קידוש החיים

Sanctifying Life

A Siddur for Nontheistic and Humanistic

William Thompson

Contents Introduction ...... 3 Kabbalat Shabbat: Welcoming the Sabbath ...... 8 Shacharit Shabbat: Shabbat Morning ...... 13 Amidah ...... 18 Preparation ...... 18 Avot v’Imahot (Fathers and Mothers) ...... 18 G’vurot (Strength) ...... 18 K’dusha (Sanctity) ...... 18 K’dushat Hayom (Sanctity of Shabbat) ...... 18 Avodah (Work) ...... 19 Hodaah (Thanks) ...... 19 Shalom (Peace) ...... 19 Private Meditation ...... 19 Torah Service...... 21 Aleinu ...... 23 Mourners’ Kaddish ...... 24 Kiddush and Hamotzi ...... 25 Shabbat Dinner ...... 26 Havdalah ...... 29 Morning Blessings ...... 32 Evening Meditations ...... 33 Weekday Amidah ...... 34 Blessings for Food ...... 35 Birkat Hamazon ...... 36 Holiday Meditations (For Shabbat or Weekday) ...... 38 Why Am I a Humanistic Jew? ...... 43 The Importance of Tefillah (Prayer) ...... 46 The Roots of Humanistic ...... 49 The Additional Covenant ...... 60 The Death of God and Its Implications for Judaism ...... 63

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Introduction

Why bother with a siddur for atheist, agnostic, secular, and humanist Jews? These people don’t pray on any regular basis, and in any case how can you even have prayer without God? I wrote this siddur because I believe there is a need for one. This will certainly not be the definitive siddur for the Humanistic Jewish Movement, but I believe that it will offer a distinct voice and, for lack of a better term, spirituality that many currently nonreligious/unaffiliated Jews need and want. While most self-described secular Jews do not pray in the traditional manner, there is a longing for some type of spiritual practice among many of them. Meditation, yoga, Buddhism, “Eastern philosophy,” and New Age spiritual practices are incredibly popular among young and some not-so-young Jews. Simply put, traditional forms of Judaism do not speak to many of today’s American Jews. The Orthodox and the right wing of the Conservative Movement require behaviors and beliefs that are anathema; the Reform and Reconstructionist Movements insist on maintaining a theistic form of prayer that neither reflects their beliefs nor uplifts them. I wrote this siddur to offer a Jewish spirituality that remains close to the traditional prayers thematically and structurally while reflecting the values and beliefs that I and many other nontheistic Jews hold. This siddur has evolved over the course of a few years. My first attempt came after my discovery of Marcia Falk’s The Book of Blessings. While I remain enamored with her book, there are a few places where she swerves a little too close to theism for my comfort. The first siddur I produced was largely a work of compilation, gathering materials from multiple sources, editing them, and compiling them into the structure of a siddur. I eventually decided to abandon the position of editor and take up that of author in order to create a more philosophically coherent whole. The philosophy underlying this siddur was inspired by multiple sources, but can best be described as naturalistic or religious naturalism. The primary source of inspiration for the philosophy underlying this siddur is . While most describe him as a pantheist or panentheist, it is perhaps more accurate to describe him as a spiritual atheist, although he vehemently rejected the atheist label in his

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lifetime. I will examine his philosophy first through the Jewish “trinity” of God, Torah, and Israel. Spinoza’s God was identical with the Universe, or as he called it: Nature. According to his magnum opus, The Ethics, God is the only thing which exists, and It is not a person, It is an infinite substance. Although God is infinite, we can only know God through two of Its attributes: thought and extension, i.e. mind and matter. These broad attributes are expressed in an infinite variety of modes, which are the everyday things we experience: our bodies, minds, rivers, tables, etc. The Bible, according to Spinoza, was nothing more than a collection of myths, histories, and laws created by men. The only importance given to the Bible by Spinoza was as moral instruction to the “common” man, which he believed could be summarized as love for God and love for one’s neighbor. Its ritual commandments need not be followed because they were only valid as a law code for the ancient Israelites. The Jewish people were nothing more than an ancient nation living in dispersion without land or polity. Due to his negative views on orthodox Judaism, he (unfortunately) believed that there was no longer any value in maintaining the Jewish people as a separate entity. An important element of Spinoza’s philosophy was its spiritual focus. Spinoza did not write out his beliefs as a mere intellectual exercise. It was his belief that philosophy was a discipline which was meant to aid people in their attempt to live well, i.e. to achieve happiness, or as the Greeks called it “eudaimonia.” It was through the use of reason that one was able to gain a true understanding of God/Nature, and through that understanding align oneself with God/Nature and achieve inner peace and harmony with the world. The understanding of God’s/Nature’s essential qualities and all that necessarily flowed from them was called by Spinoza “the intellectual love of God.” Through loving God, i.e. understanding the attributes of Nature, the individual is thereby able to achieve virtue. Knowledge grounded in reason was the path to blessedness. While many of the particulars of Spinoza’s philosophy are dependent on outdated philosophy and discredited science, his overall approach to philosophy and the world offers a fulfilling spirituality for nontheistic Jews. It is no coincidence that Spinoza is considered the grandfather of secular Judaism and the first modern secular Jew. For the purposes of this

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siddur, the Universe, sometimes referred to as the Cosmos, is the object of reverence and awe rather than the traditional God. The Universe is not portrayed in anthropomorphic or anthropopathic terms. The unity of all things is a central theme to this siddur, and it frequently calls to mind the interdependent nature of reality and our place in it. Evocation of a sense of connection to something “larger” than oneself is a fundamental aspect of spirituality, and the recognition of our dependence on this planet, all other lifeforms, and the Universe itself is meant to serve this purpose. Knowledge of the Universe comes through reason, evidence, and the scientific method; and it is through knowledge that we can live in harmony with nature, with other people, and achieve a sense of peace within ourselves. Knowledge leads to human flourishing, both individually and socially. Because there is no supernatural God, human beings are responsible for their own fates, and an emphasis on action and good deeds runs throughout these pages with calls for the reader/meditator to put their values into practice. While this underlying philosophic structure offers a spiritual system for secular Jews, what is the value in maintaining any connection to Judaism, and what is the nature of Judaism? For the purposes of this siddur, I accept the stance of the Society for Humanistic Judaism which asserts that Judaism is “the historical and cultural experience [and] evolving culture of the Jewish people.”1 This siddur is for those who value their and identity, but want a spiritual practice that reflects their beliefs in a way theistic Judaism does not. If Judaism is the culture of the Jewish people, this includes the philosophy and thought of all Jews, including Spinoza and modern Jews as much as those of the ancient past. (For more on the question of “why by Jewish,” please refer to the essay in the back of this b