The Reform movement’s rabbinic association is set to publish a new siddur, or prayer book. Mishkan T’filah (Sanctuary of Prayer) is 712 pages long and more than a decade in the making. The new prayer book was beset by delays and still does not have a final publication date, but is expected to be available shortly after the High Holidays. A key feature of the book is its double-page layout, with the right side featuring traditional prayers translated and transliterated, and the left featuring related readings and “spiritual commentary,” according to Rabbi Peter Knobel, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and chair of the book’s editorial committee. The book also features the return of the traditional prayer for the resurrection of the dead, which was removed in 1885 by the movement’s Pittsburgh Platform. Knobel said the reintroduction was divisive and the movement’s earlier version, which praises God who gives life to all, is retained in the new book. Mishkan T’filah replaces Gates of Prayer, which was introduced in 1975.
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