Companion Guide to the Rosh Hashanah Prayer Service: Featuring Selected Transliterations and Explanation of Prayers (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

For many beginners and veterans, the congregational prayer service is a confusing maze in which they often get lost. The Companion Guides are a valuable and practical map that makes the High Holiday/Shabbat experience infinitely more meaningful and intelligible. I highly recommend them. ---- Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, Orthodox Union

Having Moshe Sorscher's wonderful guides is like having a special angel as a companion to make the prayer experience more meaningful and spiritual. ---- Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald, Director, National Jewish Outreach Program

Product Description

A beginner's guide to the synagogue prayer service featuring parables, essays, selected transliterations and an explanation of significant prayers!

For anyone who has ever felt lost during the Rosh Hashanah services, this book is the perfect solution! This reader-friendly guide contains extensive introductions, explanations and parables to help demystify Jewish prayer and the synagogue. It also contains transliterations of every important prayer said or sung in unison by the congregation.

Let this guide lead you towards more meaningful prayer in your life!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 116 pages
• Publisher: Judaica Pr (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880582139
• ISBN-13: 978-1880582138
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,858,197 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't leave for synagogue without it..., September 22, 1998

By A Customer

This book, and it's companion for Yom Kippur, make the High Holy Days approachable for novice or otherwise no- to low-Hebrew speaking Jews. The transliterations are literally a G_d-send. This book made my second RH/YK more communal, as I could chant the prayers with the congregation - sometimes better than many others there. I held it next to my Machzor and read the english along with the transliteration to understand the words, although many of them I know from Shabbat siddur. My friends who are learning Hebrew also appreciated it, as they find it difficult to quickly sound out the Hebrew for an unfamiliar prayer. I have "sold" several copies to other congregants and newly converted / baal tshuvah's through example.

A big benefit is, being more Orthodox in orientation, this book has just about everything that could be done in a service - you are getting the whole megillah here, excuse the misplaced holiday joke.

Another nice touch are the interspersed vignettes, which are thought provoking and help focus on the major themes of the season.

The only little flaw is that the Birnbaum combined Machzor my conserviative congregation used did not correlate to the "BC" page numbers in the book (we use a fairly modern one; don't know the press date - ours was shorter than the one Moshe correlated to). Fortunately it was not too difficult to just follow along the normal course of the service. A minor annoyance which did not detract from the overwhelming value of the book, and one which I can graciously overlook, given the truly gallant attempt to correlate this book to at least 5 different denominational Machzors!

And one appeal: Moshe, please do one more mitzvah by writing one of these books for the Shabbat service too! (although since many of the HH prayers are also observed on Shabbat, this book has already helped me learn and participate in the chanting for Shabbat services)

Yasher Koach!