To help make the tefilos of the Yomim Noroim more meaningful and inspirational, Chabad.org is publishing “Reflections”, a new mini companion to the machzor.
Dubbed as the “the prayer companion you always wanted,” the new booklet explores 16 key High Holiday prayers with reflections, providing inspiration and motivation that congregants are seeking, all in tight, pithy explanations and meditations.
Each full-color page (36 in all) of the booklet illuminates another key prayer of the machzor, framed within magnificent art and design.
The booklet features corresponding page numbers for the Kehot Publication Society machzor, so congregants can easily toggle between both.
The meditations featured in the booklet were written by noted author Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior member of Chabad.org’s editorial team.
“This was created with someone who has never been to shul in mind, as well as the shul regular who attends every Shabbat and knows the High Holiday prayers from year to year, but wants to infuse them with new meaning and inspiration,” said Rabbi Pinny Hecht, a Chabad Rabbi in Cape Town, South Africa, who oversaw the project and ran a pilot of this booklet at his synagogue last year.
Designed to make it easy to hold while still using the machzor, the intent is to help congregants delve deeper into the prayer service and the sanctity of the High Holy Days and (with G-d’s help) have an affect on the rest of the year.
The publishers reported unprecedented demand for the new mini companions. Even before the mini companions were back from the printer, pre-orders were coming in at a very fast pace virtually selling out the entire stock even before shipments could begin.
