Rabbi Elkin’s Pre-Rosh Hashanah Shiur: What to Do With Problematic Liturgical Passages? The machzor we will be spending so much time with over the upcoming yamim noraim contains many uplifting and inspiring passages, but also many which may bother or even offend us for all kinds of reasons. This is not a new phenomenon. In this shiur, we will examine some ancient rabbinic strategies for dealing with difficult Scriptural passages, and consider how helpful they might be to us in our own encounter with traditional liturgy. We will consider the tension between our commitments to traditional liturgy and contemporary values. Bring your “favourite” difficult passage for consideration.