Partial Yom Kippur Early Morning Service led by Dr. Samuel Sandmel and lay readers with sermon, “Meaning of Sin for Reform Jews”, September 19, 1953. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.

Item Information

Title:
Partial Yom Kippur Early Morning Service led by Dr. Samuel Sandmel and lay readers with sermon, “Meaning of Sin for Reform Jews”, September 19, 1953. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Description:
This is a partial Yom Kippur early morning service at Temple Israel, led by Dr. Rabbi Samuel Sandmel with lay readers. Part one of this service, which uses the Union Prayer Book Volume II, begins with prayers and the Barechu, continues through the Sanctification, Silent Confession, Al Cheit and Aveinu Malkeinu sections, and ends with the Torah reading and blessings. Part two, with sermon on Reform Jews and sin, begins with the reading of the Haftorah. Dr. Sandmel’s sermon argues that, while sin is a feature of the Orthodox Jewish and Christian religious vocabulary, it is not usually discussed in the Reform movement, where rabbinic law is no longer considered binding, and the literal interpretation of the Five Books of Moses also started “sliding into disuse” with “pleasant inconsistencies” becoming common in regard to, for example, dietary laws. Early Greek Jews, influenced by their environment, he continues, adopted Greek dualism, which sees humans as a mixture of corrupt body and incorruptible soul. Sandmel states that for Jews, Yom Kippur is premised on the notion that people can do something about their transgressions, and in Reform Judaism, revelation is part of a continual experience. He continues, arguing that each person experiences God, if they do, in their own way, and that sin is nothing other than falling short of those standards which people set apart in life for experiencing God. That, Sandmel posits, is what sin means to a Reform Jew. “We are good people”, he concludes, “let us in the new year become better people and by our lives and actions and standard we may be blessings to ourselves and an inspiration to others.” Choral music performed by the Temple Israel Choir, Herbert Fromm, conductor.
Speaker:
Sandmel, Samuel
Musical director:
Fromm, Herbert
Creator:
Congregation Adath Israel (Boston, Mass.)
Date:
September 19, 1953
Format:
Audio recordings (nonmusical)
Location:
Temple Israel of Boston
Wyner Archives
Collection (local):
Past Voices, Audio Recordings, 1934-1979
Subjects:
Reform Judaism--United States
Jewish sermons--United States
Synagogue music--High Holiday services
Yom Kippur
Holidays--Religious aspects--Judaism
High Holidays
Sin--Judaism
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Extent:
1/4" open reel tape (2 recordings)
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/hx121525t
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License (CC BY-ND).
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Language:
English
Hebrew
Notes:
Related items: TI-AV-90026.001; TI-AV-90026.002; TI-AV-90026.003; TI-AV-90027.001; TI-AV-90027.002; TI-AV-90027.003
Preferred Citation:
Partial Yom Kippur Early Morning Service led by Dr. Samuel Sandmel and lay readers with sermon, “Meaning of Sin for Reform Jews”, September 19, 1953. Audiovisual Collection, Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Notes (object):
Part 1 (1 hour, 04 min., 07 sec.)
Part 2 (45 min., 18 sec.)
Notes (funding):
This project was supported by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Notes (historical):
Dr. Samuel Sandmel (1911-1979), rabbi, teacher, and biblical scholar, was a Hillel Foundation rabbi and then a professor at Vanderbilt University (1949-1952) and Hebrew Union College (1952-1979). An editor of the Oxford Study Edition of the New English Bible, he authored many books and was an international authority on Judaism and the New Testament.
Herbert Fromm (1905-1995), Temple Israel’s organist and Music Director (1941-1973), was a German-born conductor and composer forced to leave Germany in 1937. A prolific composer of religious music, much of which became part of the standard synagogue repertoire, and secular works, he also published many articles and essays and several books.
Identifier:
TI-AV_90106.002
TI-AV_90106.001