Dear fellow Congregants,

Our new prayer book, Mishkan T'filah, has just been introduced at our Congregation. As Rabbi Bob has explained in his message of August 27th, there are many differences between Mishkan T'filah and our old prayer book. An incredible amount of thought and deliberation went into it, resulting in changes both large and small, both formal and substantive. Personally, I like the end result very much.

All this raises the question what's the best way to become familiar with Mishkan T'filah and the thinking behind it. Our Congregation is holding study programs to introduce members to Mishkan T'filah. That's a great way to become familiar with Mishkan T'filah. But these programs can't cover everything, and many people won't be able to attend them for one reason or another.

Fortunately, the Union for Reform Judaism has created a special section on its web site specifically devoted to Mishkan T'filah. It is an outstanding resource for information about Mishkan T'filah, from the most basic questions to deep theological issues. I want to take this opportunity to introduce you to the Mishkan T'filah web site and guide you to some of its content. This is the first installment, and there will be more as we go along.

1. The Mishkan T'filah Web Site

First things first. The Mishkan T'filah web site is located at http://urj.org/mishkan/. Copy this URL into your browser's address window, and there you are! Alternatively, a simple Google or Yahoo search for "urj mishkan" will get you to the same location.

Now you're at the web site. Of course, there is an FAQ section, which you can reach by clicking on the third link from the top on the left side (blue background). These frequently asked questions are not bad for what they are, but they're clearly pitched more to Rabbis than to lay folk like you and me. For example, the question "how can I avoid announcing every page number" simply is not foremost on my mind. No doubt Rabbi Bob cares very much about this, though!

2. Layout of Mishkan T'filah

When I saw a page from Mishkan T'filah for the first time, I was surprised at the layout, and I confess I didn't understand it at first. I think many people will have that reaction. The web site has a great guide to the layout that I found very helpful. You can reach it by clicking on the second link from the top in the blue bar on the left. the link is entitled "Introducing MT into Your Congregation." Once you're on that page (it has the URL http://urj.org/mishkan/introducing/), you need to scroll down until you reach the heading "Introducing Mishkan T'filah." There is a long list of links under that heading. The 6th link down is entitled "The Structure of MT: A Guided Tour through a typical Two-Page Layout." Click on that link.

Now you're at an article with that exact title. It's by Rabbi Kim Geringer. Right under the Rabbi's name, it says "Let's look at the two-page spread, pages 34 and 35." That's a link. Click on it. It will open up these two pages from Mishkan T'filah as a .pdf file in a separate window.

Now you can switch back and forth between Rabbi Geringer's article explaining the layout, and the Mishkan T'filah pages that she is talking about (I actually find it easier to just print out the two Mishkan T'filah pages - I like to have something in my hands, and I think it's easier to see). She really does provide a thorough and helpful explanation of the layout.

3. Some context

Now that we have successfully gotten a sense of the layout of Mishkan T'filah, we'd like a little context. It would be nice to know how all this innovation fits within the traditions of Reform Judaism. Why a new prayer book, and why now? Rabbi Elliott Stevens of Montgomery, Alabama, has contributed a great article addressing precisely these topics. To reach the article, please use the "back" button of your browser to return to the "Introducing MT into Your Congregation" page (recall that it has the URL http://urj.org/mishkan/introducing/). Scroll down just a bit, until you come to the heading "Understanding Mishkan T'filah." There are three links under that heading. The second one is called "The Prayer Books, They Are A'Changin'." Click on it, and you arrive at Rabbi Stevens's article (its URL is http://urj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=10575&pge_prg_id=51772&pge_id=4509).

Another excellent contribution along similar lines, which integrates the reasons behind Mishkan T'filah with its structure and layout, is the interview with Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman that is posted on the web site. I recommend it highly. To get to the interview, you have to return to the "Introducing MT into Your Congregation" page. The link is immediately below the link to Rabi Stevens's article. It is entitled "The Prayer Book of the People." Click on the link, and you're at the interview with Rabbi Hoffman (its URL is http://urj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=10574&pge_prg_id=51772&pge_id=4509).

Alright. We have looked at the layout of Mishkan T'filah, and we have done some substantial reading on the history of Reform prayer books leading up to Mishkan T'filah and the reasons why it was written. That shall suffice for now. Next time I will suggest further readings from the Mishkan T'filah web site, focusing on some of the liturgical changes that were adopted in Mishkan T'filah, and the reasons behind these changes.

Uli Widmaier