Who By Fire, Who By Water: Un'taneh Tokef (Prayers of Awe, 1) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580236723 ISBN 13: 9781580236720

Publisher: Jewish Lights, 2013

Synopsis

The most controversial prayer of the Jewish New Year―what it means, who wrote it, why we say it.

Over forty contributors who span three continents and all major Jewish denominations examine Un'taneh Tokef's theology, authorship, and poetry through a set of lively commentaries. Men and women, scholars and rabbis, artists and poets trace the history of Un’taneh Tokef and connect the prayer to its biblical and rabbinic roots. They wrestle with the personal and community impact of its deeply moving imagery, probe its haunting message of human mortality, and reflect on its call for sanctity, transformation and renewal.

Prayers of Awe: A multi-volume series designed to explore the High Holy Day liturgy and enrich the praying experience for everyone―whether experienced worshipers or guests who encounter Jewish prayer for the very first time.

Contributors

Merri Lovinger Arian

Rabbi Tony Bayfield, DD

Rabbi Sharon Brous

Dr. Marc Brettler

Dr. Erica Brown

Rabbi Ruth Durchslag, PsyD

Rabbi Edward Feinstein

Rabbi Elyse D. Frishman

Rabbi Andrew Goldstein, PhD

Dr. Joel M. Hoffman

Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

Dr. Reuven Kimelman

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

Rabbi Noa Kushner

Rabbi Daniel Landes

Rabbi Ruth Langer, PhD

Liz Lerman

Rabbi Asher Lopatin

Catherine Madsen

Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, PhD

Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD

Ruth Messinger

Rabbi Charles H. Middleburgh, PhD

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum

Rabbi Aaron Panken, PhD

Rabbi Or N. Rose

Rabbi Marc Saperstein, PhD

Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso

Rabbi Jonathan P. Slater, DMin

Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek

Rabbi David Stern

Rabbi David A. Teutsch, PhD

Rabbi Gordon Tucker, PhD

Dr. Ellen M. Umansky

Rabbi Avraham Weiss

Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig, DD

Dr. Ron Wolfson

Rabbi David J. Wolpe

Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel

Dr. Wendy Zierler

About this title

About the Author

Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD, has served for more than three decades as professor of liturgy at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He is a world-renowned liturgist and holder of the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair in Liturgy, Worship and Ritual. His work combines research in Jewish ritual, worship and spirituality with a passion for the spiritual renewal of contemporary Judaism.

His many books, written and edited, include seven volumes in the Prayers of Awe series: Who by Fire, Who by Water―Un'taneh Tokef; All These Vows―Kol Nidre; We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism―Ashamnu and Al Chet; May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism―Yizkor; All the World: Universalism, Particularism and the High Holy Days; Naming God: Avinu Malkeinu―Our Father, Our King; and Encountering God: El Rachum V'chanun―God Merciful and Gracious. Hoffman also edited the ten-volume series My People’s Prayer Book: Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries, winner of the National Jewish Book Award; and coedited My People’s Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Hoffman cofounded and developed Synagogue 2/3000, a transdenominational project to envision and implement the ideal synagogue of the spirit for the twenty-first century. In that capacity, he wrote Rethinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life (Jewish Lights).

Merri Lovinger Arian is on the New York faculty of the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and its School of Sacred Music. In addition, she serves there as Synagogue 3000's consultant on liturgical arts, supervising rabbinic and cantorial students in the art of leading and creating worship collaboratively.

Rabbi Tony Bayfield, CBE, DD (Lambeth), is president of the Movement for Reform Judaism in the United Kingdom. He teaches personal theology at the Leo Baeck College in London. He contributed to We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism―Ashamnu and Al Chet, Who by Fire, Who by Water―Un'taneh Tokef, and All These Vows―Kol Nidre (all Jewish Lights).

Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler is the Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Studies at Brandeis University. He contributed to all volumes of the My People's Prayer Book: Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries series, winner of the National Jewish Book Award, and to My People's Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries; Who by Fire, Who by Water―Un'taneh Tokef; All These Vows―Kol Nidre; May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism―Yizkor; and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism―Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights). He is coeditor of The Jewish Annotated New Testament and The Jewish Study Bible, which won the National Jewish Book Award; co-author of The Bible and the Believer; and author of How to Read the Jewish Bible, among other books and articles. He has also been interviewed on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air by Terry Gross.

Rabbi Sharon Brous is the founding rabbi of IKAR (www.ikar-la.org), a spiritual community dedicated to reanimating Jewish life through soulful religious practice that is rooted in a deep commitment to social justice. She has been noted as one of the leading rabbis in the country in Newsweek/Daily Beast and has been listed among the Forward's fifty most influential American Jews numerous times. She serves on the faculty of the Wexner Heritage Program, the Shalom Hartman Institute, and Reboot and sits on the board of Rabbis for Human Rights.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jewish Lights
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1580236723
• ISBN 13: 9781580236720
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272
• Editor: Hoffman Rabbi Lawrence A.