The BOUNDLESS ONE told MosesThe quintessential Jewish leader who spoke face to face with God, unlike any other prophet, and who freed the people from Egypt, led them through the desert for forty years, and received the Torah on Mt. Sinai. His Hebrew name is Moshe.: Speak to the Israelites – tell them to make themselves tzitzit upon the corners of their clothes, throughout their generation. (Numbers 15:37-41)
May the fringed tallisim that we wear today, which once signified free men, and on women now declares both equal stature and multi-hued individuality,
Continue to tie us to the generations of Jews who wore tzitzit before us, to our traditions and to the Jewish community;
Envelop each of us in a protective mantle, head-shrouded and inner-focused, floating in tradition or connected, with shawl to neighbor’s shoulder;
Celebrate passage from childhood to minyan member, non-Jew to tribe.
May the strings and knots of the tzitzitA set of fringes tied and knotted on each of the four corners of a tallit, symbolizing and reminding the user of God's commandments. Some Jews wear tzizit under their clothes at all times, with the fringes visible., that once represented commandedness, today represent our choice
to participate,
to perform mitzvotLit. Commandment. It is traditionally held that there are 613 mitzvot (plural) in Judaism, both postive commandments (mandating actions) and negative commandments (prohibiting actions). Mitzvah has also become colloquially assumed to mean the idea of a “good deed.",
to search out ways of expressing Judaism that tie past to present and tradition to knowledge.
This piece was written for the West End Synagogue on-going Innovative Liturgy Project. Original pieces and reconstructed prayers have been written for the High Holy Days, ShabbatShabbat is the Sabbath day, the Day of Rest, and is observed from Friday night through Saturday night. Is set aside from the rest of the week both in honor of the fact that God rested on the seventh day after creating the world. On Shabbat, many Jews observe prohibitions from various activities designated as work. Shabbat is traditionally observed with festive meals, wine, challah, prayers, the reading and studying of Torah, conjugal relations, family time, and time with friends., and also for more specific projects such as “psalms”, “peace” and the “middah of the month”.
