The Way into Jewish Prayer (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Way into Jewish Prayer by Dr. Lawrence Hoffman, a rabbi and liturgical expert, offers an instructive and empathic orientation to the rewarding and perplexing experience of prayer. Throughout, Hoffman stresses that "Prayer is not simply a question of what Jews say to God. It is also about the God who is at the other end, listening." He begins with a survey of the many images of God--male and female, grand and humble--that have helped Jews throughout history to believe they are not alone. He moves on to consider the pragmatic, American question of how prayer works, arguing for the legitimacy of both fixed prayer and spontaneous prayer. Then Hoffman explains the prayerful symbolism of the synagogue in sharp detail, and the application of this symbolism in various Jewish traditions: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist. Ultimately, Hoffman argues that all forms of Jewish prayer are geared toward finding the sacred in the ordinary. Prayer, he writes, is a way of making choices to "remain deeply human, warmly empathetic, on fire with courage, and alive with hope." --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

This book continues Jewish Lights' The Way Into... series, each volume designed to provide a basic introduction to Judaism by exploring one crucial Judaic concept. The expertise of the contributors is typified by Hoffman, who is a scholar, theologian, rabbi, teacher, lecturer and writer specializing in questions of Jewish liturgy. While his book is a primer on prayer, Hoffman demonstrates the close linkage among other aspects of Judaism. He begins by examining Jewish ideas about God, which leads to an exploration of the pattern and place of prayer. Portions of this research descend into various digressions, as when Hoffman discourses at length on the history, form, art and architecture of synagogues. A somewhat smaller diversion from his basic theme follows as Hoffman describes the denominations of Judaism, emphasizing their differences in regard to prayer. He concludes with a consideration of prayer ideas and blessings, again moving beyond prayer as he discusses theology, anthropology, cosmology, eschatology and the Jewish calendar. He offers a rather strained delineation of anthropology that bears little resemblance to its conventional definition. Most of the book is written simply and clearly, although Hoffman is overly fond of complicated tangents and sometimes crosses the line from explaining the value of prayer to preaching about it. Despite these limitations, this book, on the whole, is a useful explication of prayer in Jewish life. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 186 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158023027X
• ISBN-13: 978-1580230278
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,365,492 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Way Into Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you always wanted to know about Jewish prayer, April 17, 2001

By	Jordan Parr (Augusta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

If you have never prayed as a Jew - and even if you have - this book is for you. The Way Into Series, designed as a 14 volume introduction to Judaism, hits its stride with this offering. Rabbi Hoffman offers a lucid and compelling reason to pray as a Jew. Going well beyond explaining the prayers (he writes other books about that, such as the My People's Prayer Book series), he explains about the Jews' relationship to God, as expressed through prayer. Rabbis, laity and interested readers who want to know about Judaism and prayer will find this book an indispensible volume.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction to Jewish Prayer, November 15, 2005

By	David E. Levine (Peekskill , NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Several years ago, I had the privilege of hearing Rabbi Hoffman speak at a convention I attended. He was a personable and dynamic speaker and he writes as compellingly as he speaks. Rabbi Hoffman is a Reform rabbi but, he views Jewish prayer from all perspectives, including traditional. He gives compelling reasons to pray as a Jew. Although many of the traditional prayers approach G-d as an anthropomorphic deity (a view of G-d that Hoffman rejects), Rabbi Hoffman nonetheless sees a great benefit to the Jewish liturgy since the traditional service requires that we pray together as a community. This unifying force of tradition makes Judaism the communal religion that it is. Although modern movements in Judaism make some changes to the liturgy to accomodate current understandings of theology, Rabbi Hoffman sees the benefits of traditional Jewish prayer while still supporting changes that are evolutionary, not drastic. A major example is refering to G-d in sexually neutral terms rather than describing G-d as a male.

Rabbi Hoffman discusses the purpose of prayer and the theology underlining it. The book is presented in a manner that is accessible to someone unfamiliar with Judaism. Nonetheless, the book is comprehensive enough to offer new insights to people, such as I, who have an extensive background in Judaism. Here is an example of something I learned. I thought that Conservative Judaism was formed to be in the middle between the traditional orthodox movement and the liberal reform movement. Actually, Reform was formed by German Jews and the less formal eastern European and Russian Jews were looked down upon by the upper class German Jews. Accordingly, the eastern European Jews, in breaking with orthodoxy, wanted a liturgy that was less formal and churchlike than the reform liturgy. Thus, conservative Judaism, although in fact in the middle of the other two movements, was actually formed by one ethnic group of Jews in reaction to another.

This book is very readable and, I believe, treats all three major movcements in Judaism fairly without playing favorites of one over the other. I recommend this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome addition to the growing library of Judaic Studies, February 4, 2005

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way into Jewish Prayer (Way Into--) (Paperback)

The Way Into Jewish Prayer by Lawrence A. Hoffman (Professor of Liturgy Worship and Ritual, Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College) provides the reader with an accessibly informative introduction into the reasons for Jewish personal and ritual prayer, and the manner in which these prayers are performed. The six articulated chapters comprising this superbly presented instructional volume include "God and the Jewish People: To Whom Jew Pray"; "Prayer as Discipline and as Art: How Prayer Works"; "The Synagogue Sanctuary: What's What and Why It Is So"; "The Community at Prayer: Who's Who and What They Do"; "The Ideas of Jewish Prayer: What Matters Most"; and "A Prayerful Person at Home and on the Way: When the Ordinary Can Be Sacred". Enhanced with Notes, a Glossary, Suggestions for Further Reading, and an extensive Index, The Way Into Jewish Prayer is a welcome addition to the growing library of Judaic Studies, and is especially commended to the attention of Jewish and Non-Jewish readers seeking to better understand the traditions, meaning, and role of prayer in Judaism.