Members of the editorial committee of Mahzor Lev Shalem and Siddur Lev Shalem (David Ackerman, Joanna Dulkin, Edward Feld, Jan Caryl Kaufman, Lilly Kaufman, Alan Lettofsky, Stu Kelman, Rob Scheinberg, and Jan Uhrbach) have put together a series of suggestions for leading services and teaching using the Mahzor. These ideas draw on the unique possibilities for service leadership that Mahzor Lev Shalem provides.
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In light of the health crisis, this year's High Holy Day season is all the more vital -- and also likely to be completely different from any other High Holy Day season we have experienced. Below are suggestions for using Mahzor Lev Shalem to facilitate meaningful tefilah experiences at this challenging time.
We’ve included up front general suggestions that might apply to any High Holy Day service. Afterwards, there are suggestions for each particular service on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Finally, we list materials in the machzor which could form the basis for study or discussion.
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS
Mahzorim: We strongly recommend that participants be encouraged to use a physical copy of the book. Even in those communities which will benefit from the ability to share text of the liturgy online, especially on the High Holy Days the prayer experience includes being able to lose oneself in the words of prayer; this is only possible with a physical book. In addition, however abbreviated, High Holy Day services will entail substantial screen time; the opportunity to look at a printed page will be a welcome contrast and relief. Finally, the physicality of the book can enhance worshippers’ sense of sanctity at home, when so many other physical cues are missing. For these reasons, we suggest either a lending program of synagogue machzorim, and/or a drive to encourage congregants to acquire their own.
Piyyutim: Whereas piyyutim are not halakhically required and therefore may seem dispensable when we seek to abbreviate services, they are a primary vehicle for conveying the distinctive values and flavor of the High Holy Day season, and we recommend judiciously selecting from among them. In addition, precisely because they are not halakhically required, piyyutim are particularly well-suited for adaptation to virtual media. For example, piyyutim that are chanted call-and-response may be easier to sing electronically; one or more congregants may be designated as respondents, with everyone else on mute, creating a dramatic and inclusive antiphonal reading. Alternatively, some communities may choose to solicit audio files from congregants singing along with a master track (recorded by the Hazzan or prayer leaders), which can then can be combined into one large audio-only file that can be played during the service (or distributed before the holiday), simulating the congregation singing together.
Piyyutim may also be sung and/or studied during Elul and the Aseret Y’mei Teshuvah, to prepare the heart for the Yamim Noraim, even if time doesn’t permit their inclusion on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur themselves. Some suggested piyyutim for this purpose may be found on pages 84 (Adonai Melekh), p 155 (Melekh Elyon), p 159 (L’Zikkaron), p 163 (B’Kol), p 227 (Ki Hineh KaChomer), p 230 (Machar Yaaseh), p 231 (Terem Heyoti; Yah Ana), p 255 (L’Chai Olamim), p 260 (Im Ta’inu), p 418 (Lekh B’Simcha).
Torah reading commentaries: The Torah reading commentaries in Lev Shalem tend not to adopt a single interpretation of the Torah reading passages but to ask a series of questions (e.g., Was Sarah right to send Hagar away?) Communities using Zoom may find these questions useful in breakout groups to discuss the reading, or to designate two people to take two sides of an issue.
English readings: We’ve highlighted English readings in Mahzor Lev Shalem that seem especially resonant for this year. Some communities may choose to add some of these readings to the end of daily minyanim during the month of Elul, in addition to using them during High Holy Day services, either read aloud as kavannot, or as starting points for brief teachings or discussions.
Spread throughout the machzor are kavannot and inspirational readings focusing on the experience of prayer, and what prayer is. These may be especially helpful this year. Many of those at home, without the usual ambient cues and the presence of community, may be struggling to figure out what they should do, what they’re supposed to feel, and how to engage.
In addition, the following selections relate specifically to prayer alone and in community:
- page 37 “A Morning Prayer” - Rav Nachman on being alone
- page 76 “Unify Our Hearts” – work we can do even when we’re apart from each other
- page 155 “The Thread” – what connects us to something larger?
- page 202 “Entering Community”
- page 204 Merle Feld poem on standing before God
- page 236 “All Our Secrets”
- page 317 “Where Is the Dwelling of God?”
- page 319 “Belief”
- page 419 “Meditation”
- page 421 “Spiritual Security”
SUGGESTIONS SPECIFIC TO EACH HIGH HOLY DAY SERVICE:
Rosh Hashanah:
A) Arvit
Lev Shalem included a new section, “Kiddush hashanah - The Dedication of the New Year.” This year, this section may provide an opportunity for specially emphasizing the difficulties we’ve been through in the past year and our hopes for the new year.
- Note the Sephardic song on the bottom of p. 22 “May this year’s trouble’s end, and a year of blessing begin.”
- The formal dedication of the year of the year is on p. 23 and you may want to add your own meditations to the liturgy here.
B) Rosh Hashanah ba-bayit:
With so many congregants accessing services at home, one may want to emphasize home celebrations and you can alert congregants to this section.
C) Shaharit
As a meditation for the Amidah, the brief quotation on gratefulness by Heschel on p. 90 is especially recommended; you can ask people to take a moment to think about what they are grateful for amidst all the dislocation and turmoil of this past year.
D) Shofar blowing
Traditionally there is no shofar blowing on Shabbat. The service we’ve added on pages 115-116 called Prayers of Brokenness and Wholeness (a unique feature of Mahzor Lev Shalem) are especially pointed this year and even includes a note on using it on Shabbat. The focus of the service on healing, on community and on the world may be especially helpful to people this year.
E) Musaf
If one does a Hoikhe Kedusha, U’netaneh Tokef can still be included where it appears before the Kedusha (it was written as an introduction to the Kedusha), and one would have greater flexibility in choosing material from the Malkhuyot, Zikhronot and Shofarot sections to recite aloud. One possibility is to choose one of the piyyutim for each of these (pp. 155, 159, 163), or/and one of the readings in the left hand column. The Kadya Molodowsky poem on pp.163-64, addressing the fear of those who are unknown to us, is especially resonant this year.
Prostration during the great Aleinu (p. 154 or p. 325 for Yom Kippur) provides greater opportunity this year. People at home might feel less awkward about actually bowing. One might also invite people to move their bodies and try to discover a position that embodies awe and humility. Exploring physicality and body work in general may be useful in virtual services. How might one’s own physical posture do some of the work in creating awe that is usually borne by the synagogue setting?
Yom Kippur
The poem by Saul Ansky on page 326 , included in Lev Shalem to introduce the Avodah service, would be an especially appropriate way to begin any of the Yom Kippur services (e.g., before Kol Nidre, or before the morning service) this year. Because it ends with the exhortation that wherever we stand facing heaven may become “the Holy of Holies,” it is particularly resonant now and might be helpful to those worshipping at home to frame their experience. The Avodah in general offers an excellent model of the way worship changes in response to circumstance, and Judaism’s remarkable ability to adapt and reinvent itself as needed.
A) Arvit
Some of the liturgy in the selihot section of Arvit speaks directly to the concerns of this year e.g. the need for communal stock taking, and the personal confrontation with death and dying.
- Haneshamah lach, p. 225 -- our consciousness of our body
- Ki heneih kahomer p. 227 -- human vulnerability
- The meditation on human life p. 228
Our re-inclusion of the reference to prior generations in “aval anachnu va’avoteinu v’imoteinu chatanu” (see page 234) is especially resonant this year, as America grapples with the legacy of slavery. Similarly, the note on p. 275 (p. 97 in the Rosh Hashanah service) in the right-hand column explaining the inclusion of the 13 Attributes in the Torah service might be a starter for discussion or teaching about collective teshuvah.
The egalitarian Mi She’Ana written for Lev Shalem (p 240) is a good piyyut to be read or chanted aloud in English. One might assign specific congregants to read or chant particular lines, and have the clergy respond “hu ya’aneinu”. This could be pre-recorded or done live.
B) Shaharit
If one does a Hoikhe Kedusha or simply a silent meditation for the Shacharit Amidah for shaharit, one might want to follow it with the seliha on p. 260 (Im Ta’inu).
C) Yizkor
As Yizkor is not a halakhic requirement, it could be moved out of Yom Kippur, e.g. to Yom Kippur Eve before the Yom Kippur holiday officially begins, to enable greater use of technological tools, such as names or photos of those who are being remembered (like an electronic version of a printed ‘Yizkor booklet’)
D) Musaf
The Seder Avodah ends with the blessings of the year by the Kohen Gadol, p. 333-4. One may want to add additional meditations for blessings for this year, perhaps soliciting them in advance from the community. Certainly the prayers for gemilut hesed which follow on p. 335 are relevant to our situation.
E) Neilah
- The meditation preceding neilah, p. 392, by Avraham ben Yitzchaq,calling us to dream of a better world seems appropriate for this year.
- The piyyut on p. 410 might ask us to consider: what gates do we want opened this year?
SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY MATERIALS:
This year will undoubtedly call for more material for study and discussion, whether to be used by individuals at home or in communal discussions online, whether on the High Holy Days themselves or during Elul or the Aseret Y’Mei Teshuvah. Here are some passages (many unique to Machzor Lev Shalem) which lend themselves well to study and discussion:
- pages 42-43: The Shir shel Yom we included for each day (Psalms 8 for Rosh Hashanah and Psalm 51 for Yom Kippur) is excellent for study, either in groups or alone with a study guide, in advance of those days.
- page 92, 244: The alternative Avinu Malkeinu written for Lev Shalem is a good starting point to explore the range of metaphors for God (Ki Anu Amekha is a good text for this too). Community members might be asked to submit in advance their favorite metaphor for God – or for the relationship they have with God – in advance. These could be shared onscreen, or used to create additional verses of Ki Anu Amekha. One could take a Zoom poll asking congregants to vote for their favorite metaphor of the ones included in the Avinu Malkeinu. If children are involved, Sandy Sasso’s wonderful children’s book In God’s Name would be a good tool as well.
- page 153: Hehyeh im pifiyot/ohila l’el. The juxtaposition of these reshuyot offer a good starting point to talk about the relationship and interdependence of the prayer leader and the community, and the challenges of leading and participating in communal prayer during this time. One might use these as an introduction or reshut for the whole service, or as a time to set the community’s kavannah about what we hope to experience with each other.
- page 203: Tefillah Zaka is a good text to study in advance of Yom Kippur.
- pages 203-204: The comments in the left-hand column could be good discussion prompts for break-out groups. Alternatively, they could be put in a rotating on-screen slide show, running before the actual service starts, as a placeholder that also serves as spiritual preparation