A regular participant on this site, David, encouraged me to purchase the Mahzor Lev Shalem – Prayerbook for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
A mahzor is the prayer book used by Jews on the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But, for those who have not seen a mahzor, such a technical description does little justice to this magnificent volume.
I think, I hope that this is the sort of quality book of the future – if books are to survive in a digital world. What a magnificent book: beautifully bound, clear layout, extremely attractive fonts. Then we come to the content. Wonderful insights into Jewish spirituality, with commentaries, reflections, prayers, and resources clearly presented in the margins. The prayers and readings are wonderful additions to any individual’s or community’s devotional life. The prayers are sensitively inclusive without jarring, including options for adding women’s names to the traditional places where only men are mentioned. For those who cannot read Hebrew, congregational parts are transliterated. And, of course, the Hebrew is translated.
This mahzor forms the new official mahzor of the Conservative movement in Judaism. Conservative Judaism looks back to the nineteenth century for its foundations. Conservative Judaism is non-fundamentalist, open to contemporary culture and scholarship, and committed to Jewish religious law. This mahzor is also usable for Orthodox or Reform congregations
The book is improved by adding ribbons. And I’m saddened there isn’t a good index so that I could find the versions of biblical texts, etc. Maybe an index exists or will appear online – or one will be produced in the future.
This is a book I cannot recommend too much!
Sounds great to me!
This book is currently on sale for $26.40 until Dec 15, 2010 (see below).
Here’s how to get the sale price. Click on “Official Website” (link is at the end of the post above). On the page that opens up, look for menu (under book title). Click “order” at far right of menu. At page that opens up, find “United Synagogue Book Service” (right hand side of web page). Click that and you’ll be taken to the exact page where you can order the book at the sale price for the “Special Hanukkah Offer”. Shipping is $7.
This is way cheaper than the Amazon link!
I just ordered mine and it was a breeze! This looks to be a very special book. (I downloaded the teaser pdf’s and wow!)
Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention.