Liturgy is at the heart of Jewish communal life.
But how do we craft services that are distinctively Progressive as well as distinctively Jewish, and what does the future hold for prayer?
This wide-ranging and open conversation – chaired by Cantor Sarah Grabiner and bringing together Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah, Rabbi Paul Freedman and Rabbi Daniel Burstyn – lifts the curtain on how Progressive siddurim, machzorim and other prayer books are made and the decisions that shape how we pray.
Exploring two centuries of evolutions and revolutions in Jewish prayer from the UK, and around the world, the panel discuss key principles – including meeting the needs of the age, respect for traditional structure, accessibility, flexibility and multivocality.
They also reflect on what it means to speak as one Progressive Jewish Movement with plural voices, taking our inherited prayer books as a shared resource.
During the session a number of texts were shared, you can read/download them at the links below in order to follow along.
Text 1 (Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah): https://progressivejudaism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Liturgy-Panel-Text-1.pdf
Text 2 (Rabbi Paul Freedman): https://progressivejudaism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Liturgy-Panel-Text-2.pdf
Text 3 (Rabbi Daniel Burstyn): https://progressivejudaism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Liturgy-Panel-Text-3.pdf
The full details of our special summer Education Hub series, recorded live at The Movement for Progressive Judaism’s Inaugural Conference Hineinu, can be seen on the poster below:
