The CBST Siddur, B'chol L'vav'cha

Praise for Siddur B’chol L’vav’cha

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Jews have been writing prayer books for more than a thousand years. Each community uses its siddur to define the community and its relationship with God. Each siddur , in turn, mediates between the Jewish past and the present needs of the congregation that sings out its liturgies. These prayers set borders of local custom, determining who is in and who is out, simply by virtue of the words Jews use to pray with one another.
CBST is a unique Jewish community in Jewish history. Never before has there been a community that reaches across all borders to welcome all Jews, regardless of orientation or identity, Ashkenazic or Sephardic, Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, or Reform, GLBT or straight. Siddur B'chol L'vav'cha reflects the wide and welcoming embrace of CBST. The prayers are classical, yet re-crafted to reflect contemporary concerns. Translations are faithful to the Hebrew text, yet poetic in their interpretations of Jewish tradition. Transliterations abound, making it possible for every Jew to open the pages of the siddur  and begin praying in a customary Jewish manner. Best of all, this prayer book reflects the joy of the CBST community, its love of all who join their sacred circle, and its blessed embrace of God.

Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky

Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies, Jewish Theological Seminary

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This siddur  is a model for the whole Jewish community of how to be inclusive. It effectively brings together the diverse voices of the Jewish people, including those who often feel on the periphery. It reminds us that we all stood at Sinai and no one should feel excluded. Also of note are some of the translations that make the traditional liturgy "speak" to the contemporary worshipper.

Rabbi Michael Strassfeld

Society for the Advancement of Judaism,

Author, editor or co-editor of numerous books and articles, including three versions of The Jewish Catalog, A Shabbat Haggadah: Ritual and Study Texts for the Home, and The Jewish Holidays, a guide to the holidays used in many Jewish households.

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There is a season for everything, the writer of Ecclesiastes penned. The season of our lifetimes in this twenty-first century may well be one of fervent prayer. Whether we know why we pray or not, we know when particular words or images capture the essence of our longings, the depths of our sorrows, the fervency of our hopes. Siddur B'chol L'vav'cha  (With all Your Heart)  appears to do that, if I may say so, for Jew and non-Jew alike. One need not be Jewish to connect with the hopes and fears expressed in this book of devotion.

The Rev. Pat Bumgardner

Pastor, Metropolitan Community Church of New York

Chair, Global Justice Ministry of Metropolitan Community Churches

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Siddur B’chol L’vav’cha  is a most welcome addition to liturgical renewal and expression in our time! The introduction and history that Rabbi Kleinbaum provides not only explains and contextualizes this prayer book, it also constitutes a rich and inspirational contribution to Jewish prayer and human rights. The siddur itself is a brilliant combination of the old and new. It roots itself firmly in the soil of Jewish liturgical tradition and draws creatively upon a whole variety of Jewish sources while providing a host of innovative and imaginative poems and prayers. B’chol L’vav’cha publicly affirms the pride GLBT Jews possess today, and provides a message of tolerance, inclusion, and inspiration that will facilitate meaningful moments of communal and personal devotion and joy for all Jews.

Rabbi David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

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The siddur  is truly amazing! I am in awe of the way you managed to create a liturgical work that is so deeply traditional and at the same time so revolutionary. The wonder is that it does not feel didactic or preachy---it actually feels like prayer. I always wondered exactly how Abraham J. Heschel thought prayer could be subversive and, at the same time, a humble response to the surprise of being alive. I think you have pulled it off. Kol ha kavod.

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer

Director, Religious Studies Program and Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

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Siddur B'chol L'vav'cha  (With All Your Heart ) is a siddur  of unusual spiritual power. CBST is dedicated to the possibility of being both Jewish and gay. Its Friday night Shabbat service is the cornerstone of members’ pursuit of the new theological understanding, liturgical expression, and civic engagement this possibility requires. The richness of this worship grows out of the effort to see how the ancient truths and texts of Judaism illumine the experience of those it has marginalized in the past on the basis of their sexual preference or gender identity and still marginalizes today. CBST presents prayers and blessings in a format that not only sheds fuller light on this bias, but also on Judaism’s important, new, and until now unrecognized resources for asserting the full humanity and rights of sexual minorities in Judaism.

Dr. Constance Buchanan

Former Senior program officer for Religion, Society, and Culture in the Knowledge, Creativity and Freedom Program of the Ford Foundation

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Through the millennia, our people have used our prayer book to express their relationship to the Eternal. The ways in which we name God, and the way we speak to God, are actually reflections of ourselves and who we are. To grapple with the text and tradition in order to make it relevant to the world we inhabit is the essence of sacred endeavor. This siddur  represents a legitimate and deeply spiritual response to the question, “Who are we, and who is our community?” Inclusive, poetic and deeply rooted in the prayers of our ancestors, this book is another step in the ongoing evolution of our sacred texts. The prayers herein–old and new–bind this congregation not only to those who came before them, but also point toward a future in which all are accepted for who they are and the gifts they bring. May your sacred work continue and may the work of your hands endure.

Cantor Kay Greenwald, Cantor Emerita, Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills, CA,

President, American Conference of Cantor

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Siddur B'chol L'vav'cha  represents a magnificent achievement and a cause for celebration—a prayerbook that is traditional in content, open and embracing of the range of human beings and their loves, stunningly beautiful in layout and look, and suffused with grace. Each page invites contemplation and prayer. Each tefillah  glows with a love of our rich heritage and a yearning for the divine. And each new poem or prayer artfully blends contemporary voices with the depth and vision of Jewish sacred sources. This is a siddur  that opens hearts even as its beauty and wisdom open the heavens. I know it will inspire others, even as it inspires me!

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson

Dean, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies Vice President, American Jewish University

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I found this new siddur , created by Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, to be quite remarkable. Beginning with its thoughtful introduction, it consistently combines tradition and innovation in creative ways that emphasize inclusion. Not only is it inclusive with respect to sexual and gender orientation, it includes minhagim  and creative readings from the full spectrum of Jewish practice…. It also includes many wonderful songs from the range of Jewish tradition from Sephardic, to Israeli, to Yiddish to American. Finally, and most importantly, this siddur  does not fall into the trap of many creative liturgies, which cut and paste a series of readings and songs without much cohesion. This is a beautifully conceived and organized liturgy that carries the worshipper through the Friday evening service in a way that creates a meaningful prayer experience. Even many of the English translations can be davened ….

Cantor Bruce Ruben, Ph.D., Director School of Sacred Music, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion

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True to its name, Siddur B'chol L'vavcha  offers contemporary Jews the opportunity for heartfelt and meaningful prayer. It contains an astounding range of readings, poems and commentaries that will provoke thought, touch the soul and enrich the worship experience. Anyone who cares about Jewish liturgy will find here a treasury of inspiration.

Rabbi Janet Marder

Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills, CA

Former president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis

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….The prayer book is lovingly designed to satisfy the religious/spiritual yearnings of a vibrant if inadequately appreciated segment of the Jewish community. Just to be, LGBT Jews have always had to be bold and willing to take big risks. In the same way CBST has been wondrously venturesome in the fresh directions it has taken in the area of worship from its very beginnings. A major feature of Siddur B'chol L'vav'cha  and all of its precursors is the constant—and often successful—search for theological candor and emotional honesty. In this age of liturgical cross-fertilization and sharing let all the movements of American Judaism sit up and take notice of this praiseworthy groundbreaking effort…

Eric L. Friedland, author of "Were Our Mouths Filled with Song" Studies in Liberal Jewish Liturgy and Sanders Professor Emeritus of Judaic Studies, Dayton, OH