"Everyone is Included" Rabbi Zecher's Shabbat Awakenings, 9/4/26

Every prayer book, whether for Shabbat, the holidays, or Rosh Hashanah on Yom Kippur, is what I would describe as a spiritual tell.

Archaeologists find a mound which has layers of civilizations piled one on top of another.

If they were to slice it from the top to the bottom, the excavated strata reveal specific aspects about the people who lived then.

Traditional prayer books reflect something similar.

Each generation makes additions to the liturgy that most often remained.

They allow us to experience the multiple layers.

But when Reform Judaism started, they took away some of those additions and made other changes.

One significant alteration had to do with the Torah portion for Yom Kippur Day.

Traditionally, the section from Leviticus and Numbers about sacrifices and the high priest's entrance into the Holy of Holies in the temple was recited.

The early reformers had no intention of rebuilding the temple, let alone offering sacrifices again as in ancient times.

So they set their attention on another moment of the Jewish story as a replacement to Leviticus.

The time right before the Israelites would cross over the Jordan into the land as a message to the generations after them.

Deuteronomy 29 9 and what follows includes the present and the future.

All are named in a way that recognizes status and social economic opportunity.

In addition, all paths lead to the divine in relationship and obligation.

Every prayer book, whether for Shabbat, the holidays, or Rosh Hashanah on Yom Kippur, is what I would describe as a spiritual tell.

Archaeologists find a mound which has layers of civilizations piled one on top of another.

If they were to slice it from the top to the bottom, the excavated strata reveal specific aspects about the people who lived then.

Traditional prayer books reflect something similar.

Each generation makes additions to the liturgy that most often remained.

They allow us to experience the multiple layers.

But when Reform Judaism started, they took away some of those additions and made other changes.

One significant alteration had to do with the Torah portion for Yom Kippur Day.

Traditionally, the section from Leviticus and Numbers about sacrifices and the high priest's entrance into the Holy of Holies in the temple was recited.

The early reformers had no intention of rebuilding the temple, let alone offering sacrifices again as in ancient times.

So they set their attention on another moment of the Jewish story as a replacement to Leviticus.

The time right before the Israelites would cross over the Jordan into the land as a message to the generations after them.

Deuteronomy 29 9 and what follows includes the present and the future.

All are named in a way that recognizes status and social economic opportunity.

In addition, all paths lead to the divine in relationship and obligation.