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amba

Awesome images. My favorite: "your 'self' is a core sample of continuity -- fresh and individuated at the top, rooted in eons of debate and discussion and persecution and fervent prayer."

david

Thanks, me sis.

Richard Lawrence Cohen

Having not looked at a siddur since I turned 13, I'm wondering how it compares, in your view, to other religions' prayer books. Also, it's very interesting that you say "both forbidden and encouraged" instead of "both encouraged and forbidden".

David

Richard:

How good to hear from you!

The only other organized collections of prayers I'm familiar with are the Protestant hymnal in my ex-wife's small-town New Hampshire church, and various Buddhist texts. It seems to me that they're both much more orderly, as if one person or a small group put them together, and not thousands of people across a span of centuries. But I'm no scholar, especially on that score.

Interesting to note, too, that some siddurim -- like the Art Scroll siddur -- give you specific choreography in the margins: kiss your tefillin when you say this word, take three steps back, bow to the left and then right when you conclude this prayer, etc. I haven't seen that in other prayer books, because the choreography in other traditions is simple enough to be communicated orally and memorized quickly.

And you're right: 'forbidden' comes before 'encouraged', and that's no mistake. Encouragement to personalize your Jewish experience is an almost subversive and yet essential exercise in the Jewish worship experience from my perspective. After all, if there's no minyan, you can't say kaddish: your personal experience is secondary, at least as far as the rabbinic tradition is concerned.

Richard Lawrence Cohen

Thanks, David. I've not been reading blogs at all for months -- no time, no time! -- but I've been creeping back slowly. I turned to yours today in the aftermath of the NIU shootings, and I thank you for that post too.

Steve Yastrow

"When you get beneath the surface of any Jewish practice, you see that it is an improvisation dropped in a pool of amber."

Maybe I'm biased, because I love your writing, but this is one of the best descriptions of the way Jewish practice evolves. This shows why we should be encouraged to improvise ourselves, despite the seemingly indelible ideas of the past. The past guides us, but we have every right - and obligation - to build on it.

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