Review of New High Holy Day Machzor

NEW yEAR, NEW MACHzOR, NEW EXPERIENCE

By Rabbi Elaine Zecher

It happens in every service. The clergy invites the congregation to pray privately until a particular page and then to be seated when each person is done. During Shabbat, and in previous High Holy Days, the time between the instruction and the sound of seats squeaking as various people sit down is not long.

This year, on Rosh Hashanah, however, something different happened. After the clergy gave that instruction and turned to face the ark to pray privately, we heard no sound of anyone taking his or her seat. We waited. And then we turned back to face the congregation. No one had moved. The congregation was engrossed in the machzor in their hands. This moment was repeated in each of our services throughout the High Holy Days this year as we When our Director of Communications, Emma Sandler, asked me to write this article for the newly designed bulletin, Insight, about the experience of using the new machzor, I was hesitant for one simple reason: having devoted time and effort for the past six years to its development, creation, and production, I have a different kind of familiarity with it. As we worked on the machzor, we were very aware that the prayer book is but one piece of the High Holy Day experience. The music, the ambiance, and the experience of entering the building all play a role. And yet, having access to an elegant, engaging, beautifully presented machzor certainly has the potential to enhance the experience.

Based on the many comments spoken and written to me personally and to my colleagues, we could not be more thrilled by the positive response. Here are some of the repeated themes from the feedback we got from the congregation: • Instead of attending any of the Yom Kippur afternoon programs, you sat outside, read, and reread various poems and prayers, and reflected on the meaning for you. • You found that you more deeply understood certain sections and prayers through the explanations and essays. • In years past, you felt alienated from the service because you had to keep checking the transliteration booklet. This year, you felt fully integrated by being able to follow the transliterated Hebrew. • You felt liberated to pray using a different expression of a prayer even though everyone else—or so it seemed— was reading a different version. • The Yom Kippur liturgy was very heavy, literally and figuratively. • It was impossible to read and experience everything the machzor has to offer, and you look forward to returning next year. To produce a new machzor is an honor. To witness how it speaks to each of us is a sacred opportunity we all share. As we all grow more familiar with, and learn from Mishkan HaNefesh, I pray the High Holy Day experience will grow richer and more meaningful with each new year.

Torah