Siddur Avodat Halev: a New Siddur and Insights on the Old
49 Siddur Avodat HaLev: A New Siddur and Insights on the Old By: ATON HOLZER and ARIE FOLGER A Siddur is many things at once. Primarily a devotional device, the Sid- dur orients our consciousness toward God, facilitating Divine service in the ideal manner. Its blessings attach to the gamut of human experienc- es, emotions and wonder. Mindfulness and interruptions to rote routine are portals to religious awareness. Praise of God, found in Berakhot, is expressed through such diverse experiences as the flavor of an apple, the startle of thunder, the genius of a scholar, the elation of a marriage cer- emony, and even the searing pain of loss. In the sanctity of the com- manded life, with all of its imperatives, the Siddur traces these channels back to their Source, and thus unites Man with his. At the same time, the Siddur is also a teaching tool. Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik writes, “Prayer tells the individual, as well as the communi- ty, what his, or its, genuine needs are, what he should or should not peti- tion God about… In a word, man finds his need-awareness, himself, in prayer.”1 For Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, “Scholars of Judaism, noting that it contains little systematic theology, have sometimes concluded that 1 Joseph B. Soloveitchik, “Redemption, Prayer, and Talmud Torah,” Tradition 17:2, New York: Spring 1978, p. 62. Rabbi Dr. Aton Holzer is Director of the Mohs Surgery Clinic in the Department of Dermatology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, and was an assistant editor of the new Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) Siddur Avodat HaLev.
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