Art journaling .. in a siddur?

You can find an index of all the 31 Days of Encountering Judaism here.

OK, how cool is this:

when I was buying siddurs for myself: one for Shabbats and weekdays and the other for the High Holy Days (which maybe now I'll be able to read as not everything is transliterated in the latter prayer book), I came across this edition:

Sorry, these are less than brilliant pictures. I used my iPhone to take them in the early morning before heading off for the day.

This is the journal edition. The introduction says it's aimed at youth, but I think this is a brilliant idea for all ages to use, and in fact, the Episcopal Church should steal this and use it for the Book of Common Prayer.

This journal edition of the Mishkan T'filah isn't identical to the prayer book of the same name. It has sections and pages removed to make space for the journaling.

My current plan is to write my responses in pencil on the page, and then to go over the top with pen illustrations. I've tested a bunch of pens for bleed so I think it'll look quite pretty when it's done. Sometimes there are question prompts (as in the picture above) and sometimes the page is just left blank (well, lined) for your response.

Stay tuned in future weeks or maybe months, to see some of my art journaling ....

If you're interested, you can order it from CCAR Press.

(I was not compensated for this review. I just think it's pretty nifty. And actually, I think the NFTY people (North American Federation of Temple Youth) may have had a hand in it.)