FOSTERING A VIGOROUS PROGRESSIVE JEWISH CULTURE Liturgical Creativity and Innovation
Praying for our Lives: The Power of Particularity Amidst the Collective
CHURCH OF THE HEAVENLY REST New York, NY
“At the moment we see (hear) something beautiful, we undergo a radical de-centering. What happens, happens to our bodies. When we come upon beautiful moments they act like small tears in the surface of the world that pull us through to a vaster space .... The ground rotates beneath us. We find ourselves standing in a different relation to the world than we were a moment before.... Elaine Scarry
BEAUTY AND BEING JUST • Affects a move away from self preoccupation … • Fosters attention outward • Render fairness concrete • Has a lateral reach
ART IS THE PROCESS OF IMAGINATIVE WORLD MAKING
A REVIEW OF SOME TERMS • Worship — from its Old English etymology — weorschipe dignity, honor • Liturgy — from its Greek origins — laos , ergon , public service for the common good • Ritual — from Latin, ritus , order, cosmic, social
Ordinary acts, when extraordinarily practiced, break open, transforming human conventions and revealing what is more deeply desirable, most cosmically orienting and most fully human.
CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE New York, NY
RITUAL IS EMBODIED, CONDENSED AND PRESCRIBED ENACTMENT
SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK • What meanings and values do we want to convey? • What language no longer connects with us? • How could we structure our worship so that we would feel in our bones being drawn into the power of the service? • What can congregants do in addition to reading prayers and singing? • What sounds do we need? • How do we create an emotional arc/arcs in our rituals?
םָלֻּכּ לַעְו ,תוֹחיִלְס ַהּוֹֽלֱא , וּנָֽל חַלְס ,וּנָֽל לַחְמ ,רֶפַּכּ-וּנָֽל. V’al kulam elo-ah s’lichot s’lach lanu, m’chal lanu, kapeir lanu For all of these failures, God of forgiveness – forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement. V’al Kulam Music by Craig Taubman Text: Yom Kippur Liturgy/Craig Taubman
Fo For be r bein ing g un unfa fair irly ly cr crit itical ical of of my myse self lf an and ot d othe hers rs V’al Kulam Music by Craig Taubman Text: Yom Kippur Liturgy/Craig Taubman
Fo For tak r takin ing g al all l th that at my my wi wife fe doe does s fo for gran r granted ted V’al Kulam Music by Craig Taubman Text: Yom Kippur Liturgy/Craig Taubman
Fo For not r not re reac aching out hing out to to a a lo longti ngtime me fri frien end d even ev en af afte ter r le learnin arning g she she was was dia diagn gnosed osed wi with th ca cance ncer V’al Kulam Music by Craig Taubman Text: Yom Kippur Liturgy/Craig Taubman
For For dou doubti bting ng my my pa part rtner ner V’al Kulam Music by Craig Taubman Text: Yom Kippur Liturgy/Craig Taubman
For For not not han handli dling ng dif diffi ficult cult pe peop ople e wit ith co h comp mpassi assion on V’al Kulam Music by Craig Taubman Text: Yom Kippur Liturgy/Craig Taubman
Fo For my st r my stub ubbornne bornness, ss, my my close cl ose-min mindedne dedness, ss, my my un unwi willi llingne ngness ss to to ma make ke me meani aningfu ngful l ch chang anges, and es, and my my miss missed ed ch chan ance to ce to buil bu ild d co comm mmunity unity V’al Kulam Music by Craig Taubman Text: Yom Kippur Liturgy/Craig Taubman
For all of these, we ask one thing of You Forgive us, return us, grant us life anew V’al Kulam Music by Craig Taubman Text: Yom Kippur Liturgy/Craig Taubman
םָלֻּכּ לַעְו ,תוֹחיִלְס ַהּוֹֽלֱא , וּנָֽל חַלְס ,וּנָֽל לַחְמ ,רֶפַּכּ-וּנָֽל. V’al kulam elo-ah s’lichot s’lach lanu, m’chal lanu, kapeir lanu For all of these failures, God of forgiveness – forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement. V’al Kulam Music by Craig Taubman Text: Yom Kippur Liturgy/Craig Taubman
• To reject the blur of the “universal”; • To distinguish one life from another; Cynthia Ozick • To illuminate diversity; to light up the least grain of being, • To show how it is concretely individual, particularized from any other; • To tell, in all the marvel of its singularity, the separate holiness of the least grain.
Like no other prayer, Kol Nidrei compels our presence, And not just us alone, But the memorized outline, too, of younger years, The gentle feel of those who tucked us in, who blessed our days, consoled our nights; And came as we do, on this eve, with memories of their own. We, tonight, are memories in the making, Warming seats for others who will remember us In some Kol Nidrei they shall hear when we are gone Larry Hoffman
REDEMPTION Dara Horn Remember the day you witnessed the impossible. You once lived in chains, beaten by failure or sorrow, your feet sunk in mortar and mud. And then one day a strong hand gripped yours and pulled you free.
REDEMPTION You once lived in another city, in another country, in a place without choices, until you chose to escape. You carried all you owned on your shoulder and ran for the water's edge, and walls of water rose on your right and on your left. Your were convinced it could never happen, that nothing could change, that your despair would overtake you and drive you into the sea. But one day, today, you held your breath and decided to leap forward. And then the waters parted, and your feet found dry land.
REDEMPTION And everyone reads: We were redeemed from slavery and are grateful for the opportunity to be free. Help us now to embrace our responsibility to redeem others. Inspire us to do our part in creating world that is filled with dignity, truth and justice Baruch atah, Adonai, gaal Yisrael
RITUALS CAN … Ron Grimes • Empower and disempower, • Attune and dis-attune, • Enact transformation and • Reinforce the status quo, • Render meaningless and inculcate values
Liturgy has always changed. We do not study the past in order to imitate it. Tradition is not the past. Tradition is the life of the community in dynamic continuity with all that has come before. The past is dead, but tradition is alive, tradition is now. Robert Taft
EVERY KIND OF CHANGE MATTERS • The interaction between leaders and the congregation • The manner of speaking and singing • The tempo or rhythm of the service
UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY New York, NY
RITUALS ARE ENACTED MODELS FOR HOW THINGS OUGHT TO BE
RELIGIONS OF THE EARTH Cathedral of St. John the Divine New York, NY
THE WORLD CAN ONLY CHANGE BY THOSE WHO PRACTICE CHANGE Worlds Social Forum, 2005
GOAL/THESIS: During Kabbalat Shabbat we acknowledge the realities from which we enter our sanctuary and then affirm the power of faith and community to lift and support us.
םיִמַּעָה לָכְל הָלִּפְתּ תיֵבּ. Kabbalat Shabbalat: Beit T ’filah L’chol Ha-amim A House of Prayer for All People. Kabbalat Shabbat
יִתיֵב יִכּהָלִּפְתּ תיֵבּ אֵרָקִּיםיִמַּעָה לָכְל. Ki veiti beit t’filah yikarei l’chol ha-amim My house will be called a house of prayer for all people. Kabbalat Shabbat Music: Traditional Kabbalat Shabbat Chant Text: Isaiah 56:7
Let your soul shine In your chest. Let your heart sparkle In your eyes. Let joy fill your limbs with radiance. Let love fill your hands with splendor. Kabbalat Shabbat Music: Shlomo Gronich/Noah Aronson Text: Soul Shine, Alden Solovy
You are the instrument Of G- d’s music, The tool Of repairing the earth. You are the voice Of wonder and awe, The song of hope and tomorrow. Kabbalat Shabbat Music: Shlomo Gronich/Noah Aronson Text: Soul Shine, Alden Solovy
יִתיֵב יִכּהָלִּפְתּ תיֵבּ אֵרָקִּיםיִמַּעָה לָכְל. Ki veiti beit t’filah yikarei l’chol ha-amim My house will be called a house of prayer for all people. Kabbalat Shabbat Music: Traditional Kabbalat Shabbat Chant Text: Isaiah 56:7
This gift, This majesty within, Is not yours to keep. It is not yours to hold. It is not yours to hide. Kabbalat Shabbat Music: Shlomo Gronich/Noah Aronson Text: Soul Shine, Alden Solovy
Cong: Let my soul shine Luminous, elegant, Brave and true, A beacon of praise, A lantern of song, A summons for holiness to enter our lives and this world. Kabbalat Shabbat Music: Shlomo Gronich/Noah Aronson Text: Soul Shine, Alden Solovy
Cong: Let my soul shine. Set it free. Set it free to fill the space Between the here And the unknown With abundance And with blessings. Kabbalat Shabbat Music: Shlomo Gronich/Noah Aronson Text: Soul Shine, Alden Solovy
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