Lehnardt_2007_EJJS_1.2 (2007)_Research on Jewish Liturgy.pdf (original) (raw)

Jewish Prayer, Liturgy, and Ritual

A Companion to Late Ancient Jews and Judaism: Third Century bce to Seventh Century CE, ed. Kessler & Koltun-Fromm and, 2020

Rabbinic Jewish prayers and liturgical rituals are typically approached, at least initially, as primarily textual phenomena. Texts provide the starting point for most inquiries, particularly the recorded prayers of individual communities and groups, whether they were preserved only in manuscripts or whether they can be found in modern, mainstream liturgies. Scholars have created critical editions of numerous texts, traced the histories of individual prayers from antiquity to the present, and sought the origins and social settings (temple, synagogue, public square, house of study, or home) in which various rituals were located. Without a doubt, these liturgical texts offer one of the most important windows into the lived experience of Judaism in its formative period. The recovery of a vast body of liturgical poetry from the Cairo Genizah (synagogue storeroom for sacred texts awaiting proper disposal) has been particularly revelatory, in terms of understanding how the statutory prayers developed, how the lectionary varied, and how Scripture was taught-experienced-through poetic exegesis on a weekly basis. Driven by the wealth of new materials recovered from the Genizah, the twentieth century was a golden age of the study of liturgical texts. At the same time, it was also the period when, thanks to a host of remarkable archaeological discoveries, the physical context of early Jewish liturgy-particularly the synagogues of the Land of Israel and the Roman Diaspora-began to be recovered. Stunning structures, elaborately decorated and embellished, demanded revision of the received history of Late Antiquity and the early Byzantine era as a "Dark Age" for Jews (see Kraemer, Chapter 2; Baker, Chapter 8; and Kattan Gribetz, Chapter 28). Just as the texts from the Cairo Genizah complicated the received history of Jewish liturgy as preserved in rabbinic writings (notably the Talmud but also post-talmudic geonic writings), the monumental

Jewish Liturgy: A Guide to Research (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).

How do Jews pray and why? What do the prayers mean? From where did this liturgy come and what challenges does it face today? Such questions and many more, spanning the centuries and continents, have driven the study of Jewish liturgy. But just as the liturgy has changed over time, so too have the questions asked, the people asking them, and the methods used to address them. Jewish Liturgy: A Guide to Research enables the reader to access the rich bibliography now available in English. In this volume, Ruth Langer, an expert on Jewish liturgy, provides an annotated description of the most important books and articles on topics ranging historically from the liturgy of the Second Temple period and the Dead Sea Scrolls to today, addressing the synagogue itself and those gathered in it; the daily, weekly, and festival liturgies and their components; home rituals and the life cycle; as well as questions of liturgical performance and theology. Introductions to every section orient the reader and provide necessary background. Christians seeking to understand Jewish liturgy, either that of Jesus and the early church or that of their Jewish contemporaries, will find this volume invaluable. It’s also an important reference for anyone seeking to understand how Jews worship God and how that worship has evolved over time.

History and Liturgy: The Evolution of Multiple Prayer Rites

2011

The family tree of Jewish liturgy - the siddur and the mahazor (as it is correctly vocalized) - is a long and complex one. It spans the entire history of the Jewish experience, from the earliest origins of the Jewish people to the present day. The story of the many Jewish prayer rites (nusha Ot) is in fact the story of the diffusion of the Jewish people and their tradition throughout the world and the development of the great Jewish communities of past and present. We seek to present the history of Jewish liturgy in a short summary, hoping that our survey will reveal the manner in which local tradition and custom served to enrich Jewish life.'Rabbinic tradition attributes the core of the liturgy to the Men of the Great Assembly, the sages who led Israel after the time of Ezra (c. 400-250 BCE)." Prayer texts, especially from the Dead Sea Scrolls and a section of Ben Sira preserved only in Genizah manuscripts, show that some of our contemporary liturgical language and themes ...

Book Review: Jewish Liturgy: A Guide to Research. By Ruth Langer

Theological Studies, 2017

Few scholars have made the field of Jewish liturgy their central area of research, and among them Langer stands out. Among other things, she holds a unique position of regularly teaching Jewish liturgy to Christians, among them seminarians. She is an expert, therefore, at comparing, defining, and explaining Jewish worship and its attendant scholarship not just to Jews but to Christians as well. She points out the paucity of Jewish scholarship in liturgical theology relative to liturgical history, for example, calling it "one of the most significant cultural and intellectual differences between Judaism and Christianity" (233)-just one example of her expertise. Above all, however, L. is a scholar of international repute, well known for such publications as To Worship God Properly: Tensions between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism (1998), and, more recently, Cursing the Christians: A History of Birkat Minim (2012). She is indeed a master of her field, with a reputation for thorough research as well as precise and plain wording in presenting it. We are fortunate therefore to see that she has compiled an annotated bibliography of the most important books and articles published in English in the field of Jewish liturgical research up to 2015-a worthy successor to the earlier work by Joseph Tabory (Jewish Prayer and the Yearly Cycle. A List of Articles. Supplement to Kiryat Sefer [1992-1993]). Unlike Tabory's prototype, L.'s bibliography is geared primarily to a Christian and seminary context, so it carefully introduces Jewish liturgical research to readers unfamiliar with the field of Jewish studies. It therefore begins with introductions to rabbinic Judaism and Jewish liturgy in general, lists trends and earlier bibliographies of Jewish liturgical scholarship, and only then continues with the literature on Judaism's central liturgical prayers. Within the first nine of fourteen chapters, the bibliography covers the historical development of Jewish liturgy: its emergence in late antiquity and its historical development through the Middle Ages until contemporary times. It also provides literature on the origins, history, and functions of the synagogue, the variety of rites and streams within Judaism, and an overview of Judaism's main rubrics and prayers for weekday, Shabbat and festival liturgies, as well as lifecycle rituals and liturgical poetry, known as piyyutim. With the second part of the book, chapters 10 to 14, L. expands her focus to include questions of embodiment, music, liturgical vestments, and objects-although she omits synagogue art and architecture; she then turns to elitist and popular spiritual practice, contemporary challenges, and a particularly welcome and comprehensive