"A Myrtle Among Reeds" is a highly personal account of the nature and history of Jewish prayer, rooted in the author's 25 years of experience as a head of Jewish schools, and as a regular prayer-leader. From getting out of bed until the end of Shacharit, Prashker takes the reader on a journey through the whys and hows and whats of every Jewish prayer: their origins, their practices and their different purposes. This scholarly commentary is driven by one guiding question: if the Judaism that has existed for the past 2,000 years was consciously established as a "substitute for the time of exile" by the Talmudic Rabbis, because the Jews had lost their sovereignty in the land of Israel and the Temple was destroyed, why are Jews still "playing the substitute" when the exile has ended? Prashker offers a challenge to traditional Jews, and to those who count themselves as liberal, modern and progressive as well, to re-think Jewish prayer and practice in the light of the establishment of the State of Israel. This book is essential reading for every Jew, and for all who are interested in Judaism, or the act of prayer in any form. No religious school classroom should be without it. "The Day of Atonement", exploring the prayers and rituals of Yom Kippur, provides a sister-volume to "A Myrtle Among Reeds".
About the Author: Born in London in 1955, Prashker has lived in France, Israel, Canada and the United States, where he is currently based; his time in Israel included volunteering on border kibbutzim through both the Yom Kippur war of 1973 and the "year of terror" that preceded the War of Peace for Galilee in 1981/82. He has also worked as an actor and musician. While writing in his spare time, Prashker has led major Jewish educational and cultural institutions for 25 years, including Polack's House, the Jewish boarding house at Clifton College in Bristol, UK, "the last Jewish boarding facility in Europe"; he has also served as Director of Education at the Leo Baeck Day School in Toronto, Canada, the Jacobson Sinai Academy in Miami, Florida, and the Shoshana S. Cardin High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Prashker served as President of PARDES, the Day School network of Reform Judaism in North America, from 2009-2012 and has taught Hebrew text on the prestigious "Project SULAM". Prashker's "list", which includes contemporary and historical novels, short stories, poetry, songs, plays and scholarly works, is described below, and is viewable in full at: www.theargamanpress.com You can follow David Prashker's blog at apps.theargamanpress.com/Blog/ or find him at his website www.Davidprashker.com