[HANASHIR:1760] Re: political correct lyrics

[Erik L. F. Contzius <contzius...>]

>Think of this: if we do change prayers and songs to gender sensitive ones, can
>we do this just for the newer songs and still leave the older, traditional
>prayers and songs in their original state?  Is this compromise a possibility?
>If we change the traditions of the past in Jewish liturgy, mustn't we also
>change the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Homer, Steinbeck, Leonardo da Vinci
>(all male artists/writers on purpose)?  Isn't a little tiny something lost in
>the process?

a very valid point. it's the difference between thinking of our T'fillah as
either transient words & thoughts that change with whatever socio-political
wind blows or thinking of our T'fillah as a body of literature and poetry
which are as eternal as many of the great works of art of any era, and as
such, is always subject to interpretation and reinterpretation without
_significantly_ changing the art itself (i.e. translating a work from one
language to another). Can these words which have stood the test of time for
so many years so easily be modified and changed (here, in the Hebrew)?

erik l. f. contzius
contzius (at) home(dot)com
elkins park, pa
http://members.home.com/contzius/