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Join the conversation!

Would you like to communicate with other readers and users of The Book of Blessings? If so, you are invited to submit your comments and questions for posting by sending e-mail to Marcia Falk.

Name: Linda Hirschhorn
E-mail address: vocolot@sirius.com
City and State or Country: Berkeley, CA
Comments: I had the great pleasure of composing music to many of Marcia's blessings and poems. Over the years I got to know some of the prayers deeply and intimately. It seemed that with my understanding and familiarity with the text that the words themselves began to suggest their own melodies (and certainly their own rhythms). I have now led an entire shacharit service for Shabbat that is based solely on Marcia's book and have incorporated some of her Friday night prayers and readings into a traditional service. Congregants have found it particularly easy to learn the L'khu, Rey'ot on Friday night, the Amidah refrain on Shabbat morning, and the havdallah nigun for Saturday night. They have learned many of the other melodies of course through repetition. You might just want to start with trying out one or two prayers to add to a traditional service and then keep increasing the number you use as you become more familiar with the book (and melodies).

(Linda Hirschhorn and Fran Avni have produced a CD entitled "Selections from Marcia Falk's Blessings in Song.")
 

Name: Penny S. Gold
E-mail address: pgold@knox.edu
City and State or Country: Galesburg, IL
Comments: The next time I led services from The Book of Blessings, I proceeded differently. I led the service from the bimah, but had individuals in the congregation do readings of poems from their seats. We're a small congregation, and everyone got a chance to read something. This made for a strong feeling of participation all around, and it was nice to hear the words coming from different places in the sanctuary. A number of people commented to me afterwards on how much they had enjoyed doing the service in this way. I would definitely do it in this manner again.
 

Name: Sharon Gladstone
E-mail address: sjgathuc@hotmail.com
City and State or Country: Los Angeles, CA
Comments: Marcia Falk's version of the Havdallah service works for me. As a student rabbi, I work more on Shabbat than I do on any other day of the week. Although the work that I do on Shabbat is special, sometimes even holy, it is still more difficult and draining than any other work. A Havdallah service that emphasizes the fundamentally equal value that Shabbat has with the six days of creation, speaks directly to the fact that I look forward to Sunday, Monday and onward because I can get some rest!

Furthermore, during the week, I can concentrate on being a student, something which I take very seriously and which I consider extraordinarily important, as important as being a rabbi. I'd like to participate in this service with a group of professional Jews and see if anyone else sees the message that I see.
 

Name: Allen Zeesman
E-mail address: Allen.Zeesman@spg.org
City and State or Country: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Comments: I am the service co-ordinator at the Ottawa Reconstructionist Havurah. We have begun to experiment with The Book of Blessings. Our first full service was April 1999. We had our first bat-mitzvah with the service on November 20.

I am interested in sharing experiences with others around the conduct of services based on the book of blessings. There are so many things to discuss, but I will pose a few questions to get the conversation going.

  1. Has anyone experienced resistance with the new Shma? I wonder if we should devote a service or a workshop to the theology behind the Falk Shma to help people understand its importance? What other resources could I use besides The Book of Blessings?
  2. This year I would like to try a rosh hodesh. How have others done this?
  3. I would like to introduce a dance along with the meditation in the sixth section of the Amidah, where we use the Hirschhorn/Avni music. Any suggestions? How does one dance in a small room filled with chairs?
  4. Has anyone tried encouraging people to bring in additional writings to replace or complement the Amidah poetry? Its not that what is there now is not beautiful and lasting, its just that it could improve participation and ownership in the havurah. What sources could I recommend people to research? What about ideas from daily life?
  5. Do people use a torah scroll? How is it intergrated into the service? What do people think about following the torah with the YAD while it is read in English so that people understand?
  6. If, as Marcia Falk seems to clearly believe--and I agree--that no matter how much you turn it, everything is not in the traditioal torah, does anyone know of additional texts that have been introduced as Torah and how is it done?

As you can see, I could probably go on for a long time. I think this conveys the general idea and the richness of the service experience when using The Book of Blessings. I look forward to response from others and of course send a big thank you to Marcia for her book.
 

Name: Penny Gold
E-mail address: pgold@knox.edu
City and State or Country: Galesburg, IL
Comments: My husband and I bought 10 copies of The Book of Blessings for our small congregation (30 families) on the occasion of our son's bar mitzvah. We generally have about 15 people at our Friday night services, so this gave us enough copies to use with some sharing. Lay members of the congregation do three out of four services a month, which means I do the services about 3 times a year. I expect that I will use The Book of Blessings once a year myself for Friday services; others may of course use it also. So far we have used it once for Friday services, and a couple of times for havdalah (which we do once a month before adult study sessions).

I think everyone appreciated the change of pace in using The Book of Blessings in the Friday service (we generally use The Gates of Prayer), and some people who wouldn't otherwise have come to services came in order to participate in this service. People who would like a copy of the "script" we used, detailing which pages we selected and how the readings were divvied up, may write me at pgold@knox.edu.
 

Name: Sandy Warshaw
E-mail address: seidokid@aol.com
Name of group/organization: Congregation Beth Simchat Torah
City and State or Country: New York, NY
Comments: We have used The Book of Blessings since March, 1997. We hold a full service the 4th Shabbat, every other month. We have just purchased 35 copies of the soft cover edition of the sidduhr.
 

Name: Peter C. Skye
E-mail address: peter.skye@pipeline.com
City and State or Country: Lexington, KY
Comments: It is an oxymoron to speak of a "solitary Jew," but it's helpful to remember that while we have become for the most part settled in our middle and upper-middle class suburbs, it was not that long ago that we were a peripatetic people for whom piety was often practiced on the hoof.

I find myself for various reasons relocating from Manhattan to Lexington, Kentucky--I have already sublet my apartment so no inquiries please--which, at first blush, appears not to have a Jewish community like unto New York. In fact, I half expected to find all of Lexington's faithful listed alphabetically in the Yellow Pages under "JEW." Anyway, the one book I carried in my lap during the 12-hour drive was The Book of Blessings, my ever-present connection to Judaism--connection not so much as in nostalgia for what was as much as vision of what is coming to be; a brave new Judaism, dare I say Y2K compliant. I admit to using the blessings in a ritual format which owes as much to Neo-paganism as it does Reconstructionist Judaism, but I believe I have maintained the integrity of the liturgies and not adulterated them per Ms. Falk's pleadings. I welcome any conversation on the use of The Book of Blessings by Jews in communities and those who, for whatever reasons, find themselves practicing alone.