Transcript He who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses

Worship and Ritual in Modern
Jewish Life
RELIG 210: Lecture 14
Holidays and Ritual Occasions
1. Pilgrimage Festivals
2. New Year Cycle
3. Commemorative Celebrations and
Fasts
Commemorative Celebrations
• Mythic narrative remains central in
yearly calendar
• Commemorate great moments and
tragedies through rituals
Chanukah (Dedication)
• No reference in Hebrew Bible
• Victory of Maccabees over Syrian
domination in 135BCE
• Rededicate the Temple
• Miracle of jar of oil added in Talmud
Menorah
Latke-Fried Potato Pancake
Dreidel
Tu Bishvat
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Birthday of the Trees
Mystical Significance
Zionist Symbolism
Environmental Holiday-Jewish Earth
Day
Purim (Lots, Raffle)
• Book of Esther
– Jews of Persia saved from destruction
– Draws lots to determine day to kill Jews
– Diaspora story
– No mention of God
• Ritual
– Read Scroll of Esther
– Rowdy celebration
Commemorative Fasts
• 4 minor fast days
– Daylight and full-day
• 3 connected to catastrophe of Temple’s
destruction
– Tisha B’Av-saddest day on the calendar
New Holidays
• Israel Independence Day
• Holocaust Memorial Day
Tradition and Change in
Worship and Ritual
• Understand the diversity of ritual and
worship in modern Judaism
• Focus on the role that gender and
feminism play in sparking innovation
and change
• Take a virtual tour of Jewish worship
Worship and Ritual in the
Modern World
• Morning Amidah (pp.203-205)
– Look at prayers 2,10,11,13,14,15,17
– What might strike a modern Jew as
problematic? Why?
• Should the liturgy change, why or why
not?
• What changes (if any) would you
implement?
To Change or Not to Change?
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Liturgy is at the core of Jewish life
Transforming liturgy would…
Maintaining liturgy would…
What are other options?
All Modern Movements
Respond To…
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Social Factors
Intellectual Factors
Aesthetic Factors
Technological Factors
Cultural Norms
Reform Movement
• Reconfigure prayer and ritual to meet
new criteria
– Music
– Decorum (seating)
– Language
– Meaning
– Political Status
• Read “Rationale of Reform” (p.209)
Remu Synagoge, Krakow,
Poland
Great Synagogue-Budapest
Changes in Liturgy and Ritual
• How does the Reform Amidah differ
from rabbinic liturgy?
• What are the major additions, deletions,
changes?
Orthodox Movement
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Aesthetic Changes
Addition of vernacular sermon
Cantorial music
Gender roles constant--to some extent
Art Scroll and English language
The Conservative Movement
• Minor liturgical changes
• Adopted many aesthetic, cultural
changes
Women, Feminism, and the
Transformation of Judaism
• Women in Rabbinic Judaism
– Scripture and Tradition
– Theology
– Authority
– Worship and Ritual
• Debates about gender role sparks
innovation and division
Three Major Influences
• Liturgical Innovations
• Leadership and community
• Ritual and Music
Liturgical Innovations
• Is God a “He” or a “She”
• Marcia Falk on God language
“Praised are You (masc), Lord
our God, King of the
universe whose mitzvot
add holiness to our lives,
cherishing us through the
gift of His holy Shabbat
granted lovingly, gladly, a
reminder of
Creation…Thus You have
chose us, endowing us with
holiness, from among all
peoples by granting us
your holy Shabbat lovingly
and gladly. Praised are You
(masc) who hallows
Shabbat”
“Let us bless the
source of life that
ripens fruit on the
vine as we hallow the
seventh day--the
Sabbath day--in
remembrance of
creation, for the
Sabbath is first
among holy days,
recalling the exodus
and the covenant.”
Women in Leadership
• When was the first woman rabbi
ordained?
• How have women rabbis effected
authority and communal structures?
• Across denominations
Women and Worship
• Dvorah’s Song and Miriam’s Song
• Source: Judge 4:12
Arise, arise Devorah.
Arise, arise, and sing a song.
Arise, arise, Devorah.
Devorah, the prophet, was a judge in Israel/ She sat beneath her
palm tree on a hill, and people came form everywhere just to
hear her judgments honest and fair. Devorah, the prophet,
Devorah a mother in Israel.
The Healing Prayer (Mi
Sheiberach)
• “He who blessed our forefathers Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, David and
Solomon, may He bless and heal the sick person
… son of… because <name> will contribute to
charity on his behalf. In reward for this, may
the Holy One, Blessed is He, be filled with
compassion for him to restore him to health, to
heal him, to strengthen him, and to revivify
him. And may he send him speedily a complete
recovery from heaven…”
Shlomo Carlebach
Yotzer Or Blessing
• First blessing before the Shema
• “Master of light and Creator of Darkness,
who ordains peace and fashions all things,
cause a new light to shine upon Zion, and
may we all be worthy to delight in its
splendor”