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The Shabbat Morning Service - Page 3

Written by Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet Saturday, 01 March 2003

A Prayer Book in the Making

There is a general point that may be helpful.  There are two kinds of ‘services’.  In the type that goes by the name ‘Orthodox’ (and this applies equally to Judaism and Christianity), the important thing is that one’s duty is fulfilled and that a ‘correct’ service in its fullness is conducted.  The responsibility then lies with the ‘shaliach tzibbur’ (the prayer leader) to ensure that everything that should be said is said, and the community is freer to switch their attention and degree of participation on or off.  Such services can comfortably last several hours as one need only concentrate fully at certain points.  The opposite type is classically the Reform service, pioneered by Protestantism, which is considerably shorter, selective in its content, but expects that the worshippers be fully engaged collectively throughout.  This requires a far higher degree of concentration and must therefore be shorter.  What has happened in our movement is that our ethos is for this latter kind, shorter but intensive, but we have increasingly added to the length and feel almost trapped by the need to ‘get it right’ and leave nothing out. 

What we have tried to do with the Shabbat morning service is define much more clearly the distinctive sections of the service, with rubrics suggesting that one should feel free to choose something out of each section but need not include everything.  This can only work if it is accompanied by a real educational drive that will empower people to feel free to be selective.  It also requires a lot of thought about how to conduct the service in such a way that the congregants have the security of knowing what is happening and where they are in the service while being comfortable with innovation and something fresh at certain points.  So one of the challenges is to look at ways of making the layout and instructions as clear and helpful as possible.

Some have expressed their fear that by including more material and variety, the weight of the prayerbook will become a serious problem – especially if transliteration and notes are added.  The memory of the weight of the Festival Prayerbook is a warning about such dangers.  The existing Siddur is some 620 pages and while the original edition is relatively light, subsequent reprints were printed on heavier paper which makes it also somewhat unwieldy. The High Holyday Prayerbook is just over 1000 pages, but, at least in the first edition, was printed on special thin paper and has not proved to be a problem.  The Pilgrim Festival Book has over 900 pages, but it was printed in a hurry and by mistake on paper that was far too heavy.  It is perfectly possible to choose paper of a lighter weight that would allow for a somewhat larger number of pages but still be a comfortable weight.  Nevertheless this issue will also have to be properly considered when we reach that stage of the proceedings.