Shaarei
Nechama: Yom Kippur Machzor With Commentary of Professor Nechama
Leibowitz (According to the Rinat Yisrael machzor with lexicon from
Rabbi Shlomo Tal z"l)
Nechama
Leibowitz was the most prominent, creative, and ground breaking teacher
of Bible and Biblical interpretation of her time. She taught and
continues to inspire thousands. In Machzor Shaarei Nechama, we have
collected from her wellsprings of Torah, drawn from her writings. You
will find them organized under the rubrics: "Gates of Prayer," "Gates of
Torah" and "Gates of Repentance." Enter and experience the new vistas
and wondrous insights of Nechama Leibowitz, which will inform and
illuminate the high holidays.
About the Editors:
Rabbi Yitshak Reiner, a resident of Jerusalem, veteran Torah
educator, and disciple and colleague of the late Nechama Leibowitz has
devoted years to intense investigation of her study sheets on the weekly
Torah readings (gilyonot). These efforts resulted in the publication of
Hagadat Nechama (Hebrew/English/French and Spanish), Moadei Nechama
(Hebrew), and the present Shaarei Nechama (Hebrew), a Rosh Hashana and
Yom Kippur Machzor (prayer book) dealing with the concept of repentance
(teshuva), the major theme of the High Holiday Days. In the past, Rabbi
Reiner has served as principal of the Tachkemoni Jewish Day School in
Antwerp, Belgium and as the director of the Jewish Agency's Department
of Seminars and In-service Education for Diaspora Jewish educators. In
following Nechama's pedagogical methodology, Rabbi Reiner challenges the
readers/students to recognize the ostensible problem in the text and to
evaluate the suggested answers. The readers/students are thus also
introduced to the tradition of classical biblical commentary. The
Machzor will certainly serve as an inspiration to the worshipper during
the Rosh Hashana holiday and throughout the remainder of the year.
Dr. Bryna Jocheved Levy, a student of Prof. Nechama Leibowitz, is
a leader in the movement for women's Torah studies. She holds degrees
from Barnard College, McGill University and the first doctorate in
Biblical Studies awarded to a woman at Yeshiva University. Dr. Levy is
the founder of the Bible Department at Matan: Women's Institute for
Torah Studies in Jerusalem, and the Rector of the Joan and Shael Bellows
Eshkolot Graduate Program in Bible and Jewish Education at Matan and
Hebrew University. Dr. Levy is the mother of six and lives in Jerusalem.
Praise for Machzor Shaarei Nechama Rosh Hashana:
"There is good news in the offing for the thousands who attended the
in-depth Torah lessons of the late Nechama Leibowitz in the study of
Tanach. Her study sheets (gilyanot) are still widely used today
throughout the Jewish world. Yitshak Reiner, a long time student and
colleague of Nechama, spent a number of productive years assembling the
teachings of Nechama's questions and answers and has now produced a
Machzor for Rosh Hashana entitled 'Shaarei Nechama' which features a
concentration on the Mitzvah of Teshuva (repentance).
It is typically Nechama at her best providing information and challenge.
As one student wrote 'Nechama did for the written law what Rav
Soloveitchik achieved for the oral law.' The Machzor, 'Shaarei Nechama'
for Rosh Hashana, is published by Urim Publications with the Eliner
Library. Tzvi Mauer, Publisher at Urim, announced that the publication
date will be in September and can be purchased throughout stores in
Israel or via their website, including for orders outside of Israel.
Initially, this Machzor will be available only in nusach Sefard for Rosh
Hashana and in a Hebrew only edition.
Truly this happy and historic event invokes the Talmudic statement
(Yevamot 97a) that when a late scholar's words are recited by the
living, the scholar's lips move in the grave. With this Machzor, Nechama
Leibowitz remains a powerful blessing for the living."
-Rabbi Mordechai Spiegelman, Former
Principal, Yeshiva High School of Queens; Former Principal, Yeshiva
University High School for Boys; Former Director, Department of
Yeshivot, Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York; Presently, a
resident of Jerusalem
