The Movement for Reform Judaism

With the draft Shabbat morning service we begin to see more clearly some of the challenges and opportunities facing us as we attempt to create a new prayerbook for the movement. The 1935 volume of 'Forms of Prayer' was a very much scaled down version of the traditional siddur. Because of its origins it contained a mixture of Ashkenazi and Sephardi elements that are retained in the current volume and the new draft. What was seen as a problem with the 1935 edition in the seventies, apart from the archaic language, was the absence of variety or alternative possibilities. The only option for changing the Shabbat morning service was to introduce a psalm from the psalm anthology at the back, which took up exactly half of the book.

The 1977 edition consciously attempted to address the issue of providing variety by offering different introductions to the Friday evening and Shabbat morning services, as well as slots within the services where new materials could be introduced – alternative 2nd and 3rd paragraphs for the Shema, a study passage, a responsive reading, etc.   One of the problems raised by this approach is that traditional materials tended to be distributed through the different introductions, and many were not included. This means that for those who want a more ‘conservative’ style service, it is a messy exercise moving around the book. However, such a structure risks becoming somewhat mechanical  - ‘today we do service number 3’. Of course the same prayerbook can be used in very different ways – a visit to a number of different synagogues will show just how varied the same service can be. Indeed today we are seeing the emergence of quite different ‘minyanim’, within the same synagogue – ‘classical British Reform organ and choir’ alongside a ‘Shlomo Carlebach’ chanted traditional style one, alongside a guitar-led contemporary song service, and mixtures of all three at once! 

One expressed hope was that a new prayerbook would be able to accommodate such different ‘minyanim’. This led initially to the suggestion of totally different services bound together in the same book. The first drafts of the Friday evening service did this, but it became clear that there was a lot of repetition of common materials, which took up a lot of space. So what has emerged instead is something a little different and a little more challenging. To understand it we need to look at one of the weaknesses of the 1977 edition, its failure to differentiate the two distinct sections of the early part of the morning service – the Birchot Ha-Shachar (the morning blessings) and the Pesukei D’Zimra, (the ‘Verses of Song’). These are the sections before the ‘Bar’chu’. The first is related to our waking moments and preparing for a new day. The second begins to focus our attention on the role which God plays in our lives, individually and as Israel.  Both sections offer the greatest opportunity for flexibility within the service as they are made up of  ‘individual’ voices before we formally come together as a ‘collective’ voice with the ‘Bar’chu’. So how best take advantage of this flexibility and the different moods of the two sections?  

One answer is to ensure that the sections are clearly demarcated and that a lot of different materials are made available in them so that a variety of services can be created from them. But that leads to a real challenge. Unless people are sufficiently secure in their knowledge of the service, particularly in congregations without a rabbi, there is a feeling that all parts of the service are of equal importance and authority. This may translate into the idea that anything that is printed in the book ought to be included! But this also bumps into that other problematic tendency within Reform services – that they are becoming increasingly lengthy! If everything in the book is of equally significance, then nothing can be cut! So if more materials are included so that different kinds of service or ‘minyanim’ can be accommodated, then we have to educate ourselves sufficiently to feel comfortable with choosing out of the totality in any given section the particular pieces we wish to use for any given service. This in turn means a greater degree of preparation and indeed thinking through what we wish to focus on or experience on that particular occasion. Ironically, the Reform movement has always asserted that its decisions were based on ‘informed choice’. This new kind of prayerbook will make the necessity of ‘informed choice’ quite tangible.   

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.

'Forms of Prayer' will be published in May 2008. If you haven't yet ordered your copy, please contact your synagogue office. The siddur is also available to people who are not members of synagogues. To place your order, please call 0208 349 9484 or click here to buy on-line.