The traditional haftarah cycle, read on Shabbat and holidays during the Torah service, contains a wealth of prophetic wisdom, yet today it is too often forgotten or ignored. Prophetic Voices gives new life to these ancient texts. A diverse group of contributors--including rabbis, cantors, scholars, educators, activists, and poets--provide short commentaries on each haftarah, demonstrating their profound relevance to the present. Moreover, the volume boldly invites us to rethink the haftarah canon. Going beyond the Prophets, it presents alternative readings from Jewish texts biblical to contemporary. New haftarot for each Shabbat and holiday are included, plus haftarot for the Jewish American calendar, from Yom HaShoah to Pride Month to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The readings are enhanced by scholarly essays placing the Prophets in historical context and examining the role of prophecy in Reform Judaism. Prophetic Voices summons us to listen, study, think, and teach--as well as to sing, pray, and march.

Rabbi Barbara AB Symons graduated from the University of Michigan and was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1994. Since 2006, she has been serving Temple David in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. She is deeply involved in the interfaith community primarily through her work with the Monroeville Interfaith Ministerium—of which she is past president—and through the Catholic Jewish Education Enrichment program. Engaged with the local community, Rabbi Symons has served as president of the hospital’s clergy board and rabbinic groups, and she is active with the town council, school board, and library. Barbara met her husband Rabbi Ron Symons during their first week in Jerusalem at Hebrew Union College; she is daily and deeply proud of, and inspired by, him and their three children, all of whom are not only committed Jews but learned, creative Jewish professionals. Rabbi Symons is the author of CCAR Press's Prophetic Voices: Renewing and Reimagining Haftarah (2023). She is thrilled to have even a small part in raising up prophetic voices through the many diverse voices included in this book.