows worshippers to come to the prayers from different perspectives, which in some ways could be considered traditional.

“In Hebrew, the word for truth is `emet,”’ said Frishman. “The sense of what truth means in Judaism is to be all encompassing, in balance, having a full perspective from all angles.”

For all the new content, the prayer book isn’t just filled with words.

“There is also space on the pages,” Frishman said. “Prayer should allow you to breathe.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

If the design and content reflect an effort to reach out to the many faces of the Reform movement, its decades-long creation reflects a Reform approach.

Discussion began in the 1980s about how to revise the existing “Gates of Prayer” book. Rabbis bore the ultimate responsibility for the new book, but during the editing process, members from more than 300 congregations received three separate drafts of the book and commented on them.

“I think part of what distinguishes the Reform movement is that when we make radical changes, for example, shifting a prayer book, we include our laity in leadership conversation,” Frishman said.

Even as the inclusive language, contemporary commentary and transliteration acknowledge the diversity of Reform Judaism, ultimately, each person may find their own meaning in “Mishkan T’filah.”

“I think many people are searching spiritually and want a way in, to find language that reaches deeper in life’s mysteries,” said Zecher. “Having this kind of prayer book really responds to that need _ to say, wherever you are, come in, you can find your place.”

KRE/CM END ROAN860 words, with optional trim to 675

A photo of Hoffman is available via https://religionnews.com.