Finally the New Siddur

After about two years' effort, Siddur Sha'ar Zahav finally rolled off the printing press and into our hands last week. It was formally inaugurated on Pride Shabbat 2009, but its actual first congregational use was the day before, when I used it to lead ma'ariv before the Ritual Committee meeting.

It's a beautiful book, and it was brought into being by the labors of a cast of dozens. Most especially Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, Michael Tyler, Leslie Kane, and Andrew Ramer, and Rabbi Camille Angel.

Now that my humble contributions to it are in print, I feel particularly humble about them. They don't seem to be good enough. Here's where I'm grateful that I wasn't responsible for choosing to include them. Two different editorial committees thought they added something that the book needed. So they must be good enough.