holy texts

Modernized Jewish Prayer Book Includes Kaddish For Dead Gay Partners

God is no longer “awesome” — he is “awe-inspiring.” That’s according to the Hebrew speakers behind Lev Shalem, the new prayer book (or mahzor, for those in the know) for conservative Jews during the High Holy Days, which span Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. It’s “the Conservative movement’s first updating in nearly 40 years,” the Times says, and is so modern and hip it even takes you queers into account.

The mourner’s kaddish for the service on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement for observant Jews), where deceased relatives are remembered, now includes a prayer for dead “partners,” a pleasantly ambiguous term for same-sex loved ones who have passed. (There’s also a prayer for “a parent who was hurtful,” so you can remember your asshole of an absentee father.)

Sadly, the rabbis overseeing this project have not truly modernized the text: Your 3-D glasses will not, I have learned, make the Hebrew pop.

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