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Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Introduction to Jewish Ritual and Prayer
Review: Jordan Wagner, who is not to my knowledge a rabbi, has put together an excellent little tract which explains in a basic yet comprehensive manner, the structure of the Jewish prayer service and the ins and outs of Synagogue ritual. Wagner states on his website that he wrote the book in order to educate some non-Jewish friends as to what to expect at a Synagogue service. The book is extensively footnoted and well written. It should be of interest to non-educated Jews interested in learning the meaning of the liturgy and non-Jews interested in the Jewish religion. It does not cover the other topics such as the laws of Kashrut (dietary laws) or the Holidays but focuses on the daily and Sabbath services.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Introduction to Jewish Ritual and Prayer
Review: Jordan Wagner, who is not to my knowledge a rabbi, has put together an excellent little tract which explains in a basic yet comprehensive manner, the structure of the Jewish prayer service and the ins and outs of Synagogue ritual. Wagner states on his website that he wrote the book in order to educate some non-Jewish friends as to what to expect at a Synagogue service. The book is extensively footnoted and well written. It should be of interest to non-educated Jews interested in learning the meaning of the liturgy and non-Jews interested in the Jewish religion. It does not cover the other topics such as the laws of Kashrut (dietary laws) or the Holidays but focuses on the daily and Sabbath services.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding the Jewish basis of Worship
Review: Wagner has made the somewhat mysterious world of the Synagogue accessible. While people may go to most any church and feel perfectly at home, the Synagogue is not as well known. Wagner gives his readers an opportunity to understand and even participate in the worship services at the heart of Judaism. This book is highly readable and worth the time if you or anyone you know is going to Synagogue.
This is the book you must buy.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding the Jewish basis of Worship
Review: Wagner has made the somewhat mysterious world of the Synagogue accessible. While people may go to most any church and feel perfectly at home, the Synagogue is not as well known. Wagner gives his readers an opportunity to understand and even participate in the worship services at the heart of Judaism. This book is highly readable and worth the time if you or anyone you know is going to Synagogue.
This is the book you must buy.
Rating:
Summary: An in-depth guide to synagogue ritual.
Review: Wagner's book is not what I thought it would be, and in some ways it is better than I had expected, in some ways worse. What was better about it was that Wagner explains far more about synagogue ritual than I had expected. The book reveals the why behind each prayer, and indeed behind each phrase, in some cases. That kind of depth, I did not expect. Nor did I expect the historical analysis of how the rituals have evolved over the millenia. Having read this book, one gets not only a detailed guide to how and why services are as they are, but also an introduction to Jewish theology in general. All this was an unexpected bonus.So in what sense did Wagner deliver less than I had hoped for? Only in that the book is not a simple quick introduction to what goes on in a synagogue. If you buy this book hoping for a quick evening's read, thinking that after a couple of hours you will have the gist of the synagogue ritual, you will be sorely disappointed. The book, befitting its subject, is far more complex than that, and it truly demands your time and concentration, if you are to derive from it all it has to offer. But for those willing to devote the necessary time, it gives an unparalelled insight into Jewish services, and one which I have found completely absent from Jewish literature until now. Mazel Tov to Wagner for filling that gap!
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