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Session One
The Sample Plate: The Siddur

TEXTS

MIRIAM

from the Hoshanot for Sukkot --

In the merit of him [Noah] who was perfect in his generations, he escaped by his abundant righteousness, and was rescued from inundation upon the arrival of the Flood of water
- for the sake of the nation that declares "I am a wall."

In the merit of Abraham...

In the merit of Isaac...

In the merit of Jacob... etc...

In the merit of the prophetess [Miriam] of the dance of the camps, to those of thirsting heart she was an inspiration, at her feet ran, rising and descending, the well of water.

Artscroll Nusach Sefard Siddur p. 792-793.

This is from the Hoshanot prayers which are traditionally said while making processions around the synagogue on Sukkot. It's a colourful ritual: everyone holding their lulav and etrog (palm branch and citron fruit) and going around and around the synagogue together chanting these prayers.

This prayer asks God to help us for the sake of our ancestors and heroes: Jacob, Levi, Judah, Moses, Aaron, etc. etc. -- and Miriam. The paragraph about her is very beautiful, especially in the Hebrew, where several words rhyme with the key word "mayim" (water). "The dance of the camps" is a quotation from the Song of Songs. "The well of water" is the well which followed the Jewish people in our wanderings through the desert, according to legend. It gave us fresh water to drink because of the holiness of Miriam. That's why when Miriam dies, the very next thing the Torah mentions is that there was no water for the people to drink.

There are very few places in the traditional Hebrew prayers where woman heroes are celebrated like this. (See more information on women's Yiddish prayers- Tekhines- which do often mention holy women.)

But a text like this one shows that the tradition does not have a deliberate program of excluding women. It isn't deliberately sexist. It is unconsciously sexist. Women are left out of the Hebrew prayers 99% of the time because the authors of these prayers were generally men who were not too concerned with women. But they didn't have a policy of exclusion. The door is open a crack, and one of the challenges of recent generations of Jews has been to push the door open to women further and further. New prayers celebrating women, inspired by old prayers like this, are one way of doing that.
[ed. note: Marcia Falk's Book of Blessing is following in this tradition by rewriting prayers in Hebrew and English free of gender stereotypes.]

K'GAVNA

Just as they unite above in One
so too She is united below in the secret of One,
to be with them above,
One facing One.
The Holy One, blessed be He, One above,
does not sit on His Throne of Glory
until She is made over in the secret of One
just as He is,
to be One within One.
So we have established the secret of the words:
"HaShem is One
and His Name is One."

The Secret of Sabbath:
She is Sabbath!
Becoming one in the secret of One
to draw down upon her the secret of One.

The prayer for the entrance of Sabbath:
The holy Throne of Glory becomes one in the secret of One,
prepared for the High Holy King to rest upon Her.
When Sabbath enters She is alone,
separated from the Other Side,
all judgments removed from Her.
Basking in the oneness of holy light,
She is crowned over and over to face the Holy King.
All powers of wrath and masters of judgment flee from Her.
There is no power in all the worlds aside from Her.
Her face shines with a light from beyond;
She is crowned below by the holy people,
and all of them are crowned with new souls.

Then the beginning of the prayer
to bless Her with joy and beaming faces.

(based on Daniel Chanan Matt's rendition in
_Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment_, p. 132)

This is a selection from the Zohar, used as an introduction to the Friday evening service in some versions of the Siddur. It is in Aramaic, not Hebrew, and the symbolism it uses makes it hard to understand. But if you look through it you'll see that it's a meditation on unity, and the word "she" keeps recurring. The word "she" refers to the Shekhinah, God present in the world. In the Zohar, the Shekhinah is almost always described as feminine. She is called the bride, the queen, the mother. The idea here is that Shabbat, especially Friday night, is a manifestation of the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, and that the Friday night prayers focus on her. As it says, "There is no power but she in all the worlds. Her face glows with a heavenly light... Then their prayers begin by blessing her with joy..."

The same sense of the presence of God on Friday night is the theme of Lecha Dodi, the song sung on Friday night to welcome Shabbat. Lecha Dodi is a mystical poem in the tradition of the Zohar, and when the chorus says "come, my friend, to greet the bride; let us welcome Shabbat", both Shabbat and the bride are names of the Shekhinah.

There will be more about these concepts in our class on Kabbalah. But it's important that these prayers are not only found in mysterious Kabbalistic books which only a few people ever studied, but in the Siddur where everyone who went to shul would read them. There is a widespread Jewish sense of the presence of God as feminine, and here it is in the Siddur.

(Talking about masculine and feminine raises all kinds of questions -- such as, is it really meaningful to talk about masculine and feminine at all -- which I don't want to go into here, although I will try to respond to any questions on the topic. The point of including this text is to undermine the stereotype that God is always "He", "Lord", "King" in Jewish prayer.)

ANI VAHO

*[note the translation should be
changed in this way, "a nation and God" rather than "the nation and its
leaders"]...

Hoshana prayer: Ani Vaho, bring salvation now.

As You saved the terebinths in Lud along with Yourself when You sent forth to save the nation - so save now.

As you saved the multitudes of hosts and with them the hosts of angels - so save now.

As You saved a nation and God* who sought the salvations of God - so save now.

As you saved pure ones from the house of slavery, Gracious One, from those who forced manual labor upon them - so save now.

As You saved those sinking in the depths of the rifts, Your honour was with them when they crossed
[ "Your honour was with them" is a reference to the Presence of God]

As You saved the garden which sang 'He delivered,' regarding Him Who draws forth it is pronounced 'He was delivered.' - so save now.

As You saved with the declaration 'I shall bring you forth' which may be interpreted 'I shall be brought forth with you' - so save now.

As You saved the Ark of the Name, captured as a result of sin, when you punished Philistia with flaming anger, and it was saved, - so save now.
[because "the Ark of the Name" again symbolizes God's presence]

As You saved the congregations which You had sent...

...etc.

from the Zohar (Terumah 163-6)
which precedes Barchu on Friday night in Nusach Sefard

This is from the Hoshanot prayers which are traditionally said while making processions around the synagogue on Sukkot. It's a colourful ritual: everyone holding their lulav and etrog (palm branch and citron fruit) and going around and around the synagogue together chanting these prayers.

The theme of this prayer for God's help is that when we are rescued from trouble, God is rescued also. It is very far from any sense of God as distant or uninvolved.
"As you saved the terebinths in Lud along with Yourself" -- "terebinths" are a kind of tree, which represent the Jewish people -- we are saying to God, "when You saved us, You saved Yourself too."
The next line says the same thing, but some translations replace God with leaders. The translation should be (as it is here), "As You saved the nation and its God who sought the salvations of God..." ("Elohim" in Hebrew can mean "leaders" but in this context it's clear that it means "God" as it usually does.)
Several of the other lines make the same point very clearly. God was delivered with us, God said "I shall be brought forth with you" out of exile. Other lines speak about "Your honour", which is a term for the Presence of God; or about the "hosts of angels" or the Ark of the Covenant, which are vessels for the presence of God.

It may seem very strange to ask God to save God's self. But God is greater than human logic, so not everything we say about God will always "make sense". The underlying theme is that God's love for us is so strong that God is with us in whatever we are going through, and when God helps us that helps God also. So -- according to the outlook of this prayer, which is found very often in the Midrash [see glossary] -- God is not just strong and superior; God needs help.

AN'IM Z'MIROT

An'im z'mirot" a.k.a. "Song of Glory"

I shall compose pleasant psalms and weave hymns,
because for You shall my soul pine.

My soul desired the shelter of Your hand, to know every mystery of Your secret.

As I speak of Your glory, my heart yearns for Your love.

Therefore I shall speak of Your glories, and Your Name I shall honor with loving songs.

I shall relate Your glory though I see You not; I shall allegorize You, I shall describe You, though I know You not.

Through the hand of Your prophets, through the counsel of Your servants; You allegorized the splendrous glory of Your power.

Your greatness and Your strength, they described the might of Your works.

They allegorized You, but not according to Your reality, and they portrayed You according to Your deeds.

They symbolized You in many varied visions; yet You are a Unity containing all allegories.

They envision in Your agedness and virility, and the hair of Your head as hoary and jet black.

Aged on judgment day and virile on the day of battle, like a man of war whose powers are many.

The hat of salvation He put on His had; salvation for Him, His right hand and His sacred arm.

With illuminating dew drops His haead is filled, His lock are the rains of the night.

He shall glory in me for He desires me, and He shall be for me a crown of pride.

A form of the very finest gold upon his head, and carved on his forehead is His glorious, sacred Name.

For grace and for glory the pride of His spendor, His nation crowns Him with its prayers.

The tresses of His head are like His youthful days; His locks are jet black ringlets.

The Abode of righteousness is the pride of His splendor; may He elevate it to His foremost joy.

May His treasured nation be in His hand like a corwn, and like a royal tiara the pride of His splendor.

From infancy He bore them and affixed them as a crown, because they are precious in His eyes He honored them.

His tefillin-splendor is upon me and my tefillin-splendor is upon Him, and He is near to me when I call to Him.

He is white and crimson; His garment will be bloody red, when He tramples as in a press on His coming from Edom.

He showed the tefillin-knot to the humble [Moses], the likeness of HaShem before his eyes.

He desires His people, He will glorify the humble; enthroned upon praises, He glories with them.

The very beginning of Your word is truth - one who reads it from the Torah's start; the people that seeks You exponds each generation's fate.

Place the multitude of my songs before You, please; and my glad songs bring near to You.

May my praise be a crown for Your head, and may my prayer be accepted like incense.

May the poor man's song be fear in Your eyes, like the song that is sung over Your offerings.

May my blessing rise up upon the head of the Sustainer - Creator, Giver of life, mighty Righteous One.

And to my blessing, nod Your head to me, and take it to Yourself like the finest incense.

May my prayer be sweet to Your, for my soul shall pine for you.

from the end of Shabbat Musaf. Artscroll Nusach Sefard bottom of page 522-523 and page 524-525 and top half of 526-527.

One of the overall themes of this course will be connecting with God through the imagination. This prayer from the end of Shabbat morning services is a wonderful example of that. It's true that in Judaism we don't make paintings or statues of God for use in worship. But there is room to imagine God in different ways, especially if we vary the images and don't get stuck on one or the other. The author of this prayer imagines God as like a man (for something about imagining God as like a woman, see K'GAVNA, above) and goes very far in appealing to the visual imagination with a variety of images. We pray about the colour of God's hair ("hoary", white, when God appears as an old man, "jet black" when God appears as a young man) and the armour and royal adornments that God wears, so to speak.

(c) Justin Lewis, instructor


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MIRIAM	from the Hoshanot for Sukkot -- In the merit of him [Noah] who was perfect in his generations, he escaped by his abundant righteousness, and was rescued from inundation upon the arrival of the Flood of water - for the sake of the nation that declares "I am a wall." In the merit of Abraham... In the merit of Isaac... In the merit of Jacob... etc... In the merit of the prophetess [Miriam] of the dance of the camps, to those of thirsting heart she was an inspiration, at her feet ran, rising and descending, the well of water. Artscroll Nusach Sefard Siddur p. 792-793.
	This is from the Hoshanot prayers which are traditionally said while making processions around the synagogue on Sukkot. It's a colourful ritual: everyone holding their lulav and etrog (palm branch and citron fruit) and going around and around the synagogue together chanting these prayers. This prayer asks God to help us for the sake of our ancestors and heroes: Jacob, Levi, Judah, Moses, Aaron, etc. etc. -- and Miriam. The paragraph about her is very beautiful, especially in the Hebrew, where several words rhyme with the key word "mayim" (water). "The dance of the camps" is a quotation from the Song of Songs. "The well of water" is the well which followed the Jewish people in our wanderings through the desert, according to legend. It gave us fresh water to drink because of the holiness of Miriam. That's why when Miriam dies, the very next thing the Torah mentions is that there was no water for the people to drink. There are very few places in the traditional Hebrew prayers where woman heroes are celebrated like this. (See more information on women's Yiddish prayers- Tekhines- which do often mention holy women.) But a text like this one shows that the tradition does not have a deliberate program of excluding women. It isn't deliberately sexist. It is unconsciously sexist. Women are left out of the Hebrew prayers 99% of the time because the authors of these prayers were generally men who were not too concerned with women. But they didn't have a policy of exclusion. The door is open a crack, and one of the challenges of recent generations of Jews has been to push the door open to women further and further. New prayers celebrating women, inspired by old prayers like this, are one way of doing that. [ed. note: Marcia Falk's Book of Blessing is following in this tradition by rewriting prayers in Hebrew and English free of gender stereotypes.]
K'GAVNA	Just as they unite above in One so too She is united below in the secret of One, to be with them above, One facing One. The Holy One, blessed be He, One above, does not sit on His Throne of Glory until She is made over in the secret of One just as He is, to be One within One. So we have established the secret of the words: "HaShem is One and His Name is One." The Secret of Sabbath: She is Sabbath! Becoming one in the secret of One to draw down upon her the secret of One. The prayer for the entrance of Sabbath: The holy Throne of Glory becomes one in the secret of One, prepared for the High Holy King to rest upon Her. When Sabbath enters She is alone, separated from the Other Side, all judgments removed from Her. Basking in the oneness of holy light, She is crowned over and over to face the Holy King. All powers of wrath and masters of judgment flee from Her. There is no power in all the worlds aside from Her. Her face shines with a light from beyond; She is crowned below by the holy people, and all of them are crowned with new souls. Then the beginning of the prayer to bless Her with joy and beaming faces. (based on Daniel Chanan Matt's rendition in _Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment_, p. 132)
	This is a selection from the Zohar, used as an introduction to the Friday evening service in some versions of the Siddur. It is in Aramaic, not Hebrew, and the symbolism it uses makes it hard to understand. But if you look through it you'll see that it's a meditation on unity, and the word "she" keeps recurring. The word "she" refers to the Shekhinah, God present in the world. In the Zohar, the Shekhinah is almost always described as feminine. She is called the bride, the queen, the mother. The idea here is that Shabbat, especially Friday night, is a manifestation of the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, and that the Friday night prayers focus on her. As it says, "There is no power but she in all the worlds. Her face glows with a heavenly light... Then their prayers begin by blessing her with joy..." The same sense of the presence of God on Friday night is the theme of Lecha Dodi, the song sung on Friday night to welcome Shabbat. Lecha Dodi is a mystical poem in the tradition of the Zohar, and when the chorus says "come, my friend, to greet the bride; let us welcome Shabbat", both Shabbat and the bride are names of the Shekhinah. There will be more about these concepts in our class on Kabbalah. But it's important that these prayers are not only found in mysterious Kabbalistic books which only a few people ever studied, but in the Siddur where everyone who went to shul would read them. There is a widespread Jewish sense of the presence of God as feminine, and here it is in the Siddur. (Talking about masculine and feminine raises all kinds of questions -- such as, is it really meaningful to talk about masculine and feminine at all -- which I don't want to go into here, although I will try to respond to any questions on the topic. The point of including this text is to undermine the stereotype that God is always "He", "Lord", "King" in Jewish prayer.)
ANI VAHO *[note the translation should be changed in this way, "a nation and God" rather than "the nation and its leaders"]...	Hoshana prayer: Ani Vaho, bring salvation now. As You saved the terebinths in Lud along with Yourself when You sent forth to save the nation - so save now. As you saved the multitudes of hosts and with them the hosts of angels - so save now. As You saved a nation and God* who sought the salvations of God - so save now. As you saved pure ones from the house of slavery, Gracious One, from those who forced manual labor upon them - so save now. As You saved those sinking in the depths of the rifts, Your honour was with them when they crossed [ "Your honour was with them" is a reference to the Presence of God] As You saved the garden which sang 'He delivered,' regarding Him Who draws forth it is pronounced 'He was delivered.' - so save now. As You saved with the declaration 'I shall bring you forth' which may be interpreted 'I shall be brought forth with you' - so save now. As You saved the Ark of the Name, captured as a result of sin, when you punished Philistia with flaming anger, and it was saved, - so save now. [because "the Ark of the Name" again symbolizes God's presence] As You saved the congregations which You had sent... ...etc. from the Zohar (Terumah 163-6) which precedes Barchu on Friday night in Nusach Sefard
	This is from the Hoshanot prayers which are traditionally said while making processions around the synagogue on Sukkot. It's a colourful ritual: everyone holding their lulav and etrog (palm branch and citron fruit) and going around and around the synagogue together chanting these prayers. The theme of this prayer for God's help is that when we are rescued from trouble, God is rescued also. It is very far from any sense of God as distant or uninvolved. "As you saved the terebinths in Lud along with Yourself" -- "terebinths" are a kind of tree, which represent the Jewish people -- we are saying to God, "when You saved us, You saved Yourself too." The next line says the same thing, but some translations replace God with leaders. The translation should be (as it is here), "As You saved the nation and its God who sought the salvations of God..." ("Elohim" in Hebrew can mean "leaders" but in this context it's clear that it means "God" as it usually does.) Several of the other lines make the same point very clearly. God was delivered with us, God said "I shall be brought forth with you" out of exile. Other lines speak about "Your honour", which is a term for the Presence of God; or about the "hosts of angels" or the Ark of the Covenant, which are vessels for the presence of God. It may seem very strange to ask God to save God's self. But God is greater than human logic, so not everything we say about God will always "make sense". The underlying theme is that God's love for us is so strong that God is with us in whatever we are going through, and when God helps us that helps God also. So -- according to the outlook of this prayer, which is found very often in the Midrash [see glossary] -- God is not just strong and superior; God needs help.
AN'IM Z'MIROT	An'im z'mirot" a.k.a. "Song of Glory" I shall compose pleasant psalms and weave hymns, because for You shall my soul pine. My soul desired the shelter of Your hand, to know every mystery of Your secret. As I speak of Your glory, my heart yearns for Your love. Therefore I shall speak of Your glories, and Your Name I shall honor with loving songs. I shall relate Your glory though I see You not; I shall allegorize You, I shall describe You, though I know You not. Through the hand of Your prophets, through the counsel of Your servants; You allegorized the splendrous glory of Your power. Your greatness and Your strength, they described the might of Your works. They allegorized You, but not according to Your reality, and they portrayed You according to Your deeds. They symbolized You in many varied visions; yet You are a Unity containing all allegories. They envision in Your agedness and virility, and the hair of Your head as hoary and jet black. Aged on judgment day and virile on the day of battle, like a man of war whose powers are many. The hat of salvation He put on His had; salvation for Him, His right hand and His sacred arm. With illuminating dew drops His haead is filled, His lock are the rains of the night. He shall glory in me for He desires me, and He shall be for me a crown of pride. A form of the very finest gold upon his head, and carved on his forehead is His glorious, sacred Name. For grace and for glory the pride of His spendor, His nation crowns Him with its prayers. The tresses of His head are like His youthful days; His locks are jet black ringlets. The Abode of righteousness is the pride of His splendor; may He elevate it to His foremost joy. May His treasured nation be in His hand like a corwn, and like a royal tiara the pride of His splendor. From infancy He bore them and affixed them as a crown, because they are precious in His eyes He honored them. His tefillin-splendor is upon me and my tefillin-splendor is upon Him, and He is near to me when I call to Him. He is white and crimson; His garment will be bloody red, when He tramples as in a press on His coming from Edom. He showed the tefillin-knot to the humble [Moses], the likeness of HaShem before his eyes. He desires His people, He will glorify the humble; enthroned upon praises, He glories with them. The very beginning of Your word is truth - one who reads it from the Torah's start; the people that seeks You exponds each generation's fate. Place the multitude of my songs before You, please; and my glad songs bring near to You. May my praise be a crown for Your head, and may my prayer be accepted like incense. May the poor man's song be fear in Your eyes, like the song that is sung over Your offerings. May my blessing rise up upon the head of the Sustainer - Creator, Giver of life, mighty Righteous One. And to my blessing, nod Your head to me, and take it to Yourself like the finest incense. May my prayer be sweet to Your, for my soul shall pine for you. from the end of Shabbat Musaf. Artscroll Nusach Sefard bottom of page 522-523 and page 524-525 and top half of 526-527.
	One of the overall themes of this course will be connecting with God through the imagination. This prayer from the end of Shabbat morning services is a wonderful example of that. It's true that in Judaism we don't make paintings or statues of God for use in worship. But there is room to imagine God in different ways, especially if we vary the images and don't get stuck on one or the other. The author of this prayer imagines God as like a man (for something about imagining God as like a woman, see K'GAVNA, above) and goes very far in appealing to the visual imagination with a variety of images. We pray about the colour of God's hair ("hoary", white, when God appears as an old man, "jet black" when God appears as a young man) and the armour and royal adornments that God wears, so to speak.
	(c) Justin Lewis, instructor