Overview

An illuminating in-depth exploration of the complexities—and perhaps audacity—of naming the unnameable. One of the oldest and most beloved prayers—known even to Jews who rarely attend synagogue—is Avinu Malkeinu (""Our Father, Our King""), a liturgical staple for the entire High Holy Day period. ""Our Father, Our King"" has resonance also for Christians, whose Lord's Prayer begins ""Our Father."" Despite its popularity, Avinu Malkeinu causes great debate because of the difficulties in thinking of God as father and king. Americans no longer relate positively to images of royalty; victims of parental abuse note the problem of assuming a benevolent father; and feminists have long objected to masculine language for God. Through a series of lively introductions and commentaries, almost forty contributors—men and women, scholars and rabbis, artists and thinkers from all Jewish denominations and from around the world—wrestle with this linguistic and spiritual conundrum, asking, “How do we name God altogether, without recourse to imagery that defies belief?” Contributors: Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson • Rabbi Anthony Bayfield • Rabbi Will Berkowitz • Dr. Annette Boeckler • Dr. Marc Brettler • Dr. Erica Brown • Rabbi Angela Buchdahl • Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove • Rabbi Joshua Davidson • Rabbi Lawrence Englander • Lisa Exler • Rabbi Paul Freedman • Rabbi Elyse Frishman • Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand • Rabbi Edwin Goldberg • Rabbi Andrew Goldstein • Dr. Joel M. Hoffman • Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman • Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur • Rabbi Elie Kaunfer • Rabbi Karen Kedar • Rabbi Reuven Kimelman • Rabbi Daniel Landes • Liz Lerman • Rabbi Asher Lopatin • Catherine Madsen • Rabbi Jonathan Magonet • Rabbi Dalia Marx • Chazzan Danny Maseng • Ruth Messinger • Rabbi Charles H. Middleburgh • Rabbi Jay Henry Moses • Rabbi Jack Riemer • Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin • Rabbis Dennis and Sandy Sasso • Rabbi Marc Saperstein • Rabbi Jonathan P. Slater • Rabbi David Stern • Rabbi David Teutsch • Dr. Ellen Umansky • Edward van Voooen • Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig • Dr. Ron Wolfson • Rabbi Daniel Zemel • Dr. Wendy Zierler

Full Product Details

Author:   Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman
Publisher:   Jewish Lights Publishing
Imprint:   Jewish Lights Publishing
Edition:   Annotated edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.481kg
ISBN:  

9781683362173

ISBN 10:   1683362179
Pages:   336
Publication Date:   13 July 2015
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
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Table of Contents

"Introduction: Why This Book: And Why It Is the Way It Is Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD Part I: Two Overviews The History, Meaning, and Varieties of Avinu Malkeinu Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD ""Our Father and King"": The Many Ways That Liturgy Means Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD Part II: The Liturgy Editor's Introduction to Avinu Malkeinu Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD Translator's Introduction to Avinu Malkeinu Dr. Joel M. Hoffman Avinu Malkeinu: A New and Annotated Translation Dr. Joel M. Hoffman Translator's Introduction to Ki Hinei Kachomer Dr. Joel M. Hoffman Ki Hinei Kachomer: A New and Annotated Translation Dr. Joel M. Hoffman Part III: Avinu Malkeinu: The Music The Music of Avinu Malkeinu Gordon Dale, MA Who’s Your Daddy? Chazzan Danny Maseng Part IV: Precursors, Foundations, and Parallels Biblical Precursors: Father, King, Potter Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler Father or King: A View from the Psalms Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, PhD Why ""Our Father""? Dr. Annette M. Boeckler Prayer and Character: The Story behind Avinu Malkeinu Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, DHL Divine Epithets and Human Ambivalence Rabbi Reuven Kimelman, PhD Our Father, Our King: Old and New Parables Dr. Wendy Zierler Empowerment, Not Police: What Are We to Do with Problematic Liturgical Passages? Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD Why We Say Things We Don’t Believe Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar Part V: How Prayer Book Editors Deal with Naming God A British Father and a British King? Rabbi Paul Freedman Avinu Malkeinu and the New Reform Machzor (Mishkan HaNefesh) Rabbi Edwin Goldberg, DHL What Is God’s Name? Rabbi David A. Teutsch, PhD Changing God’s Names: The Liturgy of Liberal Judaism in Great Britain Rabbi Andrew Goldstein, PhD, and Rabbi Charles H. Middleburgh, PhD Part VI: Masculine Imagery; Feminist Critique So Near and Oh So Far Rabbi Laura Geller Our Rock, Our Hard Place Catherine Madsen What’s in a Word? Or, How We Read and Hear Our Prayers Ruth Messinger Rescuing the Father-God from Delray Beach Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, DMin I Do Not Know Your Name Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, DMin Part VII: What’s in a Name? Abracadabra: The Magic of Naming Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, DHL My Name Is Vulnerability Rabbi Tony Bayfield, CBE, DD We Are But Dust Dr. Erica Brown Two Pockets Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson Re-imaging God Rabbi Lawrence A. Englander, CM, DHL, DD ""Would You Still Love Me If...?"" Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand Celebrating a Conflicted Relationship with God Rabbi Asher Lopatin God the Cashier: A Parable of the Dubner Maggid’s Rabbi Jack Riemer Piety and Protest Rabbi Dennis C. Sasso, DMin The Most Difficult Name for God, “You” —Or, How Is Prayer Possible? Rabbi Jonathan P. Slater, DMin Machzor and Malkhut: The Challenge of Naming a King Rabbi David Stern “We Guess; We Clothe Thee, Unseen King” Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig, DD From Direct Experience to a World of Words: The God We Struggle to Know Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel Appendix A: Avinu Malkeinu through Time Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD Ashkenazi-Polish Rite (Minhag Polin) Our First Extant Prayer Book, Babylonia, circa 860 CE (Seder Rav Amram) France, Eleventh to Twelfth Centuries (Machzor Vitry) Italy, Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries (Machzor Roma) Ashkenazi-German Rite (Minhag Rinus) England, Turn of the Twentieth Century (Minhag Sepharad) Yemenite Tikhlal (the Baladi Rite) Chabad (Minhag Lubavitch, Minhag Ari as adapted by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad) Appendix B: Alternatives to Avinu Malkeinu Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD From Israel: Kavanat Halev, Reform, 1989 From the UK: Forms of Prayer (Draft Edition), Reform, 2014 From North America: Mahzor Lev Shalem, Conservative, 2010 From North America: Mishkan HaNefesh, Reform, 2015 From North America: Kehilla Community Machzor, Renewal, 2014 Notes Glossary"

Reviews

Preparing for the comingHigh Holy Days, I opened myMachzor RuachChadashah, saw it waspublishedin 2003, andwas amazedto realise andthat this yearwill be the13th year of itsuse. How timeflies and where have the years vanishedsince, as a newly ordained rabbi, I joinedthe committee to edit its predecessorGate of Repentance, which was originallypublished in 1973?The first Liberal Jewish Prayer BookVolume II (for High Holy Days) waspublished by our founding Rabbi Dr IsraelMattuck in 1923 and was used for 51years. I wonder how long our currentmachzor will last? Will it need revisingonce our new siddur appears, wheneverthat will be? Intriguing how a year endingin three seems to mark the publishing ofour High Holy Days prayer books.I have been honoured each year, alongwith Rabbi Dr Charles H Middleburgh, mycoeditor of Machzor Ruach Chadashah, to submit an essay to Rabbi Laurence AHoffman's volumes on aspects of HighHoly Days liturgy.As well as good for our ego, for amongthe other contributors are names farmore well-known internationally thanours, we would like to think that it hasbeen an opportunity to make known toa wide readership the creativity of theBritish Liberal Jewish liturgy. This year'svolume, the sixth, has over 40 essays, allon just one prayer Avinu Malkeinu.You might be thinking: how could somuch be written on just one prayer? Mostof the essays seek to solve the problem ofthe opening words; how could a modernnon-Orthodox Jew appeal to Our Father, Our King ?Charles and I explain how weconsidered various alternatives to thatliteral translation. We rejected theeasy way out of just transliterating theHebrew, as some have done, making theopening verse Avinu Malkeinu, we havesinned before you. An easy change was from 'King to'Sovereign . After all, as we write, welive in a country whose head of state isour Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth II .An alternative for Father was not quiteas easy. We chose Creator, based onthe fact that both parents have a part increating us, but we have to admit that itdoes not quite convey the aspect of Godas the close and caring parent.I wonder how Liberal Jews will feelthese High Holy Days, after 13 years ofuse? Did we get it right, or do they missthe literal translation? Do they preferthe alternative formula we have added Shechina Mekor Chayyeynu DivinePresence, Source of our lives ?Several essays in Hoffman s bookcome to the conclusion that moreimportant than the actual words is themelody to which they are sung. Think ofKol Nidrey ... the traditional words areunacceptable to a Liberal Jew with itsclaim that just by reciting the formula ourpromises in the year past are cancelled.We happily use an alternative which Isuspect few read through but changethe music and so many would object.As you prepare for the High HolyDays, please think about what is mostimportant for YOU: the intellectual thoughts, the traditional words, thecreative themes, the music? Whichprayer works best for you, which troublesyou the most?The Hebrew word machzor conveysthe idea of a book that keeps cominground and round, just like the festivals.I hope that Machzor Ruach Chadashahand the services you attend help you findmeaning in these High Holy Days and Iwish you a good, healthy and successfulNew Year. Naming God: Avinu Malkeinu OurFather, Our King, by Rabbi Lawrence A.Hoffman is available now from JewishLights Publishing.--By Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein President of Liberal Judaism Liberal Judaism Today

Preparing for the comingHigh Holy Days, I opened myMachzor RuachChadashah, saw it was publishedin 2003, andwas amazedto realise andthat this yearwill be the13th year of itsuse. How timeflies and where have the years vanishedsince, as a newly ordained rabbi, I joinedthe committee to edit its predecessorGate of Repentance, which was originallypublished in 1973? The first Liberal Jewish Prayer BookVolume II (for High Holy Days) waspublished by our founding Rabbi Dr IsraelMattuck in 1923--and was used for 51years. I wonder how long our currentmachzor will last? Will it need revisingonce our new siddur appears, wheneverthat will be? Intriguing how a year endingin three seems to mark the publishing ofour High Holy Days prayer books. I have been honoured each year, alongwith Rabbi Dr Charles H Middleburgh, mycoeditor of Machzor Ruach Chadashah, to submit an essay to Rabbi Laurence AHoffman's volumes on aspects of HighHoly Days liturgy. As well as good for our ego, for amongthe other contributors are names farmore well-known internationally thanours, we would like to think that it hasbeen an opportunity to make known toa wide readership the creativity of theBritish Liberal Jewish liturgy. This year'svolume, the sixth, has over 40 essays, allon just one prayer--Avinu Malkeinu. You might be thinking: how could somuch be written on just one prayer? Mostof the essays seek to solve the problem ofthe opening words; how could a modernnon-Orthodox Jew appeal to Our Father, Our King ? Charles and I explain how weconsidered various alternatives to thatliteral translation. We rejected theeasy way out of just transliterating theHebrew, as some have done, making theopening verse Avinu Malkeinu, we havesinned before you. An easy change was from 'King' to'Sovereign'. After all, as we write, welive in a country whose head of state isour Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth II. An alternative for 'Father' was not quiteas easy. We chose 'Creator', based onthe fact that both parents have a part increating us, but we have to admit that itdoes not quite convey the aspect of Godas the close and caring parent. I wonder how Liberal Jews will feelthese High Holy Days, after 13 years ofuse? Did we get it right, or do they missthe literal translation? Do they preferthe alternative formula we have added Shechina Mekor Chayyeynu--DivinePresence, Source of our lives ? Several essays in Hoffman's bookcome to the conclusion that moreimportant than the actual words is themelody to which they are sung. Think ofKol Nidrey ... the traditional words areunacceptable to a Liberal Jew with itsclaim that just by reciting the formula ourpromises in the year past are cancelled.We happily use an alternative--which Isuspect few read through--but changethe music and so many would object. As you prepare for the High HolyDays, please think about what is mostimportant for YOU: the intellectual thoughts, the traditional words, thecreative themes, the music? Whichprayer works best for you, which troublesyou the most? The Hebrew word machzor conveysthe idea of a book that keeps cominground and round, just like the festivals.I hope that Machzor Ruach Chadashahand the services you attend help you findmeaning in these High Holy Days and Iwish you a good, healthy and successfulNew Year. - Naming God: Avinu Malkeinu--OurFather, Our King, by Rabbi Lawrence A.Hoffman is available now from JewishLights Publishing. --By Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein President of Liberal Judaism Liberal Judaism Today

Author Information

Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD, has served for more than three decades as professor of liturgy at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He is a world-renowned liturgist and holder of the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair in Liturgy, Worship and Ritual. His work combines research in Jewish ritual, worship and spirituality with a passion for the spiritual renewal of contemporary Judaism. His many books, written and edited, include seven volumes in the Prayers of Awe series: Who by Fire, Who by Water—Un'taneh Tokef; All These Vows—Kol Nidre; We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism—Ashamnu and Al Chet; May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism—Yizkor; All the World: Universalism, Particularism and the High Holy Days; Naming God: Avinu Malkeinu—Our Father, Our King; and Encountering God: El Rachum V'chanun—God Merciful and Gracious. Hoffman also edited the ten-volume series My People’s Prayer Book: Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries, winner of the National Jewish Book Award; and coedited My People’s Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award (all Jewish Lights). Rabbi Hoffman cofounded and developed Synagogue 2/3000, a transdenominational project to envision and implement the ideal synagogue of the spirit for the twenty-first century. In that capacity, he wrote Rethinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life (Jewish Lights).

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