December 2023
Reform Jewish publisher launches book and musical nigunim to reinvigorate the traditional practice of reciting daily psalms.
New York, NY: CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, is honored to announce the release of New Each Day: A Spiritual Practice for Reading Psalms, by Rabbi Debra J. Robbins of Dallas’s Temple Emanu-El. New Each Day includes a foreword by Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, PhD, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost and Associate Professor of Bible at the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). New Each Day is published by CCAR Press’s Reform Judaism Publishing imprint.
Every day of the year, Jewish liturgy includes the Shir Shel Yom, a psalm to mark the day of the
week. New Each Day reframes this ancient practice, inviting us to engage with psalms in a fresh, inspiring way. Daily “Reflections for Focus” offer unique insights on each psalm, with a structure for meditation and writing that encourages the reader to develop their own personal routine. Reflections for each month, based on the psalm for Rosh Chodesh, provide a full year of spiritual practice.
New Each Day is enhanced by a musical supplement developed by Cantor Richard Cohn, the former director and current senior advisor for the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at HUC-JIR. Cantor Cohn wrote and recorded seven nigunim to complement the psalm for each day. The music can be streamed and/or downloaded from the CCAR Press website; sheet music is also available.
New Each Day is Rabbi Robbins’s second book with CCAR Press, following Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27: A Spiritual Practice for the Jewish New Year, published in 2019. Opening Your Heart focuses on helping readers access the deeper meanings of Psalm 27, recited during the month of Elul and the High Holy Day and Festival season. New Each Day applies a similar reflective practice to the entire calendar year, guiding readers with intention and meaning.
Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, author of The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons, said, “A perennial struggle of spiritual seekers is how to creatively engage with daily practice, week in and week out. New Each Day breathes life into the Jewish tradition of saying a psalm every day, by exploring the form, language, story, ethic and feeling of the seven psalms of the week and the psalm for the new moon. Those who yearn for a meaningful daily practice can find inspiration here in the form of poetic translations, reflections, and writing exercises, all engaging with this ancient ritual.”
“I’m so grateful to Rabbi Debra Robbins for creating this rich, accessible, and eminently useful book of reflections and practices on one of the Jewish people’s oldest prayer practices—the liturgical recitation of psalms,” says Rabbi Josh Feigelson, PhD, president and CEO of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. “With intelligence, care, boldness, and creativity, Rabbi Robbins invites and guides us on a journey of spiritual discovery.”
“With New Each Day, Rabbi Debra Robbins reenergizes and reframes the ancient practice of reciting a daily psalm for our modern context,” says Elana Arian, composer, prayer leader, and recording artist. “Through thoughtful teachings, reflections, and interpretations, she helps us connect across time and space to generations of our ancestors who engaged in this very same practice, linking us to the infinite chain of our tradition while giving a fresh perspective for our time.”