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| Source (Hebrew and Yiddish) | Paraliturgical Interpretation (English) |
|---|---|
(Before ברכו:) God is the “the grandeur of reason made manifest in existence.”[1] A phrase adapted from Albert Einstein’s Science and Religion (1939): “By way of the understanding, [humanity] achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires—and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man.” God is the Creative Force behind and within the universe that manifests itself as energy, as life, as order, as beauty, as thought, as conscience and as love. Let us now rise to acknowledge God’s presence in our midst. | |
(Paraphrase of יוצר המאורות and אהבה רבה:) | |
We give thanks to God for the light of day. | |
ברוך אתה ה׳ יוצר המאורות׃ | |
And we also give thanks to God for the light of conscience and for the moral laws discovered by our people and people of goodwill everywhere and by which we live. | |
ברוך אתה ה׳ אוהב עמו ישראל׃ | |
(Before each phrase of ברכת שלום:) | |
גאָט זאָל דיק בענטשן און דיך היטן! |
May the Eternal God bless you with whatever enables you to be a source of blessing, and protect you from whatever prevents you from growing in loyalty, integrity, and ethical responsibility. |
גאָט זאָל דערלײַכטן זײַן פָּנִים צו דיר און דיך לײטזעליקן! |
May the Eternal One illumine your life through Torah and wisdom, so that you may be loving and lovable. |
גאָט זאָל אױפֿהײגן זײַן פָּנִים צו דיר און דיר באַשערן שָׁלוֹם. |
May the Eternal‘s kindness and love pervade your awareness, bestowing fulfillment, contentment and peace. |
שמע ישראל |
([At the Torah Reading service,] before שמע:) Pay attention, Household of Israel and each and every individual Jew. It is the Eternal Process — making for creative communication between individuals and peoples; it is the Power that makes for freedom, justice, truth, peace, love, loyalty, compassion, cooperation and moral responsibility — that is worthy of our worship and devotion, our commitment and our sacrifice. It is only the Eternal; it is the Eternal One alone! |
אחד אלהינו |
([At the Torah Reading service,] before אחד אלהינו:) We worship the Sacred Unity manifest in ethics, in rationality, in hope and courage. |
([At the conclusion of the Torah Reading service,] before גדלו:) The Torah is the visible symbol of the Jewish people’s quest for life’s meaning and direction and a symbol of its covenant with God. As the Scroll is raised and carried aloft and as we express our respect and affection for it, we link our lives with this eternal quest and everlasting covenant.[2] Rabbi Ben Newman adds, “He also used to add here (paraphrasing as well as I can remember) “as we walk around and kiss the Torah and pay homage to it, we should remember that it is NOT the physical scroll itself that we worship and pay homage to, but to the concepts of truth beauty and goodness etc. that it represents…” He was very conscious of idolatry of the scroll.” | |
(Middle of עלינו:) Despite all the evils that mar human life, we share the faith of the Jewish people that this world can be, must be, and will be changed for the better, and that each of us (with the help of the God of life and goodness) can be an agent of such change. |
These are a series of kavvanot prepared by Rabbi Emanuel S. Goldsmith (1935-2024), z”l, for a Shaḥarit service containing the call to prayer (Barkhu), the blessings preceding the Shema, tthe conclusion of the Amidah, before and after the Torah reading service, and Aleinu. Rabbi Ben Newman, who shared these kavvanot in eulogy for Rabbi Goldsmith in a Facebook post, writes, “My dear teacher, friend, and mentor Rabbi Dr. Emanuel Goldsmith died on Friday. He was an amazing man who taught me a lot about how to be a rabbi, a Reconstructionist, a liturgist, philosopher of religion, and Yiddishist. He also was the “head rabbi” who officiated at my wedding to Rabbi Shoshana Leis….I had him write out for me [these kavvanot] when I substituted for him leading at Congregation Mvakshe Derekh in Scarsdale, NY, 20 years ago as a student rabbi.”
Source(s)
kavanot for barkhu, yoster hameorot, and ahavah rabah (Emanuel Goldsmith ca. 2003) kavanot for birkhat shalom (Emanuel Goldsmith ca. 2003) kavanot for shema, torah reading, and aleinu (Emanuel Goldsmith ca. 2003)
Notes
| 1 | A phrase adapted from Albert Einstein’s Science and Religion (1939): “By way of the understanding, [humanity] achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires—and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man.” |
|---|---|
| 2 | Rabbi Ben Newman adds, “He also used to add here (paraphrasing as well as I can remember) “as we walk around and kiss the Torah and pay homage to it, we should remember that it is NOT the physical scroll itself that we worship and pay homage to, but to the concepts of truth beauty and goodness etc. that it represents…” He was very conscious of idolatry of the scroll.” |
“Kavvanot for a Shaḥarit Service, by Rabbi Emanuel S. Goldsmith (ca. 2003)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
Wonderful. Thank you so much for transcribing this!– Ben Newman