Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayer Book (Weekends, Sabbaths, and Festivals) [Hardcover]

Chaim Stern (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0916694003 | ISBN-13: 978-0916694005 | Publication Date: July 25, 1975 | Edition: English

Profoundly rooted in Jewish tradition, Gates of Prayer has become the standard liturgical work for the Reform Movement.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 779 pages
• Publisher: CCAR Press; English edition (July 25, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0916694003
• ISBN-13: 978-0916694005
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #954,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dated feel-good mistranslations, August 14, 2004

By 

Anyechka (Rensselaer, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayer Book (Weekends, Sabbaths, and Festivals) (Hardcover)

I no longer affiliate with the Reform Movement, but putting personal beliefs aside, this is a pretty standard Reform siddur, all of the important liturgy included (though after experiencing more traditional services I found out just how much liturgy is missing from this book!), a lot of great songs to choose from in the back, much more Hebrew than the Union prayerbook which was in usage before this, and a great selection of quotes from Pirkey Avot in the beginning. The reason I no longer think as highly of this siddur as I used to is because of all of the mistranslations (as well as a horrible cut and paste job of the Aleynu; for my first two years after my conversion I had no idea how long the Aleynu actually is and had a very hard time getting all of the words in the authentic unaltered prayer right!).

I don't have any problem with creative translations; some things even sound more poetic in such a translation over how they sounded in the original, or sometimes it's done to make them rhyme in translation also, if it's a poem or song. But the mistranslations here go beyond that. The best example of this is on page 256, "Praised is the God whose gift is life, whose cleansing rains let parched men and women flower toward the sun." The Hebrew actually says "Praised is the God whose gift is life, who grants eternal life to the dead." That's probably the only instance in this entire siddur where the Hebrew word meytim is used in that prayer instead of hakol (which means "the world"). Resurrection of the dead isn't part of Reform doctrine, so maybe the original Hebrew made them uncomfortable. A lot of similar mistranslations, which are worlds away from what is being said in the Hebrew, are really lovely sentiments, but they should be in a section devoted to an alternate service or alternative readings, not as pretended translations of things which are worlds away from this lovey-dovey "We are all one" stuff.

It was a good prayerbook for the era when it came out, but today it just reads like the creation of a bunch of flower children and makes it so obvious it came out in the Seventies. A good prayerbook should be for all time, not an embarrassing reminder of a bygone era.

5.0 out of 5 stars Delighted!, October 25, 2011

By 

DeDe - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayer Book (Weekends, Sabbaths, and Festivals) (Hardcover)

Most all my possessions were destroyed in a fire. I'm so happy to be able to purchase items over 30 years old! And to have them in such perfect condition, that's the icing on the cake! Thank you!

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayerbook, February 17, 2010

By 

L. Dalton Girard "grannyLeigh" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayer Book (Weekends, Sabbaths, and Festivals) (Hardcover)

This prayer book is not the prayer book I expected. I was surprised when it came since it was a small green book with only a hundred or so pages, not the larger dark blue prayer book used in all the Reform temples I have attended. Very disappointing...