Non­fic­tion

All the World: Uni­ver­sal­ism, Par­tic­u­lar­ism, and the High Holidays

Lawrence A. Hoff­man, ed.
  • Review
By – April 6, 2015

This set of essays begins with the sug­ges­tion that the word all,” when used in the high hol­i­day litur­gy, is meant to uni­ver­sal­ize the prayers to be applic­a­ble and inclu­sive of all human­i­ty. From that pro­pos­al, a diverse group of schol­ars pro­ceed to explore many aspects of the High Hol­i­day prayers, as well as some prayers that are recit­ed year-round, such as the Prayer for the State of Israel. Rab­bis from Reform, Con­ser­v­a­tive, Recon­struc­tion­ist, and Ortho­dox streams are all rep­re­sent­ed among the authors. While the prayers are a jump­ing off point for the essays, the explo­ration of uni­ver­sal­ism vs. par­tic­u­lar­ism in Judaism branch­es out from there. There are most def­i­nite­ly some gems of thought and inter­pre­ta­tion in this vol­ume. Notes. Glossary.

Relat­ed Content:

Rab­bi Arnold D. Sam­lan is a Jew­ish edu­ca­tor and rab­bi liv­ing in Mia­mi, Flori­da. He serves as exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Orloff Cen­tral Agency for Jew­ish Edu­ca­tion of Broward County.

Discussion Questions