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 Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet is the Editor of our new Siddur which will be published next month. During the 8 year process of creating the siddur,
Rabbi Magonet has kept a diary which traces the development of the book
and many of the debates, dilemmas and challenges provoked by the
venture. This is entry number eight.
When we began work on a new Siddur, more than five years ago, it was still to be the prayerbook of the ‘Reform Synagogues of Great Britain’. The latest draft carries the logo of ‘The Movement for Reform Judaism’. The change of name represents a move towards a more coherent view of what the Movement stands for, while still respecting the autonomy of the individual synagogues.
The same mixture of an overall vision that also acknowledges personal needs has underpinned the work on the new Siddur – with all the debates, choices, compromises, negotiations and prioritisations that this implies. The task of the editorial board, and ultimately the editor, has been to steer a course between these often contradictory concerns, accepting criticism and suggestions for improvement, but without losing sight of a coherent vision for the Siddur as a whole.
For this reason it has been tested out by congregations more than any of its predecessors, with more responses to suggested improvements than ever before. (I speak out of the direct experience of co-editing the previous three volumes in the series!) But it has also been supported by the Editorial Board and Steering Committee, with lay leaders of the Movement, more professionally and effectively than ever before. So where are we now?
Just to recap, we tried out a first draft Shabbat volume in an A4 format in September 2003, affectionately known as ‘the big blue floppy’. Behind it lay the request to produce a ‘new edition’, though with few initial guidelines, and this has meant that it has evolved over time in response to the felt needs of the Movement. It should use ‘inclusive language’ as a mark of the Movement’s commitment to gender equality, though hopefully ironing out some of the language problems of the Pilgrim Festival Book, our first full experiment in this direction. Bearing in mind the problem of the weight of that volume, the new Siddur had to be of a manageable size!
The new Siddur was to provide three kinds of service, responding to different needs within the Movement. The first was intended to offer the ‘classical’ Reform Shabbat service of the present Siddur so that congregations could continue their existing practice.
A second was to reflect the move towards more traditional forms of service of some of our synagogues and the alternative minyanim and chavurah groups that have begun in recent years, especially within larger congregations. The third, but least defined, was to be a ‘creative’ service, though how it should operate and how remain ‘creative’ once fixed in print, was not clear.
Informed Choice
The first attempt raised an immediate problem. To try to run separately ‘classic’ Reform and more traditional Shabbat services meant an enormous amount of duplicating of passages, which seemed a waste of space and added to the potential weight of the book. By the time the 2003 draft came out, a method had been devised to minimise the repetition, for example by starting the Friday Evening Service at different places for different styles of service. The other major change was to clarify something that had been blurred in the previous edition, namely the two distinct sections of the Morning Service, the birchot ha-shachar (Morning Blessings) and p’sukei d’zimra (Verses of Song) that preceded the ‘Bar’chu’ and the formal part of the service.
But in replacing the six different ‘introductions’ to the Shabbat morning service of the current Siddur, we returned the responsibility for choosing which passages from these two sections to use to the service leader. By so doing some additional page-skipping was also required which would take some getting used to until a regular routine was evolved.
Another major innovation was to offer an alternative to the traditional form of the Torah service, reflecting the theme of revelation, and a short version to be used when more attention could be placed on studying the portion.
So, what’s new?
After the draft was tried for some months the feedback came in. Some liked the more traditional structure of the service though others felt it was more difficult to follow. To our surprise there were fewer issues about the inclusive language than expected, though a number of individual suggestions for improvement were accepted. The greatest complaint however was the ‘new’ Siddur seemed hardly ‘new’ enough to warrant abandoning the existing one!
So the Editorial Board took up two ideas that had come from the feedback. The first was the wish for notes on the page of the service itself so that people could learn more about the prayers, and this has proved a very popular feature of the current draft. The second wish has proved to be the most controversial issue of the proposed new edition. Already in the ‘blue floppy’ some passages were transliterated as a help for people whose Hebrew was weak or non-existent.
It is uncomfortable for us to acknowledge this issue, though it is experienced throughout the Jewish world. Nevertheless from individual responses it became clear that may people have felt unable to participate in the service for this reason and transliteration made it possible to join in. (In previous decades more of the service was read in English which gave non-Hebrew readers a chance fully to take part. The gradual increase of Hebrew content, from perhaps 70% up to 95%, had unintentionally ‘disenfranchised’ at least some of our members.)
In line with the Movement’s recognition of the need to attract unaffiliated Jews, and to help them feel more at home in the service, the debate began about how far to extend transliteration. Should we do the ‘key’ passages only – provided we could agree which these were? But surely these, like the first line of the Sh’ma, were the ones people tended to learn by rote anyway. Or only the songs and less familiar passages? Or, for the sake of consistency (not always in evidence in our community life) should we transliterate everything? There was a long debate about this in the Editorial Board and Assembly of Rabbis, recognising both the advantages and pitfalls of this new direction. Finally it was decided to transliterate everything.
A New Layout
At this point we noted the formidable problems of producing a layout which could include the Hebrew and English text, the notes and transliteration, as well as guidelines for the service. It is to the credit of Marc Michaels that he managed to produce a layout that successfully achieved all this and more, with the transliteration available on the page for those who needed it without disturbing those who preferred to use the more prominent Hebrew text. A major change was from having Hebrew and English on facing pages, to two columns. This was based on current awareness about ease of reading when the eye makes fewer movements across the page.
In general, the prayers have been laid out in justified columns, whereas the poetic texts, like the Psalms and songs, are unjustified, which gives each page its unique internal shape. In a few of the Psalms we have retained the layout of the previous edition, with the Hebrew and English on facing pages, where this helps illustrate the structure of the Psalm. (See, for example, Psalm 92, where its assertion of God’s unique power above all, is placed in a short four-word verse at the geometrical centre of the Psalm.)
Where there are ‘alphabetical acrostics’, in the Psalms or songs, we have enlarged the appropriate letters. Occasionally we have drawn attention to interesting features of the text by using bolder letters, for example in the second paragraph of the Sh’ma. In such cases the notes on the page usually explain the reason. (Since introducing the latest draft format we have also added numbers to the verses of Psalms and songs to make it easier to select the ones to be read or sung in a particular service.) Certain major passages, like the Sh’ma and the beginning of the Amidah, have been printed in a larger font to give them more prominence. Incidentally, the font size throughout the draft is larger than in the current Siddur to make it easier to read. To help distinguish the ‘kamats katan’, the one that is pronounced ‘o’ instead of ‘ah’, we have added a small circle above the appropriate letter – as well as using a ‘kamats’ with a longer tail. These detailed elements may well go unnoticed but have each been the result of considerable thought about adding to the ease of use, or greater understanding, of the text itself.
The draft format only includes the Shabbat services, though it indicated the other sections that will appear in the final volume. The size of the page is slightly larger than that of the current Siddur but the book as a whole should be only slightly longer (between 300 to 500 pages fewer than in either the Festival or High Holyday volumes.)
This second draft was launched in May/June 2006 for the next round of feedback. It has been tried for various lengths of time by almost all congregations in the Movement. Indeed, some intend to use it till the new Siddur itself appears, and are preparing their bar- and bat-mitzvah classes with it. The editor, the chairman of the Editorial Board, Rabbi Steven Katz, and of the Steering Committee, Rabbi Elaina Rothman, together with Jenny Pizer and sometimes David Jacobs, have together visited over twenty congregations, some more than once, as well as Movement conferences and Council meetings and RSY-Netzer, to give presentations of the Siddur and get direct feedback.
Feedback and Responses
On the whole the latest draft has been received very positively. A number of mistakes were spotted very quickly, particularly typos, but also occasions when insertions for special occasions made it difficult to find where to continue the service. For example the passage in the Amidah for Chanukah made it difficult to see how the regular blessing continued. This insertion has now been moved to a special section for the festivals.
But one of the unexpected problems of the new layout was the sheer density of materials on some of the pages. In order to distinguish the guidelines for the service from other materials, a number of ‘boxes’ had been introduced. By removing these and moving all of the notes to the bottom of the page a greater sense of ‘space’ has been created. I was reminded by an artist that reading through the pages of a book should be like walking through a landscape! We are currently looking at the use of small ‘icons’ to make it easier to see where the service continues after a break.
The transliteration remains the most often cited issue. Some simply disapprove on principle, though others have become encouraged (or resigned to its inclusion) when learning that the Orthodox Art Scroll Siddur has provided fully transliterated editions. The problem of Hebrew literacy is not confined to Reform Judaism! Some have found it helpful to improve their reading skills and check their pronunciation. Nevertheless there remains a major concern that the existence of transliteration might discourage children from mastering the Hebrew they need for bar- or bat-mitzvah, though presumably they will still have to learn to read their Torah portion.
Obviously the question of Hebrew literacy for adults and children remains something the Movement needs to address. While the Shabbat services and some home sections, like the Thanksgiving after Meals, are transliterated, the daily services and other sections, like the Psalm Anthology and ‘Sayings of the Fathers’ are not, which may encourage people to move beyond transliteration so as to take fullest use of them.
Traditional and Progressive – striking a balance
One important feedback from this second draft version has drawn our attention back to the suggestion of a ‘creative’ service. While many approved of the restoration of more traditional material (itself a legitimate ‘reform’ activity), others felt that the new draft offered little that was ‘new’ or sufficiently ‘progressive’. Two particular requests were made. One was to give a more prominent place within the service for contemporary issues, like human rights and environment concerns. We had gone some way towards this by providing the prayers for interfaith dialogue and international understanding within the body of the Shabbat morning service as options after the Torah reading. We have since added another prayer which addresses social and environmental issues. But the second request was more difficult to address. There are many who find the certainties expressed in the traditional liturgy, particularly about God’s intervention in human events, more challenging. Could we produce materials that could be used as an alternative to the traditional prayers for occasional use, or simply as reflective commentaries on them? If printed within the actual Shabbat services these could lead to even more page skipping, so a ‘reflective Amidah’ and other passages that offer alternatives to the major sections of the Shabbat Morning Service, have now been added in a special place as a concluding part of the main services section of the Siddur.
Yet another issue has been less to do with the content of the Siddur than the way in which the service itself is conducted. We come to synagogue carrying with us many experiences from our lives. These can be happy or sad matters, things that we celebrate or troubles that weigh us down. We may want the service to offer a very different world, one that is comforting or reassuring where we can set daily matters aside for a while; but sometimes we may want the opportunity to share with others the emotions that we bring with us. There are ways of leading a service that can meet either situation, depending somewhat on the nature of the congregation.
We have provided in the Siddur a ‘welcome’ to the Shabbat services that encourages congregants to take some time before the service begins to prepare themselves. There are also natural ‘pauses’ in the flow of words, for example during the second and third paragraphs of the Sh’ma or in the silence at the end of the Amidah that can be used for more personal reflection if the service leader creates the necessary opportunity. But how far these are used is something congregations must decide for themselves. A small section of reflections for the ‘sh’liach tsibbur’, the service leader, has also been added to help address this element in the service.
The Siddur as a Whole
The draft format has only included the Shabbat services, though an earlier draft for the annual conference in June 2004 included the daily services, the Thanksgiving After Meals and Havdalah. The final version of the book will contain in addition the Psalm Anthology and ‘Sayings of the Fathers’ as in the current volume. The new Study Anthology includes a major section on Jewish prayer and liturgy so that the Siddur will be a major educational as well as spiritual resource. The other three study sections are on ‘Life’s Journey’, ‘Society and Community’, ‘The Life of the Spirit’.
Between the Services and the Anthology sections, is a new feature. This includes an enlarged ‘Home Services’ section, a ‘Calendar for the Year’, Prayers and Passages for major public events and concerns. A new section offers prayers for more personal ‘life-cycle’ moments and events, providing materials that can be used in conjunction with the Study Anthology. As with the existing Siddur it is our hope that the new volume will be used as much at home and privately as it is in the synagogue and publicly.
What remains to be done?
We have had feedback from congregations and have begun making adjustments based on responses. A major concern has been to make it as easy as possible to follow the service, especially where there is page-turning following particular choices.
Still to be decided are the illustrations. We forget that including illustrations in the 1977 edition was a major innovation, and at the time was viewed as a considerable risk. Having followed it through with the other two volumes, it is intended to do so again. But what materials should we use? The initial view of retaining those from the current Siddur seemed more and more inappropriate as the new edition took on a clearer identity of its own. One suggestion arose following the controversy over transliteration, namely to use Hebrew calligraphy as a basis for some of them, so that more and more could be done to familiarise people with Hebrew and encourage them to learn it, and we have approached a number of artists with this in mind.
The current Siddur used pictures of synagogues, many of them destroyed during the war, as a kind of indirect memorial to the victims of the Shoah. It is our hope that at least some of the artists we include will belong to congregations reborn after the Shoah, particularly from continental Europe and the Former Soviet Union, so that we can reflect this extraordinary renewal of Jewish life in our time.
There remains still the delicate phase of completing the process of editing and signing off with the Movement. Beyond that lie a variety of technical negotiations about numbers of copies to print for congregational and private use. As I noted at the beginning there is always a creative tension between the aims of the Movement and the values and concerns of the individual synagogues. When the 1977 Siddur was published there was no certainty that it would be accepted by all, particularly as people were so used to the existing one and had expressed doubts about at least one radical change – the replacing of ‘Thee’ and ‘Thou’ with ‘You’ when addressing God.
In retrospect the extraordinary emotions evolved and the difficult arguments and debates seem puzzling. But we are seeing exactly the same levels of concern today, albeit about very different issues. Change is always difficult, and when it concerns a prayerbook that has accompanied people throughout their lives, it is even more complex.
In time, if this new Siddur is found to address people’s needs and fits into the lives of congregations in a positive way, then the features we have introduced, and indeed the risks that we have taken this time round, will be justified.
For now we can only seek to complete the task and discharge the great responsibility that has been given us. We commend Iyyun Tefillah, ‘Devotion in Prayer’, to you, to the wider Jewish society and to all those who value the Jewish contribution to contemporary religious life.
To place your order contact your synagogue. The Siddur is also available to people who are not members of a synagogue, please call 0208 349 9484 or click here to buy on-line.
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