[HANASHIR:5540] RE: Adonai s'fatai tiftakh

[Chazzzan <Chazzzan...>]

I am curious about this whole discussion, from the Reform point of view.  Is 
it Reform doctrine/policy/custom to follow the traditional "rules" of the 
Talmud or Shulchan Aruch about how to pray?  I thought the whole idea of 
Reform Judaism was to allow people to pray any way they wanted to.  

If this is not the case, then which parts do we follow and which do we 
abandon? For example, I understand that repetition of the Amidah by the 
Shaliach Tzibor (prayer leader) is usually omitted.  References to the 
sacrificial cult and revival of the dead are also omitted from the Reform 
prayer books I have seen.

One quick example...at OSRUI, the Birkat Hamazon (Grace after Meals) prayer 
that is handed out for use at meal times is a traditional copy, with all 18+ 
paragraphs included.  Depending on who was leading the Birkat on a particular 
day, the leader was often not sure what to include and what to omit.

My question is...how are these inclusions and omissions decided?  Is there an 
"official" version of prayers promulgated by UAHC, allowing each community 
(synagogue, camp, school) to make its own decisions?

thanks,

Brian

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