Customer Reviews

The Synagogue Survival Kit

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wagner's book is not what I thought it would be, and in some ways it is better than I had expected, in some ways worse. What was better about it was that Wagner explains far more about synagogue ritual than I had expected. The book reveals the why behind each prayer, and indeed behind each phrase, in some cases. That kind of depth, I did not expect. Nor did I expect the historical analysis of how the rituals have evolved over the millenia. Having read this book, one gets not only a detailed guide to how and why services are as they are, but also an introduction to Jewish theology in general. All this was an unexpected bonus.

So in what sense did Wagner deliver less than I had hoped for? Only in that the book is not a simple quick introduction to what goes on in a synagogue. If you buy this book hoping for a quick evening's read, thinking that after a couple of hours you will have the gist of the synagogue ritual, you will be sorely disappointed. The book, befitting its subject, is far more complex than that, and it truly demands your time and concentration, if you are to derive from it all it has to offer.

But for those willing to devote the necessary time, it gives an unparalelled insight into Jewish services, and one which I have found completely absent from Jewish literature until now. Mazel Tov to Wagner for filling that gap!

Jordan Wagner, who is not to my knowledge a rabbi, has put together an excellent little tract which explains in a basic yet comprehensive manner, the structure of the Jewish prayer service and the ins and outs of Synagogue ritual. Wagner states on his website that he wrote the book in order to educate some non-Jewish friends as to what to expect at a Synagogue service. The book is extensively footnoted and well written. It should be of interest to non-educated Jews interested in learning the meaning of the liturgy and non-Jews interested in the Jewish religion. It does not cover the other topics such as the laws of Kashrut (dietary laws) or the Holidays but focuses on the daily and Sabbath services.

Wagner has made the somewhat mysterious world of the Synagogue accessible. While people may go to most any church and feel perfectly at home, the Synagogue is not as well known. Wagner gives his readers an opportunity to understand and even participate in the worship services at the heart of Judaism. This book is highly readable and worth the time if you or anyone you know is going to Synagogue.
This is the book you must buy.

I am buying this book for a dear person who is about to become a Jew by choice. Our congregation is Reform/Progressive and like many in our movement, years ago, was weak on liturgical education. I read this book to better appreciate more traditional approaches to Jewish communal prayer.
While prepared for a somewhat dry study, I instead found "The Synagogue Survival Kit" to be very well written and engaging! Jordan Lee Wagner's love for the Siddur, Jewish prayerbook, radiates from almost every page. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wonders why Jewish prayer services are as they are.

There is so much lore packed into this little book, it's hard to know where to begin. How about starting with the endnotes -- which I usually ignore -- but in this case, contain enough information for another book, or at least a greatly expanded volume. The author properly left them as endnotes to keep the focus exactly where it belongs, on the primary text material. I would read the entire chapter, then read the endnotes on their own, going back to the text if need be.

This book will give you a much greater understanding of the services, how they came to be and the underlying secrets in their construction. My only complaint is that the book is 20 years old and things can change a lot in 20 years. It is written from an Orthodox standpoint, and while it is useful to Reform and Conservative Jews as well, the information about what's in or not in those services is not necessarily up to date. This is a very minor issue. The important, basic information is timeless and relevant to all branches of the family and will continue to be so.

Whether you are a new Jew by Choice or a Jew by birth returning after a time away, this book is invaluable. I would not be without it in my library of Judaica. Many thanks to Jordan Lee Wagner for creating it! My understanding of the faith, the community, and even of Hebrew, took a giant leap forward.

A synagogue experience is all I needed to complete a graduate paper. The Synagogue Survival Kit provided great explanations in an easy to read format of what that experience would be like. It served as the glue that held my research paper together. Even though I couldn't talk the talk after only one reading, I was certainly more comfortable in the experience.

I attend a Synagogue in the Metro Detroit Area. I am new to Judaism. This book has been a great help to me.

After several attempts with other books on Jewish liturgy, I was finally able to achieve something of a breakthrough with this "kit", to the point when I no longer feel lost at a traditional service. This accessible resource treats various components of the service as building blocks, and uses tables after each chapter to help remember and understand the entire structure - a very useful approach. Another strength of this guide is the superb writing quality - the key concepts are presented without being dumbed-down, and the numerous end-notes include many fascinating insights and references which will surely be of interest to readers beyond beginner level. I would like to thank Mr. Wagner for helping me successfully navigate a previously unfamiliar world of Hebrew prayer.

I have edited my title, because it was noted by a reader that I had given this book ONE star, something I absolutely did not intend to do. I must have had "Number One" in my head. Now, the Edit feature will not let me change the stars, so I have changed the title.

I bought this book because I was interested in the Catholic Church, and I was reading Chaim Potok. I was not disappointed. The roots of the Church are in the roots of (particularly Orthodox) Judaism, and this book gave me insight into Catholic liturgy. More than that, because the way of the religious mind has been lost to the generation of television and other instant and constant entertainments, Mr Wagner has provided a way back to that mind, as has Rabbi Potok. This mind has enabled the Jewish race to survive 4000 years of suffering. This mind enables Christians to survive persecution in many countries, and this mind suffuses the day-to-day despairs of our pampered life with meaning and light. It is sad to me that such writing, explaining a way of life and thinking which is the very root of Western civilization, is not more widely appreciated. That it is not "an easy read" is very true; an appendix which simplifies the basics of the typical service would be useful, especially if it would inspire the reader to a deeper study.