Archive for September, 2005
Reading a Memoir and Hearing a Prayer
Diane Cole
The Holy Thief: A Con Man’s Journey From Darkness To Light. Rabbi Mark Borovitz and Alan Eisenstock. (William Morrow, 2004) $23.95, 226 pp.
To Wear The Dust Of War: From Bialystok To Shanghai To The Promised Land — An Oral History. Samuel Iwry. Ed. L.J.H.Kelley. (Palgrave Macmillan. 2004) $22.95, 214 pp.
In many ways, a confessional [...]
Personal Virtue
Jeremy Kalmanofsky
Given the immense weight of the legal tradition in Judaism, and Kant’s influence in modern philosophy, it is no surprise that Jews tend to think of ethics as a body of rules. Both halakhah and Kant speak powerfully of duty as the primary ethical dimension. But one helpful alternative way to think of personal [...]
What Life Gives
Penina Adelman
Each year the divine voice deep inside me calls out to the rest of me stuck in the everyday mud of things to look, listen, and learn from my deeds.
How Can a Feminist Like Me Enjoy a Liturgy Like This?
Martha Ackelsberg
My secret is now out: I actually enjoy the Yom Kippur Avodah Service. How can this be? How can a committed feminist and havurah Jew – one who does not feel especially comfortable in most synagogues and who has long been unwilling to pray for the rebuilding of the Temple or the restoration of [...]
Bringing Ourselves to Prayer
Rabbis Tirzah Firestone and Saul Berman explore their personal relationships to the prayers of Rosh Hashsana and how, as spiritual leaders, they guide others through the holidays.
Discussion Guide – Inside the High Holy Days
1. What is the essence of Rosh Hashanah, and how is it expressed through prayer?
2. How might nature serve as a sanctuary for prayer?
3. Does a gendered God language encumber prayer? Is your prayer encumbered by changing language?
4. What role does music, movement, silence, and art play in your celebration of the new year?
5. What is the power of teshuvah, the act of self-re.ection, of turning, of forgiveness, during the High Holy days?
