May God Remember: Yizkor Memory and Memorializing in Judaism

An engaging and sobering look at memorializing in Judaism and why memory—ours and God's—is so central to people.

Through a series of lively introductions and commentaries, over thirty contributors—men and women, scholars, rabbis, theologians and poets, representing all Jewish denominations—examine the history and ideas behind Yizkor, the Jewish memorial service, and this fascinating chapter in Jewish piety.

Featuring the traditional prayers—provided in the original Hebrew and a new and annotated translation—this fourth volume in the Prayers of Awe series explores the profound theological questions at the core of this service and our own humanity: What happens to us after we die? Is there really an afterlife? Does our fate after death depend on the goodness with which we have pursued our earthly life? And more.

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 include:

Yoram Bitton •  Dr. Annette M. Boeckler •  Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler • Rabbi Lawrence A. Englander, CM, DHL • Rabbi Edward Feinstein • Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof, PhD • Dr. Eric L. Friedland • Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand • Rabbi Edwin Goldberg, DHL • Rabbi Andrew Goldstein, PhD • Dr. Joel M. Hoffman • Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD • Rabbi Walter Homolka, PhD, DHL • Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur • Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar • Rabbi Daniel Landes • Catherine Madsen • Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, PhD • Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD • Rabbi Charles H. Middleburgh, PhD • Rabbi Jay Henry Moses • Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, PhD • Rabbi Jakob J. Petuchowski, PhD • Rabbi Jack Riemer • Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso • Rabbi David Stern • Rabbi David A. Teutsch, PhD • Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig, DD • Dr. Ron Wolfson • Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel • Dr. Wendy Zierler

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).

Dr. Annette M. Boeckler is lecturer for liturgy at Leo Baeck College in London and manager of its library. She studied theology, Jewish studies, and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Germany and Switzerland and chazzanut both privately (with cantor Marcel Lang, z"l, and cantor Jeremy Burko) and at the Levisson Instituut in Amsterdam. She contributed to 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).

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 Edward Feinstein is senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California. He is an instructor in the Ziegler Rabbinical School of American Jewish University and the Wexner Heritage Program. He is the author of Tough Questions Jews Ask: A Young Adult's Guide to Building a Jewish Life (Jewish Lights) and Capturing the Moon; and the editor of Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century: Human Responsibilities, the Presence of God, and the Future of the Covenant (Jewish Lights). He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism―Yizkor; Who by Fire, Who by Water―Un'taneh Tokef and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism―Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Lawrence A. Englander, CM, DHL, has been rabbi of Solel Congregation of Mississauga, Ontario, since its inception in 1973. He is author of The Mystical Study of Ruth, former editor of the CCAR Journal, and a contributor to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism―Yizkor; and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism―Ashamnu and Al Chet (both Jewish Lights).