Adult Education Part IIPrayer: Discussion and reaction to changes in the new Reform prayer book. Come and join the learning and conversations facilitated by Rabbi Steven Steinberg. The second in the adult ed series will be held at the home of Jim and Jean Silk on Saturday, February 28 from 3:00-4:30 pm. Everyone is welcome; no need to have attended Part I.
We will look at Mishkan Tefilah and consider it in the light of previous Reform prayer books. Why is it so heavy–what conclusions can we draw from its new physical manifestation? What prayers do or do not resonate for you in the prayer book? Is it a meditation text? Should one follow the text or wander into the alternative readings? At several places at the bottom of a page it gives the reader a choice of what to read or how to move one’s body and comments, “For those who choose.” How does its “pietism” compare to the current Reform Platform? How does the prayer book define Shabbat in contrast to the traditional understanding of Shabbat? What does it suggest about Reform worship and how we might pray as Reform Jews?