Mishkan HaNefesh (“Dwelling Place for the Soul”) spills its
treasures like a bounteous picnic basket on a summer’s day. It is a delight for the senses, and offers
something for everyone. It will bring us
together.
The machzor is divided into two books. One – golden – is for Rosh Hashanah and the
other – silver – is for Yom Kippur. This means that, although they are clock full
of offerings, they are quite a bit lighter than our Mishkan Tfilah.
Akin to Miskhan Tfilah, each Hebrew passage is provided in
transliteration as well as translation.
The editors have included a cornucopia of interpretive texts
for us, representing a wide range of theologies – some quite traditional, others
quite radical, and many in between. The
editors don’t expect that each passage will inspire each person. Rather, they predict that some of the
passages will move each one of us powerfully.
That has been my experience in preparing to use Mishkan HaNefesh. In this way, the book replicates what it
means to be in healthy community – there is something for everybody, but no one
perspective dominates. If a passage
doesn’t appeal to you or – Heaven forbid – offends you, skip it and move on. Know that it touched someone else in the room.
Nobody is expected to pray each prayer on each page. That would require all 10 Days of Awe! As service leaders, Rabbi Jason, Emily and I
are making judicious choices. Nor do we
expect you to pray each offering we select.
You may skip or add as suits your needs.
We are a community of different people, with different needs and
beliefs. Prayer is not “one size fits
all.”
New in Mishkan HaNefesh are pages with a grey
background. These include texts for
personal reflection. Pages with a blue
background are designed to be studied.
At any point in the service, you are invited to stop praying the text of
the page and find another passage to consider.
In fact, this is encouraged!
You’ll find color prints by artist Joel Shapiro (no relation
to me) scattered through the pages of Mishkan HaNefesh. That’s because some of us respond more
directly to image than to text. When you
encounter one of the renderings, or need a pause from text, look deeply and consider: what do you see? Name the shapes, colors, and textures and the
ways they fit together. How do you feel
when you look at the image? Of what does
it make you think? There are no right
answers, only inspirations.
Mishkan HaNefesh is designed to inspire us to reconsider the
ancient words of the High Holy Days. We
don’t want them to grow stale and dusty, when they should be fresh and vivid
for our lives, for this very moment.
After all, the liturgy does not exist for the sake of tradition. It exists for our sake. It exists so that we living Jews can pause,
reflect, and repair our lives.
May our new machzor live up to its own aspiration,
articulated in the opening of the Erev Rosh Hashanah service:
May we renew our words
of prayer tonight –
Restore their luster,
Bring them to life.
Let song and
shofar-sounds
Awaken our souls. (21)
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