Tishrei in Adar

[cellio]

The rabbis say that in the time of the moshiach (messiah) Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, will be like Purim. (There's word-play there.) No moshiach yet, but something along those lines (in reverse) is coming up.

I'm part of a group that's doing a pilot evaluation of a new machzor (high-holy-day prayerbook). Tomorrow night we're sort-of having a Kol Nidrei service for the evening of Yom Kippur. Should be interesting! Years ago our morning minyan piloted the new siddur Mishkan T'filah (over several weeks) and I found that process very engaging for me. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new machzor has in store for us.

(Well ok; I have an advance copy of just this part of it and I paged through it tonight. But going through it with a congregation is different.)

Comments

[cellio]

Pico-review: a lot of nice updates, some translations are at first peculiar but settle in, typography/layout needs serious work. Interesting observation: as with early drafts of MT they added back the full Sh'ma; in MT they recanted some of that (kept tzitzit, killed national reward/punishment), so it'll be interesting to see what happens with that here. Somebody is obviously determined to try. :-)

I'll be writing a more-thorough analysis/reaction to submit to them, but it will take at least several days. I'm reluctant to share that before this round of the piloting is over, lest I prejudice you. (This round is to be completed in Adar, as I understand it.) Let me know what your status is and I look forward to comparing notes later.