RESOURCES FOR SERVICES
At Kol Nefesh, we aim continually to improve the quality of our services. Over recent years, Chazan Jacky has led our Shlichei Tsibbur (prayer leaders) in an initiative to deepen our connection to the liturgy and nusach (traditional melodies), with the aim of ensuring a richer, more meaningful prayer experience. At the same time, Rabbi Joel has led us in learning how all those present at a service can derive meaning from the liturgical texts, and can heighten the energy in a service by joining in as active participants, humming and singing along with the prayer leader.
On this page, you'll find useful resources put together by Chazan Jacky and some of our members. You'll also find a record of our learning and discussions on the question of egalitarian language in prayer.
First-Timers' Service
We restarted the First-Timers' Service in 2021. The service is an opportunity for members to take on something new for Shabbat and Chag.
We will add recordings of the relevant leyening here soon.
Here are the Haftorah blessings.
The Gift of the Gabbai
At KNM we want all members who wish to participate in running our services to be able to do so. These notes on the roles of the Shammas and Gabbai during the Torah Service were put together by KN's Nahum Gordon, and by Adam Levine of the NHC (National Havurah Committee) Summer Institute in the United States. We also occasionally run sessions for those who wish to take on these roles.
V'atem Hadvekim
When we call up the first person to the reading of the Torah (often a Cohen but a Levi or Yisrael if there's no Cohen), the Gabbai chants a prayer, V’atem Had’vekim. This is a direct quote from the Torah (Deut 4:4): “And you who cleaved to the Lord your God are alive – every one of you – today!” For this reason, we recite it in the Torah trope (cantillation).
Click the links for the normal Shabbat melody and the one for the Yamim Noraim:
El Na - the Prayer for Healing
On Shabbat services we recite a prayer for healing, and we chant perhaps the oldest prayer in our liturgy, El Na Refa Na La (אֵל נָא רְפָא נָא לָהּ), said by Moses for his sister Miriam. These two versions are sung by Cantor Jacky Chernett.
Yamim Nora'im Aliyah Blessings
On the Yamim Nora'im, a special nusach (melody) is used for the blessings chanted before and after each aliyah to the Torah. You can listen to it here:
For more on the Yamim Nora'im nusach, click here.
Learning Your Leyening
At Kol Nefesh, we take pride in the fact that we leyen (chant) the full sedra from the scroll each week. For those who know how to leyen but feel overwhelmed by the process of learning their portion, Meira Ben-Gad put together some tips, which eventually became an article in Kol HaKehilah.
You'll find Meira's leyening tips here.
Egalitarian Language in Prayer
In 2018 and 2019, we engaged in learning and discussion on the issue of egalitarian language in prayer, and specifically the question of whether (and how!) the Imahot – the Matriarchs – should be included in the first blessing of the Amidah. This is an ongoing topic of discussion within the community. Our plan is to prepare a booklet containing different versions of the Amidah, so that we can experiment with them during our services.
Service Guide for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
We have created guides to the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. These explain the various parts of these special services, and provide page numbers for the different machzorim (prayer books) we use at Kol Nefesh:
Rabbinical Assembly (US machzor, edited by Rabbi Harlow, 1972)
Silverman (US machzor, edited by Rabbi Silverman, 1939)
Lev Shalem (new US machzor, 2010)
Routledge (British machzor, 1906)
These guides can be downloaded and printed in A5 format.
For recordings of some of the Yamim Nora'im liturgy by our talented shlichei tsibbur (prayer leaders), click here.