Miriam HaNeviah
Leila Gal Berner
1987
Creator Bio
Leila Gal Berner
Born in San Francisco, Leila Gal Berner serves as rabbi at Kol Ami: The Northern Virginia Reconstructionist Community and at Bet Mishpachah, the latter serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Jewish community of Washington, D.C. Berner lived in Israel, earned her doctorate in history from UCLA, and was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She was also the founding director of the Center for Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
Men, masculine imagery, and references to God as male dominate traditional Jewish liturgy. Recent liturgical innovations have expanded prayer to include women and feminine God language. This prayer integrates the story of one of the few women to be called a prophet in the Hebrew Bible. Modeled after prayers about male prophets that serve important roles in various prayer and ritual contexts, the liturgist emphasizes Miriam’s important place in the theological narrative of redemption. The poem offers a parallel to the prayers about Elijah the prophet that can be integrated into key ritual moments at Passover and the end of the Sabbath.
Men, masculine imagery, and references to God as male dominate traditional Jewish liturgy. Recent liturgical innovations have expanded prayer to include women and feminine God language. This prayer integrates the story of one of the few women to be called a prophet in the Hebrew Bible. Modeled after prayers about male prophets that serve important roles in various prayer and ritual contexts, the liturgist emphasizes Miriam’s important place in the theological narrative of redemption. The poem offers a parallel to the prayers about Elijah the prophet that can be integrated into key ritual moments at Passover and the end of the Sabbath.
Why do you think it was important for the author to create a Hebrew and English version of this prayer?
What imagery does the poet use to describe Miriam and her role?
What are the opportunities and challenges of trying to make Jewish ritual more egalitarian?
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