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The most memorable prayer of the Jewish New Year--what it means, why we sing it, and the secret of its magical appeal.

Through a series of lively commentaries, over thirty contributors--men and women, scholars and rabbis, artists and poets, spanning three continents and all major Jewish denominations--examine Kol Nidre's theology, usage, and deeply personal impact. They trace the actual history of the prayer and attempts through the ages to emend it, downplay it and even do away with it--all in vain. They explore why Kol Nidre remains an annual liturgical highlight that is regularly attended even by Jews who disbelieve everything the prayer says.

Prayers of Awe
An exciting new series that examines the High Holy Day liturgy to enrich the praying experience of everyone--whether experienced worshipers or guests who encounter Jewish prayer for the very first time.

Contributors:

Rabbi Tony Bayfield, CBE, DD - Dr. Annette M. Boeckler - Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler - Dr. Erica Brown - Dr. Eliezer Diamond - Rabbi Ruth Durchslag, PsyD - Rachel Farbiarz - Rabbi Edward Feinstein - Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand - Rabbi Andrew Goldstein, PhD - Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD - Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur - Rabbi Elie Kaunfer - Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar - Dr. Reuven Kimelman - Dr. Mark Kligman - Rabbi Lawrence Kushner - Rabbi Noa Kushner - Rabbi Daniel Landes - Liz Lerman - Catherine Madsen - Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, PhD - Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD - Ruth Messinger - Rabbi Charles H. Middleburgh, PhD - Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum - Rabbi Aaron Panken, PhD - Rabbi Marc Saperstein, PhD - Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso - Rabbi Jonathan P. Slater, DMin - Rabbi David Stern - Rabbi David A. Teutsch, PhD - Dr. Ellen M. Umansky - Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig, DD - Dr. Ron Wolfson - Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel - Dr. Wendy Zierler

Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur is the rabbi of congregation MJLF (Mouvement Juif Libéral de France) in Paris. She was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2008 and is one of two women rabbis in France. She is the creative director of Le Café Biblique, a pluralistic group of Jewish study, and chief editor of Tenou'a (www.tenoua.com), a French magazine of Jewish thought. She contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights). She is author of En Tenue d 'Eve (Grasset), a renewed understanding of modesty and women's bodies in Jewish thought.

Catherine Madsen is the author of The Bones Reassemble: Reconstituting Liturgical Speech; In Medias Res: Liturgy for the Estranged; and a novel, A Portable Egypt. She is librettist for Robert Stern's oratorio "Shofar" (on the CD Awakenings, Navona Records NV5878), and bibliographer at the Yiddish Book Center. She contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Dr. Annette M. Boeckler is lecturer for liturgy at Leo Baeck College in London and manager of its library. She studied theology, Jewish studies, and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Germany and Switzerland and chazzanut both privately (with cantor Marcel Lang, z"l, and cantor Jeremy Burko) and at the Levisson Instituut in Amsterdam. She contributed to All These Vows--Kol Nidre, May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Dr. Eliezer Diamond is the Rabbi Judah Nadich Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at The Jewish Theological Seminary and the author of Holy Men and Hunger Artists: Fasting and Asceticism in Rabbinic Culture. He is currently editing a commentary on Yerushalmi Pesahim written by the late Professor Louis Ginzberg, as well as a book on prayer.

Dr. Erica Brown, an inspiring writer and educator, is scholar-in-residence for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. She consults for the Jewish Agency and other Jewish non-profits, and is a faculty member of the Wexner Foundation. She is an Avi Chai Fellow, winner of the Ted Farber Professional Excellence Award, and the recipient of a Covenant Award for her work in education. She is author of Confronting Scandal: How Jews Can Respond When Jews Do Bad Things; Inspired Jewish Leadership: Practical Approaches to Building Strong Communities, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, and Spiritual Boredom: Rediscovering the Wonder of Judaism; and co-author of The Case for Jewish Peoplehood: Can We Be One? (all Jewish Lights). She contributed to We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef and All These Vows--Kol Nidre (both Jewish Lights). She lectures widely on subjects of Jewish interest and leadership. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband and four children, and can be reached at www.EricaBrown.com.

Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler is the Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Studies at Brandeis University. He contributed to all volumes of the My People's Prayer Book: Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries series, winner of the National Jewish Book Award, and to My People's Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries; Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef; All These Vows--Kol Nidre; May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor; and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights). He is coeditor of The Jewish Annotated New Testament and The Jewish Study Bible, which won the National Jewish Book Award; co-author of The Bible and the Believer; and author of How to Read the Jewish Bible, among other books and articles. He has also been interviewed on National Public Radio's Fresh Air by Terry Gross.

Dr. Reuven Kimelman is professor of classical Judaica at Brandeis University. He is the author of The Mystical Meaning of Lekha Dodi and Kabbalat Shabbat and of the audio books The Moral Meaning of the Bible and The Hidden Poetry of the Jewish Prayerbook. He contributed to Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Liz Lerman is founding artistic director of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. A member of Temple Micah in Washington, DC, she was the Sally Priesand Visiting Professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She is the recipient of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Award in Performing Arts, the American Jewish Congress Golda Award, and a MacArthur Fellowship. Her latest book is Hiking the Horizontal.

Rabbi Aaron Panken, PhD, teaches Rabbinic and Second Temple literature at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He contributed to Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef (Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Charles H. Middleburgh, PhD, is rabbi of the Cardiff Reform Synagogue and director of Jewish studies at Leo Baeck College in London, where he has taught since 1984; and coeditor with Rabbi Andrew Goldstein, PhD, of the Liberal Judaism Machzor Ruach Chadashah. He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD, is a professor of liturgy and midrash at the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and teaches in various academic institutions in Israel, and Europe. Rabbi Marx earned her doctorate at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and her rabbinic ordination at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem and Cincinnati. She is involved in various research groups and is active in promoting progressive Judaism in Israel. Rabbi Marx contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights). She writes for academic journals and the Israeli press, and is engaged in creating new liturgies and midrashim.

Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel is the senior rabbi of Temple Micah in Washington, D.C. He contributed to Jewish Men Pray: Words of Yearning, Praise, Petition, Gratitude and Wonder from Traditional and Contemporary Sources, May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Daniel Landes is the director and rosh hayeshivah of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. Pardes brings together men and women of all backgrounds to study classical Jewish texts and contemporary Jewish issues in a rigorous, challenging and open-minded environment.Rabbi Landes is also a contributor to the My People's Prayer Book: Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries series, winner of the National Jewish Book Award and My People's Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award; Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef; We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet and All These Vows--Kol Nidre (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Edward Feinstein is senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California. He is an instructor in the Ziegler Rabbinical School of American Jewish University and the Wexner Heritage Program. He is the author of Tough Questions Jews Ask: A Young Adult's Guide to Building a Jewish Life (Jewish Lights) and Capturing the Moon; and the editor of Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century: Human Responsibilities, the Presence of God, and the Future of the Covenant (Jewish Lights). He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor; Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, PhD, is emeritus professor of Bible at Leo Baeck College in London, where he was principal (president) from 1985 to 2005. He is coeditor of three volumes of Forms of Prayer (the prayer books of the British Movement for Reform Judaism) and editor of the eighth edition of Daily, Sabbath and Occasional Prayers. He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar teaches matters of the spirit to groups throughout the U.S. She is senior rabbi at Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in the Chicago area, and the inspiring author of The Bridge to Forgiveness: Stories and Prayers for Finding God and Restoring Wholeness; Our Dance with God: Finding Prayer, Perspective and Meaning in the Stories of Our Lives; and God Whispers: Stories of the Soul, Lessons of the Heart and contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor; Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef; and All These Vows--Kol Nidre (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Marc Saperstein, PhD, formerly principal of Leo Baeck College, currently serves as professor of Jewish history and homiletics at Leo Baeck College and as professor of Jewish studies at King's College London. Previously he taught for twenty-nine years at three leading American universities. He has published four books on the sermon as source for Jewish history and culture, and contributed to Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Noa Kushner is founding rabbi of The Kitchen. One part indie-Shabbat community, one part San Francisco experiment, and one part tool kit for DIY Jewish practice. The Kitchen is building a connected, spiritually alive Jewish generation and a new resonance approach to religious life. She contributed to Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum is rabbi and executive director of the Kavana Cooperative in Seattle, Washington. She was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. She was recently awarded an Avi Chai Fellowship for her innovative approach to Jewish community building.

Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, a parent, spiritual leader, and storyteller, is the awardwinning author of God's Paintbrush, In God's Name, God In Between and many other inspiring books for children of all faiths and backgrounds. The second woman to be ordained as a rabbi (1974) and the first rabbi to become a mother, she and her husband, Dennis, were the first rabbinical couple to jointly lead a congregation--Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis. They have two children, David and Debora, and three grandchildren. Sasso, who holds a doctorate in ministry, is active in the interfaith community, and has written and lectured on the renewal of spirituality and the discovery of the religious imagination in children of all faiths.
Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is available to speak on the following topics: /p>

• Nurturing the Spiritual Imagination of Children
• Tell Me a Story: Reading the Bible and the Religious Imagination of Children
• Filling in the Blanks: How Women Read the Bible
• Women and Judaism: A Personal Journey
• Midrash as a Tool for Spiritual Reflection

Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand received her rabbinic ordination in 1993 at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. She has served as chief executive of the United Kingdom Movement for Reform Judaism and prior to that was vice president of the Wexner Heritage Foundation in New York. Currently she is director of JHub, an operating program of the London-based Pears Foundation. She contributed to All These Vows--Kol Nidre, May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (both Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD, has served for more than three decades as professor of liturgy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He is a world-renowned liturgist and holder of the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair in Liturgy, Worship and Ritual. His work combines research in Jewish ritual, worship and spirituality with a passion for the spiritual renewal of contemporary Judaism.

He has written and edited many books, including All the World: Universalism, Particularism and the High Holy Days; May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef and All These Vows--Kol Nidre, the first five volumes in the Prayers of Awe series; the My People's Prayer Book: Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries series, winner of the National Jewish Book Award; and he is coeditor of My People's Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries (all Jewish Lights), a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.

Rabbi Hoffman is a developer of Synagogue 3000, a transdenominational project designed to envision and implement the ideal synagogue of the spirit for the twenty-first century.

Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD, is available to speak on the following topics:

• A Day of Wine and Moses: The Passover Haggadah and the Seder You Have Always Wanted
• Preparing for the High Holy Days: How to Appreciate the Liturgy of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
• The Essence of Jewish Prayer: The Prayer Book in Context and Worship in Our Time
• Beyond Ethnicity: The Coming Project for North American Jewish Identity
• Synagogue Change: Transforming Synagogues as Spiritual and Moral Centers for the Twenty-First Century

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Dr. Ellen M. Umansky is the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor of Judaic Studies at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. She is currently working on a book focusing on Judaism, liberalism, feminism, and God. She contributed to Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet and All These Vows--Kol Nidre (both Jewish Lights).

Dr. Mark Kligman is professor of Jewish musicology at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where he teaches in the School of Sacred Music. He specializes in the liturgical traditions of Middle Eastern Jewish communities and various areas of popular Jewish music. His publications on the liturgical music of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn have appeared in journals and in his book, Maqa-m and Liturgy: Ritual, Music and Aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn.

Dr. Ron Wolfson, visionary educator and inspirational speaker, is Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles and a cofounder of Synagogue 3000. He is author of Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community; The Seven Questions You're Asked in Heaven: Reviewing and Renewing Your Life on Earth; Be Like God: God's To-Do List for Kids; God's To-Do List: 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God's Work on Earth; Hanukkah, Passover and Shabbat, all Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs Art of Jewish Living family guides to spiritual celebrations; The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community; A Time to Mourn, a Time to Comfort: A Guide to Jewish Bereavement and Comfort; and, with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, What You Will See Inside a Synagogue (all Jewish Lights), a book for children ages 6 and up. He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

• Building Good Tents: Envisioning the Synagogue of the Future
• God's To-Do List
• The Seven Questions You're Asked in Heaven
• Blessings and Kisses: The Power of the Jewish Family
• A Time to Mourn, a Time to Comfort

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Rabbi Andrew Goldstein, PhD, is the rabbinic advisor to the European Union for Progressive Judaism and coeditor of Machzor Ruach Chadashah. He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi David A. Teutsch, PhD, is the Wiener Professor of Contemporary Jewish Civilization and director of the Center for Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he served as president for nearly a decade. He was editor in chief of the seven-volume Kol Haneshamah prayer book series. His book A Guide to Jewish Practice: Everyday Living (RRC Press) won the National Jewish Book Award for Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice. He is also author of Spiritual Community: The Power to Restore Hope, Commitment and Joy (Jewish Lights) and several other books. He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi David Stern is senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas. He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef and All These Vows--Kol Nidre (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Jonathan P. Slater, DMin, was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and has a doctor of ministry degree from the Pacific School of Religion. He is the author of Mindful Jewish Living: Compassionate Practice and codirector of programs at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, as well as an instructor in meditation at the JCC in Manhattan and other venues. He contributed to Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet and All These Vows--Kol Nidre (both Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig, DD, teaches liturgy and homiletics at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and is rabbi emerita of Beth Am, The People's Temple. She contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism--Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows--Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Ruth Durchslag, PsyD, is a rabbi and successful clinical psychologist. She is passionate about bringing Judaism to alienated and disaffected Jews who have never found a way into organized Jewish life and reaching out to anyone seeking personal meaning within Jewish tradition. She is also an avid meditator and seeks to create bridges between meditation and Judaism. Toward that end, Rabbi Durchslag is involved in founding the Center for Jewish Mindfulness in Chicago, and works in the federal prison to create interfaith programs for inmates.

Rabbi Tony Bayfield, CBE, DD (Lambeth), is president of the Movement for Reform Judaism in the United Kingdom. He teaches personal theology at the Leo Baeck College in London. He contributed to We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism--Ashamnu and Al Chet, Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef, and All These Vows--Kol Nidre (all Jewish Lights).

Rachel Farbiarz is a writer and artist living in Washington, D.C. As a D'var Tzedek Writing Fellow with American Jewish World Service, she has writtenon issues of social justice and Torah. She formerly worked as a lawyer, focusing on the humane treatment and civil rights of prisoners. RuthMessinger is the president of American Jewish World Service. She contributedto Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef (Jewish Lights).

Ruth Messinger is the president and executive director of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Prior to assuming this role in 1998, Messinger was in public service in New York City for twenty years, including having served as Manhattan borough president. In 1997, she became the first woman to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for mayor. Messinger is currently a visiting professor at Hunter College. For the past four years, Messinger has been named the fifty most influential Jews of the year by the Forward newspaper. She contributed to Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef (Jewish Lights).