AT LAST! A BEAUTIFUL, TRADITIONAL, BUT NOT PREACHY SIDDUR!

What a joy and thrill it is to come across a brand new SIDDUR, or prayerbook! And one which is acceptable to the Orthodox, but filled with an awareness that Judaism includes women, as well as a deep love for the State of Israel, and the recognition that not everyone who approaches prayer is either a rabbi or a complete apikoros (from the Greek word epicure, or someone who knows a bit of our glorious faith, but has rejected its value or spiritual power).

I, personally, grew up using the old, rather stodgy, hard-to-handle and not particularly welcoming Silverman siddur of the Conservative movement, and later, the also not very attractive Birnbaum. And the Art Scroll Siddur of a quarter century ago, while physically attractive, always radiated a forbidding, ultra-Orthodox sensibility, warning us that "if you forget these particular lines, do not repeat the Amidah!" while never acknowledging that over half of the Jews in the congregation (and certainly in the Jewish communities of the world) are of the female persuasion, or that the State of Israel is central to modern Jewry, and its survival is at the very core of most of our being.

And so, for the first time in a generation, we are blessed with something called The Koren Sacks Siddur--Koren being the revered publisher; Sacks, the brilliant, spiritual and sensitive Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom who wrote that extraordinary To Heal a Fractured World which I reviewed in this space a few columns ago. What a thrill to see prayers which not only acknowledge the government of Israel, but its soldiers and its national holidays; that includes prayers for women after childbirth; which proudly includes, immediately under the classic prayers for a boy's bris, a Zeved HaBat--rejoicing over the birth of a daughter as well.

This new siddur is so exciting, I began to enjoy praying in ways which had long become stale for me. Imagine my deep satisfaction over reading the opening paragraph of Rabbi Sacks' exquisite and sensitive Preface:

"And their fear toward Me is as a commandment of men learned by rote" (Isaiah) laments the prophet, referring to those who turn prayer into routine habit. Even when they pray before the Lord, "With their mouth and with their lips do they honor Me, but have removed their heart far from me." This is precisely as our Sages cautioned, saying, "In prayer, do not look upon the prayer as an obligatory task, but as a privilege granted by mercy and grace before God." . . . This is the nature of ritual duties: when they become routine habit, their original meaning is diminished."

Wonderful. The line breaks of both the Hebrew and English texts are lovely; the text is laid out in ways which reinforce its deeper meaning; the paper is premium grade; the binding is perfection; its prose translations highly poetic and creative; its focus is on thoughtful study and love of Judaism, not fear of God and Doing Things The Wrong Way, You Fool, like a harsh preacher (which one gets ubiquitously in the Art Scroll Siddur). My very dear friend, Rabbi Martin Lockshin of Toronto, a perfect example of someone who has dedicated his life to Modern Orthodoxy along with making women both welcome and central in Jewish prayer, pointed out a keen example of the Koren Sacks Siddur's grandeur and value: that the blessing after eating (Birkat Hamazon) contains a line which upsets many: "I was a youth and have also aged, and I have not seen a righteous man forsaken, with his children begging for bread." (the latter being Art Scroll's confusing and unthinking translation). Here is Rabbi Sacks' inspired translation and commentary on this long-problematic phrase: the line should be interpreted as meaning, "I have never watched a righteous man forsaken or his children begging for bread," and in his notes, the remarkable religious leader declares that this "is a warning against being a mere bystander while other people suffer." So, Birkat Hamazon is now seen as coming full-circle: "It began by speaking of God's goodness in feeding the hungry and ends with an injunction for us to do likewise."

A magnificent, mitzvah-driven and mitzvah-inspiring thought. The Koren Sacks Siddur is a truly grand addition to every modern Jew's library, regardless of the kashrut of their kitchen or whether they 'davven' (Yiddish for pray) three times a day or a few times a year. Kol Ha'kavod, as we Jews say: All honour to you, publisher Koren and translator/commentator, Rabbi Sacks. What a blessing this book is--and the sooner the synagogues of English-speaking countries start choosing this prayer book as their chosen one, the stronger the Jewish people will be.