AJS Review: The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies

Composers and interpreters of Jewish prayers and synagogal customs in the centuries before the rise of the critical and historical approaches championed by proponents of the Wissenschaft des Judentums were motivated, among other considerations, by halakhic, mystical, or poetic agendas. They were rarely interested in, or even aware of, what more modern analysts would come to identify as the broader historical, theological, and cultural foundations of liturgical changes. Had they indeed been informed about such foundations, they might well have preferred to ignore them as a threat to the authoritative nature of the rulings and preferences that they were enthusiastically promoting. It is the task of contemporary specialists in the evolution of the various prayer texts and customs to examine these medieval interpretations and to offer their own assessments of the historical process.

Kenneth Berger has lightened the workload of today's historical analysts by providing a rich compendium of medieval statements and explanations relating to many parts of the Jewish liturgy. Originally inspired by Joseph Heinemann at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and by Menahem Schmelzer at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and more recently encouraged by Ruth Langer, he has, while also serving as a congregational rabbi and a lecturer, devoted more than four decades to the close study of such sources, and this volume is the product of [End Page 470] his scholarly efforts. The aim of his book is to trace the interplay of custom and tradition over many centuries and to demonstrate that "the liturgy of Ashkenaz was never static" (11) and that "new liturgies and liturgical practices were incorporated into the service, the inclusion of various prayers was challenged, and variant readings of prayers became standard" (355).

To that end, Berger has cited at length, often in his own English translations, the reasons put forward for the manner in which prayer texts were being used on different occasions, had been adopted or rejected, and had acquired new significance. He has also identified which adjustments were inspired by Sephardic and/or kabbalistic precedents, which were intended to "protect one from danger" (255), and which "liturgical practices performed by the living can alleviate the suffering of the dead" (271). Among the items that receive lengthy attention are the use of the verses from Psalms 78:38 and 20:10 (ve-huʾ raḥum); the various additions made to the evening service on Friday, including the recitation in the synagogue of the Kiddush, which began as a domestic ritual; and the diverse choices of biblical verses used to accompany the removal of the Torah scroll from the ark and its return there, as explained by Ruth Langer. Berger suggests that the inclusion of the Alenu prayer at the end of most services was because of its "stirring rhetoric, its emphasis on the contrast between the true religion of Israel as compared to the beliefs and practices of the gentile nations, its ascribed antiquity, and its stress on the theme of the kingship of God" (193).

Berger provides a detailed textual study of the Hashkivenu prayer of the evening service and relates some synagogue wall paintings to the adoption of customs promoted by the kabbalists. The Mourner's Kaddish and the numerous medieval suggestions about how it originated and how it should be recited also receive extensive attention. In connection with this custom, Berger correctly notes that prior to the twelfth century "there was no consistent, universally affirmed Jewish conception of the nature and duration of the soul's punishment in Gehinnom" (292), and, following David Shyovitz (AJS Review 39 [2015]: 49–73), refers to parallel developments among Jews and Christians. Some pages later he justifiably goes further than this and notes the "influence of new ideas about the nature of the after-life taking hold within European Christianity during the twelfth century" (303).

In his introductory remarks, Berger states that he...