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Introduction and Erev Shabbat

Written by Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet Tuesday, 01 October 2002

A Prayer Book in the Making

Though it is only just over 25 years since the first RSGB Siddur was published a number of issues suggested that it needed to be revised. The most obvious, and in some sense the most controversial, concerned the particular issue of "inclusive language", something already addressed partially in the High Holy Days prayerbook and more completely in the Pilgrim Festivals prayerbook. There are congregations that are very firmly committed to changes that give equality to women in various aspects of the language and content of the book but there are equally congregations that are very firmly rooted in the existing language and concerned about change. There are also individual problems with the translations which need to be addressed. There is no comfortable way out of this dilemma and yet the trend is towards this change. But having raised this delicate issue at the beginning, it is important to point out that the actual work of rethinking the prayerbook has raised a number of other issues which are as important, if not more so, in terms of our current needs as a Movement.

THE MOVE TOWARDS TRADITION

Like the rest of the Jewish community there has been a move in the Movement towards more traditional forms within our religious practice including services. Contexts like Limmud where people are exposed to more traditional forms of service, the experience of young people who spend time in Israel in such contexts and the experimenting going on in a number of congregations with alternative minyanim of a more Conservative form all point to a need for a more flexible range of services to be available within RSGB congregations. What was once a radical kind of service which attracted an earlier generation is no longer attractive to many whose "radicality" leads them to adopt more traditional forms. Though it is possible to use the existing Siddur for both kinds of service, there are ways of making it more adaptable for these particular needs. We find within our existing congregations today services ranging from the classical Lewandowski style service with organ and choir, through Debbie Friedman to Shlomo Carlebach orientated forms. It is possible to devise a variation on our existing Siddur to accommodate these but there is a price to be paid. Offering a variety of options within a service does require that people are better educated in the structure of the service, more confident in selecting parts of it rather than feeling that everything that is on the page has to be read or played or chanted. So this does mean that alongside the work on the new prayerbook, and particularly developing a far greater range of forms and particularly musical ways of conducting the service, our service leaders and congregations need to be better educated and more confident in their Jewish knowledge.

So one thing that has emerged from work on the prayerbook is the need to give clearer ways of indicating the different sections of the services and, within each of the sections, show what can be omitted and how such decisions and choices can be made.

The other factor that has been particularly highlighted in the United States and in some of the smaller congregations here is the need to help people participate more fully. This means having access to the Hebrew when it comes to passages which are read or chanted together. The case for transliteration is still open for debate but those who have used it in their own services argue quite strongly that rather than preventing people studying Hebrew as has been suggested, it offers a way of encouraging them to participate and then move beyond that to understanding the Hebrew now that they have managed to get their tongues around the actual language itself. So another aspect of the new prayerbook will be to have a limited amount of transliteration available on the page.

Some of these general issues can be seen in the draft Friday evening service. It was suggested that we needed three kinds of services: the ‘classical’ Reform; a chavurah style service; a ‘creative’ service.

The first drafts of the book produced two openings one beginning with Ma tovu and following the existing Friday evening, a second opening with Yedid Nefesh and the full set of traditional Friday evening psalms. However, it was noted that a great deal of duplication takes place in this way and that instead one should offer the option that is in the current fourth draft of two possible starting places and selecting from the options available to compose the kind of service one wanted. This also addresses the much more difficult problem of a ‘creative’ service since anything committed to paper ceases to be creative after the first time it has been used. So with all kinds of materials available in a structured form, congregations can choose at any given time how they wish to conduct any particular service, which moves the onus from the book and more into the educational process that we undertake to develop the styles, and particularly the music, of our services.

One of the consequences of the emphasis upon the chavurah style service is that it becomes far more of a ‘mantra’ where the chanting, singing and general emotional framework becomes an end in itself. (In a way this is simply a contemporary variation on the chorally sung services of another generation). However, a Reform tradition also seeks to bring content to our prayers so that yet again a fascinating tension exists between the creation of an atmosphere and an element of thoughtfulness and challenge within the service framework. Therefore it is very important that the structure be clear and strong as that provides the kind of security which, at the same time, allows people the freedom to take risks in terms of ideas and thoughts which may also be introduced.

On the page itself it is hoped that there will be sufficient notes to help clarify both some aspects of the particular prayer and any actions associated with it. However, there is only a limited space on the page and one of the new ideas is to develop a new section to the study anthology which goes into more detail about the individual prayers themselves exploring them from the historical, theological and spiritual dimensions. This should help and in addition provide the kind of educational materials that will make people more confident in the way they deal with the services.

These are just some of the elements which are open for debate and consideration as the new services are being tried out. The first task which the Prayerbook Committee has set itself is to provide the actual texts around which the support elements of explanation and commentary can be built. The consultation will allow for input from the congregations about everything from the translations themselves to the kinds of information which would be helpful to issues of how the layout can be more user friendly. At the end of the day it would be the work of the Prayerbook Committee to absorb all the information which is fed back and make a decision where necessary bearing in mind that so many different views will be held within our congregations about major issues. It is a challenging task for each generation to create the kind of worship service which reflects its own needs and voice. This is our opportunity to find the voice for our own changing world.