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INTRODUCING MISHKAN T’FILAH:
Our New Prayerbook
by Rabbi Henry Jay Karp
Temple Emanuel
Davenport, Iowa
February 29, 2008
24 Adar I, 5758
Tonight, as we welcome our new prayerbook, MISHKAN T’FILAH, into our sanctuary, I felt that it would be most fitting to hold one of our periodic Worship Skills Study Sessions.
But even before we start, I think that a brief note of explanation is in order, directed specifically to those in our congregation this evening who are but occasional visitors to our Shabbat evening services. Contrary to whatever myths may be floating about, it is patently untrue that every Shabbat I deliver a 2 to 3 hour sermon. In point of fact, during the course of the year I deliver relatively few formal sermons on Shabbat; perhaps once a month, if that often. On the other Shabbatot, we alternate between a variety of experiences. Of course there are story sermons at family services, but other than that, we also engage in interactive Torah study, focused on the weekly Torah portion; discussions of various issues of Jewish and global import; song sessions in which the Cantor teaches new music to enhance our worship; an occasional guest speak or special program; and Worship Skills Study sessions, such as we will have this evening.
The purpose of such Worship Skills Study sessions usually is to focus in on certain prayers or worship practices in order that we may develop a deeper appreciation of the Jewish worship experience. However, tonight, instead of focusing in on one prayer, we are going to look at our new prayerbook as a whole. Like other Worship Skills Study sessions, we are holding this one at the very beginning of the service rather than during the traditional sermon slot so that we can apply what we learn to this evening’s worship experience.
That having been said, let us now turn to our new prayerbook, MISHKAN T’FILAH.
Obviously, the first question about this prayerbook should be: “Why a new prayerbook? Why now?” Our last major prayerbook, GATES OF PRAYER, was published in 1975 - 33 years ago. In today’s fast moving, ever changing world, 33 years is like an eternity. If the cell phone technician tells you that the cell phone you purchased brand new 2 years ago is now a dinosaur, what does that say about a 33 year old prayerbook? Indeed, over the past 33 years, much has changed within the universe of Reform Judaism.
The role of women is dramatically different. In 1975, the second woman rabbi was ordained and the first woman cantor invested. Very few women served on synagogue boards and none were congregational presidents. Today, it is almost as common to find women filling any role in the synagogue as it is to find men. The changing role of women raised our consciousness so much to the gender insensitivity of the language of prayer that 14 years ago our movement felt the need to publish an interim prayerbook which exclusively used gender sensitive language.
The serious quest for personal and communal spirituality is yet another force which has deeply impacted upon Reform Judaism. Classically, Reform Judaism considered itself the “thinking person’s” religion. Today, more and more Reform Jews, while they still think, are far more concerned about feeling their connectedness to God.
Still another change has been Reform Judaism’s ever growing embrace of Jewish traditional practices. The spectrum of how individual Reform Jews interpret what it means for them to live and practice their Judaism within a Reform framework has expanded exponentially.
To meet all these changing needs, and more, a new prayerbook was truly in order. Yet it was the very attempt to meet these changing needs which made the creation of this new prayerbook a seemingly impossible task. How do you create a prayerbook that can speak effectively to both classical Reform Jews as well as those on the traditional end of our movement? How do you create a prayerbook that speaks both to the head and to the heart?
In answer to these questions, the creators of this prayerbook attempted something that has never been done in the arena of Jewish worship. They sought to create a prayerbook that was not multi-vocal but poly-vocal; a prayerbook that did not say, “This service is for these people and that service is for those people” but rather one that said that at any given point in the service, you can find something that speaks to you.
That brings us to actually decoding how to use this prayerbook for it does not work like any prayerbook you have ever used in the past.
Most of this prayerbook is based upon the concept of a two-page spread. Let me demonstrate how it works. Please turn in your prayerbooks to pages 150 & 151. You are looking at the prayer known as “Ahavat Olam”. On this two-page spread, you will see that on the right hand page at the top, there is the Hebrew prayer and its transliteration. Directly below it is what the creators of this prayerbook call “a faithful translation”. There are times that I disagree with them about how “faithful” some of the translations are, but they didn’t ask me. On the left hand page you will find two separate creative, contemporary English readings. Note that each of the 4 readings concludes with the final line of the Hebrew prayer - in this case, “Baruch Atah, Adonai, ohev amo Yisraeil.” That concluding line of the prayer is known as the chatimah. Whenever we come to a page like this, we will only be reading or chanting 1 of the 4 selections. While the Cantor and I will choose which selection we will be reading or chanting as a congregation, any person is free to choose any other selection which they find personally meaningful. They can read it out loud or read it to themselves. When we recite or chant the chatimah, that is our signal that we should all come together and turn to the next page or whatever page is announce. This way, each worshiper is empowered to choose to recite whatever prayers they find to be personally meaningful.
There are certain exceptions to the two-page spread. There are times when we march through the prayerbook much in the same way we marched through other prayerbooks in the past - one prayer after another. These sections of the service are identified by the fact that they have a blue border completely around the text.
Another thing you may notice that is different about this prayerbook is that there are no indicators denoting which texts are to be read or chanted alone by the rabbi, cantor, or worship leader, and which are intended for congregational reading. The intent of the creators of this prayerbook is that every worshiper is invited to participate in all reading and chanting of the prayers. However, recognizing that there are several congregations, such as our own, which have, in the past, experimented with such a practice and have not found it satisfying, the option remains for us to distinguish between solo readings and congregational ones. While everyone is always invited to join the Cantor in chanting the prayers, when it comes to the English selections, when I wish to invite you to join me in reading, I will do so by repeating the first phrase or line of the prayer.
I also wish to draw your attention to the notes you will find on the pages of the prayerbook, both in the margins and below the line. The notes in the margins are the list of prayers that make up that specific section of the service, with their Hebrew names on the right hand page and their transliterated names on the left. The name printed in bold type is that of the particular prayer found on this two-page spread. Hopefully, if you get lost, these marginal notes will help you find your place. As for the notes below the line, I encourage you to read them, for they are there to help enhance your appreciation of the prayer being recited.
Is this a more traditional prayerbook than the prayerbooks of the past? Yes it is. There is no denying it. Indeed, it is not even called a prayerbook but rather a siddur, which is the traditional word for prayerbook. And while congregations had the option of purchasing GATES OF PRAYER and the Gender Sensitive prayerbook in either an English opening or a Hebrew opening version, this siddur is published exclusively in a Hebrew opening version. Also, if you were to study the texts of the Hebrew prayers, you would find that there have been accommodations made to traditional Judaism. The very structure of the service is a more traditional one. Yet still, it is not a surrender to tradition but rather an accommodation for it. In the end, our services will be what we make them to be.
That leads me to my final point. Tonight we use this siddur for the first time, but the service you experience tonight may very well not be the service we ultimately end up with. For we will be experimenting - tinkering with how we use this siddur. We will be in search of that comfortable place within it. Therefore the members of the Ritual Committee, the Cantor, and I welcome your feedback. What you will have to tell us - the good and the bad - will help guide us in that search.
So do not judge this prayerbook too quickly; especially if you judge it for ill. Give yourself the opportunity to get used to it, adjusting to it, just as the Ritual Committee, the Cantor and I will be adjusting to it and adjusting the service itself.
A few weeks ago, I attended the annual gathering of the Mid West Association of Reform Rabbis. Needless to say, how we would use this prayerbook was one of the topics we discussed at great length. One of my colleagues shared a powerful message. Of course, we were all concerned about people feeling uncomfortable with this book. Change is never easy. Some of us remembered the many complaints we heard when we transitioned from the old UNION PRAYER BOOK to GATES OF PRAYER. This colleague said that whenever people tell him that they are uncomfortable with the service, he tells them that if they make it a point to attend 8 services in a row, by the eighth service, they will find themselves as comfortable with the service as anyone in the sanctuary, even the oldest veteran. I offer each and every one of you that same counsel.
Now let us enter the worship universe of MISHKAN T’FILAH, and pray that it can live up to its name, which means “The Dwelling Place of Prayer.”
AMEN
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