Mishkan T'fillah (4)

[cellio]

Assorted notes from another morning with the new siddur:

I really like the overall layout when they stick to the format. The group seems to be finding it intuitive. I hope they fix the few places where they've deviated.

This week the books had two new inserts: transliteration of Ashrei, and psalm 92 (mizmor shir l'yom ha-shabbat). I haven't checked a different siddur to know whether the psalm is an omission in the new siddur or an acretion to the service by our group. That is, it's certainly part of the Shabbat liturgy, but it could be evening and not morning for all I know. Right now I'm too lazy to walk upstairs and look. I'll try to remember to update this entry later.

The Torah service is a little strange. There's more there than before (as I mentioned last week), but the ordering is a little odd and this week I noticed that one common line was missing (baruch shenatan torah...). I wonder what's up with that.

Hebrew is a nearly-regular language, in terms of pronunciation. There is one case where, I'm told, you just memorize the special cases, though I'va also heard that there is a rule (though no one can tell me what it is, at least so far). That is the case of the vowel called "kametz", which is usually pronounced "ah" but is occasionally "o" instead. (We do Sephardi pronunciation, not Ashkenazi.) The current siddur, Gates of Prayer, uses a very minor (but visible) typesetting difference in the Hebrew to convey this, which I find really helps. Mishkan T'fillah does not, at least in the draft edition. I really hope they do it in the final edition.

While looking at the transliteration (to disentangle the above), I noticed a bigger problem. There are two vowels, "segol" and "tsere", that are pronounced "eh" and "ey" (like in "they") respectively. They are both transliterated, every place I looked, as "e". Bad move! There are already many people who do not know the difference between these two letters; do not make it worse! Usually the latter is transliterated as "ei" (my preference), though I have also seen "ay" and "ey".

Here's an example of annoying mis-translation: "...malbish arumim" came out as "...who clothes with awareness". It is really "...who clothes the naked". What the heck is "for awareness" doing there? It has nothing to do with the content; the editors made it up! And it's in the place on the page where you expect the translation. I am going to complain about mis-representation of anything as translation that is not in fact a translation; I think that does actual harm. The vast majority of the users of this siddur are not fluent in Hebrew and will believe what they're told about translations.

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Comments

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Mizmor shir is said both morning and evening. It's said as part of kabbalat shabbat, and it's the shir shel yom of Shabbat itself, so it would be said after musaf in most traditional synagogues.

And I think you're right about translations. I mean, all translations are, to a certain extent, interpretations, but you want as close to the original as possible.

Who is preparing this siddur, out of curiousity?

[cellio]

Thanks for the information! Ok, I understand what they did, then -- Reform doesn't do Musaf, so they left it out. Our congregation moved it to p'sukei d'zimra instead, in order to preserve it. Or so I infer; I haven't asked. (We use a home-brew siddur on Shabbat morning, and one of the things it does is to restore some things that Gates of Prayer took out.)

Who is preparing this siddur, out of curiousity?

CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis), the Reform rabbinical organization. It's due to be published in 2004, so I have hope that the trial run that's being done now will actually effect some changes. Of course, for every opinion I have, I'm sure there will be an equal and opposite opinion from somewhere else. So we'll see how it plays out.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Ah. Now it makes sense. But it's normal to say the shir shel yom after shacharit anyway, so if you do eliminate musaf (which is a shame...it has the best tunes and you get to sing Ein Kolokeinu, and anyway, it's the only service I hear because I always come late :), but I understand the reasoning behind dropping it)it makes sense to just put it there.

Doing a tryout is a good idea. I mean, it took a couple thousand years even for the O liturgy to settle down, and it's not done yet - there are minor differences in order of prayers and even, to a lessor extent, wording, in the siddurim of the various O groups. Although I've prayed in many of these places and been able to find my place and follow along, even with my very poor grasp of Hebrew.

Except when we were in a Bostoner Chasid shul in Har Nof. There, I just gave up. :)

[cellio]

I mean, it took a couple thousand years even for the O liturgy to settle down, and it's not done yet

Yeah, I've noticed that too. :-) I'm not completely unfamiliar with O liturgy; it's just not my liturgical home.

(Maybe) funny story: several years ago I was basically illiterate, both liturgically and in terms of Hebrew, but I felt it was time to do something about it and I should start by buying a siddur for home use. So I went to the store and bought the one with the largest Hebrew print, because my vision isn't so great. I thought they were pretty much all the same. I didn't know that "nusach ha-Ari" actually meant something significant. :-) (The context was trying to find something that wasn't where it was being described, from the POV of an Artscroll user.)

Except when we were in a Bostoner Chasid shul in Har Nof. There, I just gave up. :)

I would like to go to a Chassidic service some day, but I don't have a connection within that community. Is it weird for an outsider to just show up? I've gotten the impression that it is, but if I'm wrong that would be handy to know.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Ah, Nusach Ari. *grin*

I spent ten years in a synagogue with a Lubavitch rabbi, as my husband fought to keep the liturgy standard Ashkenaz - Artscroll, to be precise. So, I avoided all the nusach Ari prayerbooks.

Now we're in Flatbush, and my husband is *collecting* Nusach Ari prayerbooks. And our old rabbi, with no one who cares to fight him, and many on his side, is getting his way. Of course, since many are on his side, it's probably the right way to go.

And. It is *not* weird to show up at any Chasidic synagogue. My only caveat would be to go on Saturday morning, as it is rare for in this country for Chasidic women to go Friday night - this is not the case in Israel. You may not be able to see or hear, but you will be welcomed and you *might* even be asked for lunch. Lubavitch would be easier, since they're used to people unfamiliar with their liturgy, but any one will be fine.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Another warning about Chassidic shuls for shacharit - they tend to go long, so prepare accordingly (often they start later than other shuls, so they get out later, and depending on the "flavor" of Chassidim they are, they might even extend shacharit longer with additional singing). They're lovely, but if you're one who needs to eat by noon, for instance, you might be wise to bring along a snack.