Thesis (Ph.D)--McGill University, Montreal, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 458-483).

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Liturgical creativity and reform has been a hallmark of Reconstructionist Judaism since its inception in America in the mid 1930s. All facets of Reconstructionist liturgy are molded to reflect and convey the movement's Jewish ideology. As such, much insight is gained by analyzing the full texts of the Reconstructionist prayerbooks, including translations, editors' notes, interpretive versions, supplementary readings, commentary, rubrics and layout. / The first Reconstructionist liturgies (1941--1963) were edited primarily by the movement's founder, Mordecai M. Kaplan, and were fashioned to mirror his understanding of modern belief, moral sense and aesthetic taste. Kaplan believed that only a text edited with these values in mind would succeed in returning American Jews to synagogue life. Sixty percent of Kaplan's Sabbath Prayer Book was devoted to supplementary readings, which strove to foster a positive view of the world and to motivate the quest for personal and collective salvation. For Kaplan, ethical living and a sense of the world's essential goodness constituted the essence of religious faith and life, and he believed that this was not sufficiently articulated in traditional prayer. / The inauguration of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1968 led to the transference of movement leadership from Kaplan's followers to a younger generation born after World War Two. This generational shift necessitated and facilitated the creation of the new Reconstructionist prayerbook series, Kol Haneshamah (1989--). While Reconstructionist liturgy continues to forward a fundamentally Kaplanian theology, it is less committed than was Kaplan to the position that all creedal formulations whose literal truth is rejected be excised from the text. Kol Haneshamah testifies to the movement's current openness to mystic paths of spiritual awakening and communing with the divine, and to its greater interest in cultivating and exploring the affective realm of human consciousness. Inclusivity, ecological responsibility, lay empowerment, and the creation of non-sexist terminology for addressing God and humanity have become primary Reconstructionist concerns. An examination of Reform, Conservative and Jewish Renewal liturgy indicates that, while many of the developments evident in contemporary Reconstructionist liturgy are mirrored in other branches of American non-Orthodox Judaism, Reconstructionist prayer remains a unique rite.