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Contributor(s): |
Tzemaḥ Yoreh
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Categories: |
Shabbat Siddurim
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Jewish Humanism, Ethical Humanism, Post-Enlightenment Judaism, Humanist, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Needing Decompilation, Nusaḥ l'Yahadut Humanistit
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I am a humanist. I am a feminist. I am an environmentalist. I am a libertarian. I am a pacifist. I believe in democracy. I am an agnostic. Traditional Jewish prayer is not any of these “ists” or “ics”; it reflects the worldview of the rabbis 1500 years ago, who may have been quite sagacious but did not share many of my values. The minor and major edits, deletions, and additions to which liberal Jews of this day and age have treated their prayers have inserted some of these sentiments, but for the most part the macro structure of prayers has been preserved, making it difficult for people to engage with the prayer in a straightforward way. The composers of liberal prayer books understand this, and thus we find the phenomenon of alternative or additional English readings and/or very creative translations that bear little relationship to the original prayer. There is another way forward, though. We can compose new prayers and poetry in the original Hebrew that reflect our values and revitalize our canon. This is the way I chose. . . . |
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Contributor(s): |
Rachel Barenblat
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Categories: |
Shaḥarit l'Shabbat ul'Yom Tov
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Breath, interconnectedness, interbreathing, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English poetry, Prayers as poems, English vernacular prayer, paraliturgical nishmat kol ḥai, נשמת כל חי Nishmat kol ḥai
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A prayer-poem inspired from the liturgical prayer, Nishmat. . . . |
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Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow
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Categories: |
Ḳedushah
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romanticism, 19th century C.E., Keter, Crown, Wreath, Wheel, Hekhalot, Angels, 57th century A.M., סנדלפון Sandalfon, English Romanticism, Coronation, Angelic Nature, English poetry, קדושה Qedushah
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The poem, “Sandalphon,” as composed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) and completed January 18, 1858, first published in Birds of Passage (1858), section “Flight the First,” page 62. . . . |
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