Solo Volumes from CCAR Press

Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe (2024) – A High Holy Day companion for our times, with more than one hundred new poems, prayers, and meditations for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. Poet-liturgist Alden Solovy blends today’s struggles and joys with classic themes, layering a contemporary voice into beloved motifs. Enter These Gates is a vital resource for individual prayer, study, and communal worship. Themes include confession, repentance, forgiveness, and memory. A companion to the machzor, Enter These Gates offers a fresh yet deeply rooted approach to our experience of the Days of Awe.

These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah (2023) – Solovy distills Torah to its essence. Echoing the midrash that the Torah has seventy faces, Solovy delves into the etymology, translation, and usage of seventy words of Torah, providing deeper insights into familiar texts. The discussion of each of the words is followed by a poem by Solovy – each a “poetic midrash” – inspired by and interpreting each word, from b’reishit (“in beginning”) to shamayim (“heavens”) to zachor (“remember”). These Words is a 2023 Silver Medal Winner, Independent Book Publisher Awards.

This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine in Poetry and Prayer (2021) – Prayers, poetry, and meditations inspired by encounters with God. The first half draws from divine moments in our sacred texts. Using a contemporary voice, Solovy reimagines these holy moments as experienced by our biblical ancestors so we can reclaim them as our own. The second half focuses on sacred moments in our daily lives, connections with the Divine that occur simply because we are human beings created in God’s image. This book completes a trilogy with This Grateful Heart and This Joyous Soul.

This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings (2019) – This volume of creative liturgy opens a door into the transformative power of prayer. Structured to reflect the morning service found within Mishkan T’filah, this collection invites a deeply personal prayer experience that will strengthen our connection to Judaism and to the Reform siddur, while inspiring us to make the daily prayer service our own. Use it to supplement your daily prayers, or as an alternative siddur in your personal prayer and meditation routine. This book is the second in a trilogy with This Precious Life and This Grateful Heart.

This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day (2017) – This Grateful Heart offers an anthology of modern day psalms and prayers to lift us up, inspire our days, and mark our milestones. The focus: sacred time, with prayers and meditations for a lifetime of joys and sorrows, as well as secular holidays and Jewish holy days. For clergy, it offers supplementary material for use in services and life cycle rituals; for the individual, this collection can serve as a way to give voice to the joys and sorrows of everyday life. It is the first volume of a trilogy with This Precious Life and This Joyous Soul.

Solo Volumes from Kavanot Press

Hagaddah Companion: Meditations and Readings (2014) – This volume of 18 readings expands upon key themes in the Seder service, ranging in topic from freedom to social justice, from praise to redemption, from Egypt to Jerusalem.

Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing (2013) – This is simple and profound collection of meditations, poetry, and prayer. “Soulful and meticulously crafted,” says the Jerusalem Post Magazine, this resource offers prayers of joy, thanks and praise for people of all faiths.

CCAR Press volumes with Alden’s work

The Year of Mourning: A Jewish Journey (2023)

Prophetic Voices: Renewing and Reimagining Haftarah (2023)

Mishkan Ga’avah: Where Pride Dwells (2020)

Mishkan T’shuva: High Holy Day Machzor for the World Union for Progressive Judaism (2019)

Mishkan Avielut: Where Grief Resides (2019)

Gates of Shabbat: A Guide for Observing Shabbat (2016)

Mishkan HaNefesh, Machzor for the Days of Awe (2015)

Mishkan R’Fuah: Where Healing Resides (2013)

L’chol Z’man v’Eit: For Sacred Moments, Rabbi’s Manual (2015)

Anthologies including Alden’s work

Books by Anita Diamant

Saying Kaddish (Anita Diamant, Schocken, 2019)

Choosing a Jewish Life (Anita Diamant, Schocken, 2016)

Books by Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Calling Out: Psalms for Today (UJA-NYC, 2024)

Am Yisrael Chai: Essays, Prayers, and Poems (UJA-NYC, 2023)

Not by Might: Channeling the Power of Faith to End Gun Violence (Rabbis Against Gun Violence, 2016)

When We Turned Within: Reflections on COVID-19 (UJA-NYC, 2020)

The Hope: American Jewish Voices in Support of Israel (2014)

Other Books including his work

Building Bridges Among Abraham’s Children: A Celebration of Michael Berenbaum (Academic Studies Press, 2024)

These Holy Days: A High Holy Day Supplement After October 7 (Creditor/Horn, 2024)

Siddur of Reentering (The Covenant Foundation, 2023)

Siddur Na’aseh v’Nishma (Makom Shelanu Congregation, Fort Worth, 2023)

Siddur Shirat HaLev: The City Shul Community Prayerbook (City Shul of Toronto, 2022)

Jewish End-of-Life Care in a Virtual Age: Our Traditions Reimagined (Albion-Andalus Books, 2021)

“שנאת חנם: A Resource Guide for Rabbis & Others on the first anniversary of the attack at Tree of Life Synagogue” (American Jewish Committee, 2019)

Of Womb and Tomb: Prayer in Time of Infertility, Miscarriage, and Stillbirth (GIA Publications, 2019)

Bulletproofing the Psyche: Preventing Mental Health Problems in Our Military and Veterans (Praeger, 2018)

Seasons of Hope: Prayers & Reflections on Aging (Little Sisters of the Poor, 2014)

Machzor L’Yamim Noraim: A Prayerbook for the Days of Awe (Hallmark Jewish Committee, Chicago, 2014)

Men Pray (Skylight Paths Publishing, 2013)

Awards and recognition (selected)

2023 Silver Medal in the category of Inspirational/Spiritual awarded to These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah, Independent Book Publishers Awards

2019-2024 Liturgist-in-Residence, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

2016 ELI talks fellow, “Falling in Love with Prayer”

2015 Liturgist-in-Residence, National Havurah Committee Summer Institute

Jewish Book Council, Network Author, 2014-2015

Editorial Writing, Peter S. Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism, The Chicago Headline Club, 2004

Column/Commentary, Peter S. Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism, The Chicago Headline Club, 1998

Column/Commentary, Peter S. Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism, The Chicago Headline Club, 1996

Other selected publications including Alden’s work

CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly (Fall, 2019)

Prayers of Comfort (Palliative Care Dept., University of Michigan Health System, 2012)

Sacred Journey, The Journal of Fellowship in Prayer, Summer 2011

High Holiday Prayers (Be’chol Lashon, 2011)

Book of Blessings, High Holidays 5772 (Jewish World Watch, 2011)

Articles, Quotes, Art and Reviews

For a list of articles written by Alden, click here

For a list of articles quoting Alden, click here

For a list of reviews of Alden’s work, click here

To see videos, hear music and see art of Alden’s work, click here