On the Eve of Publication - Page 3
Written by Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet Friday, 01 February 2008
A Prayer Book in the Making
| Article Index |
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| On the Eve of Publication |
| Some Weighty Decisions |
| The Last Word on Hebrew |
| One Size Doesn’t Fit All |
| Amen Selah |
| All Pages |
The Last Word on Hebrew
While all this was going on I began consolidating approaches to a number of artists and calligraphers who had been invited to offer their work. The idea of using Hebrew calligraphy arose in response to the concerns about transliteration and the fear that we were undermining people’s commitment to the language. Why not make Hebrew such a major feature of the book through the illustrations that people would be encouraged to study it themselves? To that end we have even include a small Hebrew alphabet at the back of the book. But then a second ideological suggestion occurred. We had decided that the pictures of synagogues that had adorned the 1977 edition, in part as a reminiscence of communities destroyed by the Shoah, would not be used again. But why not invite artists from those communities that had been rebuilt or created in Europe since to the war as a look towards the future. In the event we were delighted to find contributors from Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Russia, Spain and Switzerland, as well as the UK, Israel and the USA. Among its many other innovations, this is the first Siddur to make a conscious commitment to the newly emerging European Jewish society.
However, for those who felt a great affection for the synagogue illustrations, we decided to include them, in a tinted form, as the inside covers of the book, so that they are still present.
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