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"And They Answered You With Song:" Kesher Community Siddur
We take pride in the fact
that our prayer book was created by the community lead and therefore reflects
the tastes and views of our members.
Before the first word of our prayerbook was written, there was a desire to produce a
document that reflected both our desire to include as much of the traditional liturgy as
practical and a firm commitment to include user friendly translations and personal
meditations as well. For that reason, we included the entire Kabblat Shabbat service
as well as many additional songs and thoughts in the margins to encourage future service
leaders to explore various aspects of the liturgy from one week to the next.
The dilemma we faced when debating the extent to which our prayerbook would be
traditional and the extent to which it would reflect our more liberal values revolved
around our desire to allow individual worshipers the ability to draw their own
interpretations from traditional texts. In our opinion, translating with poetic excellence
or a desire to change the meanings of words for political correctness would create a
prayerbook in which the part of the responsibility upon the reader has been limited by
the writer. On the other hand, we felt that the traditional use of gendered terms,
especially in descriptions of God, and certain messianic references would represent a
judgment on behalf of the prayerbook best left to individual worshipers.
Our desire to allow individuals the ability to shape their service is also reflected in our
decision to include the entire Kabblat Shabbat service. Though in the past the amount of
variation in our weekly service has been only one or two tunes, by including far more of
the liturgy than we have ever used in one week, we allow future service leaders to pick
and choose a unique combination of prayers and melodies from week to week.
It was also challenge to create a prayerbook that is uniquely Princeton. Wherever
possible we have tried to use the words and wisdom of members of the Princeton Jewish community.
To that end we would like to thank all those who submitted readings for
their contributions.
Finally, though we are responsible for the completion of the prayerbook, the vast
majority of what follows is the result of the vision and commitment of Joseph Skloot ’05.
It is because of his hard work and tireless dedication to Kesher and the CJL that this
project became a reality. We hope that future generations of Princetonians are able to
keep his vision of a vibrant, inclusive Reform minyan on campus alive.
Many, many Shabbat Shaloms,
The 2006 Kesher Co-Chairs
Ben Amster ’07
Joshua Packman ’07
Jonah Perlin ’07
Click here to download the Kesher Prayerbook as a PDF
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to
contact any of the Princeton Reform Community co-chairs:
Ben Amster '07
Josh Packman '07
Jonah Perlin '07
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