Prayer is the general name for that form of Divine Worship which is
expressed in words; it has a wider scope than sacrifices, for it is not
limited to a special place, or to a certain time, or to one privileged
family. It is accessible to all, in all places and at all times. All
alike are addressed by the Psalmist, “Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord” (Ps. cl. 6).
There is no direct commandment in the Torah concerning prayer; it is
rather assumed as a matter of course, and as inseparable from our
belief in God. According to Tradition (Sifre on Deut. xi. 13), the
exhortation to serve God with all the heart implies the duty of prayer.
“What duty depends on the heart? It is the duty of prayer.” (Comp.
Maim. Mishneh-torah, Hilchoth Tefillah i. 1.) The following are a few
of the general rules laid down by our Sages with regard to Prayer:—
“Better little with devotion (כונה) than much without devotion”
(Shulchan-aruch, Orach Chayyim i. 4).
“During prayer bear in mind before whom you stand” (Babyl. T.,
Berachoth 28b).
“The value of the words uttered with the lips is determined by the
devotion of the heart” (Babyl. T., Berachoth 15b).
What is devotion? The concentration of all our attention upon the words
we utter, the banishment of all foreign thoughts from the mind, and the
consciousness that we stand in the presence of the Almighty, whom it is
our duty to love, fear, and obey. A prayer uttered in this frame of
mind is called “a prayer without lips of deceit” (Ps. xvii. 1). Comp.
Maim., l. c., iv. 15.
It is a matter of course that indecorous conduct, unbecoming attitudes,
and the like cannot harmonise with true devotion. With regard to
language, form, time, and place of prayer nothing was fixed originally;
all was regulated by the momentary impulse of the heart of the
worshipper. But people who considered themselves incapable of giving
adequate expression to their devotional feelings borrowed the words of
those more capable than themselves and followed their leading. Such a
course was also necessary for common and united devotion. When a
certain prayer or a certain order of Service was frequently repeated at
the same season and in the same place, the form, the time, and the
place of prayer became to a certain degree fixed by custom—minhag—and
that which had in the beginning been voluntary (רשות) was
subsequently made law or duty (מצוה or חובה). [141]
The minhag is a most important element in Jewish religious life. What
one has been accustomed to do for a long time, or even from his
earliest youth, is deeply impressed on the heart, and is not readily
surrendered. Such customs are sometimes more cherished and more firmly
adhered to than express precepts. [142] It is the outcome of this
respect for custom that in all countries the Jews pray in Hebrew. But
nevertheless the general principle remains in force that it is not the
language that determines the value of prayer but “the devotion of the
heart,” and those who do not understand Hebrew may give expression to
“the devotion of their heart” in the language they understand and
speak. Women, who as a rule were not expected to be Hebrew scholars,
used to read translations of the Hebrew prayers in the vernacular
instead of, or in addition to, the original; they had also prayers
composed for them in the vernacular (תחנות). And in more ancient
times, when the Jews of Babylon had adopted the Aramean dialect spoken
in that country, and retained it also after their return to Palestine,
many prayers were composed in the more familiar language, although
Hebrew was retained for the principal prayers. Hebrew has a special
claim to privilege and distinction among the Jews. It is our national
language, which our forefathers once spoke; it is the language in which
the Almighty addressed the prophets, and through them the Israelites;
the language in which God revealed His Will to the Israelites on Mount
Sinai; the language in which the holy Psalmist sang the praises of the
Creator, the priests blessed the people, and worshippers prayed in the
Temple at Jerusalem. It must be the pride of every Jew to be enabled to
pray at home, and especially in the Synagogues, in that same language,
and if Hebrew be not the language of his every-day life, he should seek
to perfect his knowledge of it to such an extent that he shall be able
to understand the prayers and to pray with his whole heart. Those who
seek the abolition of Hebrew in our Services aim, consciously or
unconsciously, at the destruction of our nationality as the people of
the Lord, by breaking asunder one important link which connects us with
the wonderful past of our nation.
Equally indifferent with regard to the value of prayer are its length
and its form. The Bible offers examples for all kinds and lengths of
prayer. If one wishes to pray in a few words, he need only follow the
example of Moses, who in the moment of anguish uttered nothing beyond
the words, “O God, heal her now” (Num. xii. 13). If one prefers a long
prayer, he may also take Moses as a guide, who prayed forty days for
the forgiveness of the Israelites after they had made the golden calf
(Deut. ix. 18, 25). Both prayers were equally efficacious. Miriam was
healed, and the Israelites obtained pardon. With regard to the form, we
have in the Bible prayers in prose and in poetry; some uttered in
simple speech, others in song; some with musical accompaniment, some
without it. All of them seem to have been at first the response to a
momentary impulse, but were afterwards repeated on similar occasions in
the original or in a modified form.
Among the various motives that impel us to seek communion with our
Father, is the desire for certain things which we have not, and the
conviction that it is solely in His hand to fulfil our wishes. [143] A
genuine prayer of this kind—for the fulfilment of certain wishes of
ours—is impossible without the belief in the efficacy of prayer. We
cannot with certainty expect that our petition will be granted, but we
hope that it will; we submit our wishes to the Will of the Almighty.
The Hebrew name for prayer תפלה implied the idea of judgment, as if
we judged whether the concession of our petition might fairly be
anticipated. Such judgment, however, is not to be considered as
decisive; and if our request is to be granted, it will be as an act of
mercy and grace (רחמים ותחנונים), and not because it is a claim fully
proved (קבע). [144] We hope that our prayer will be granted, but
never lose sight of the condition “if it please God.” There are a few
exceptional cases. Prophets like Moses (Exod. viii. 6), Samuel (1 Sam.
xii. 17), Elijah (1 Kings xviii.), Elisha (2 Kings iv. 33 sqq.), and
others, men inspired by the Almighty, were, on certain occasions, sure
of the effect of their prayer. In the Mishnah (Taanith iii. 8) the case
of Choni (חוני המעגל) is mentioned, who spoke with certainty of the
result of his prayer. It must, however, in the latter case be added
that the head of the Sanhedrin, Shimeon ben Shatach, blamed him for his
conduct.
This we know for certain, that whenever and wherever we respond to an
inner impulse by the utterance of a prayer, God is near us, for “He is
nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in
truth” (Ps. cxlv. 18); that we and the place on which we stand are
hallowed by the Divine Presence. Places once hallowed by such devotion,
whether of our own or of our fellow-men, we like to visit again and
again for the same purpose. The spot of Jacob’s first communion with
God thus became “the house of God;” and even during the period when
there was one central Sanctuary for the Sacrificial Service in Israel,
at Gilgal, Mizpah, Shiloh, and later in Jerusalem, there were houses of
God throughout the country for devotion unaccompanied by sacrifices.
These were “the meeting-places of God” (Ps. lxxiv. 8), in which the
Israelites assembled to meet their Creator. Such houses of God were
established wherever Jews settled; their main purpose was united
devotion; but they served also many other purposes—in fact, every holy,
good, and noble cause. The house of God was the Assembly-house,
Synagogue (בית הכנסת), in which the affairs of the community (צרכי
צבור) were settled; the young had there their school, adults came
there for religious instruction, and found there opportunity for the
study of the Law, and the poor and stranger received there support and
hospitality.
In a Jewish Synagogue there were two important features, the platform
(בימה) and an ark (תבה) containing scrolls of the Law. From the
platform in the middle of the Synagogue, the lessons from the
Pentateuch and the Prophets were recited, and everything else that was
directly or indirectly addressed to the congregants. But prayers
addressed to the Most High were offered up from a lower place near the
Holy Ark, [145] in accordance with the words of the Psalmist (cxxx. 1),
“Out of the depth have I cried unto thee, O Lord.”
The Ark, or Holy Ark (ארון or ארון הקדש), in almost all modern
Synagogues—in places west of Jerusalem—occupies the middle of the east
side of the Synagogue. In the time of the Talmud the Synagogues were to
some extent made to resemble the Tabernacle which the Israelites built
in the wilderness or the Temple in Jerusalem. The entrance was from the
east, and the Ark, which was to represent the Most Holy, was in the
west. The Ark was, like the original one, movable. It was called
tebhah, lit. “box,” in order to distinguish it from the original. The
recess in which it was kept was the Hechal or Kodesh, “The Holy.” The
tebhah seems to have served both as a receptacle for the scrolls of the
Law, and as a desk on which these were put whenever they were required
for the reading of the Torah. On certain extraordinary occasions, when,
on account of the absence of rain, a general fast was ordered, the
tebhah, with a Sefer-torah on it, was carried into the street, [146]
where a special service was held.
The reason why the entrance to the Sanctuary and to the Synagogues was
from the east, and the worshippers consequently stood during prayer
with their face toward the west, may, according to the Mishnah (Succah
v. 4), be explained thus: The principal prayer of the day being that in
the morning, the Jews, as a protest against the sun-worship of the
idolaters, who at that hour were accustomed to greet the sun with their
prayer, turned away from the east and offered up their prayer to the
Almighty in the opposite direction. When sun-worship had ceased,
probably after the destruction of the second Temple, the national grief
and hope found expression in the custom of praying toward the Sanctuary
in Jerusalem. Hence the Jews who live west of Jerusalem stand during
prayer with the face toward the east, while those east of Jerusalem
turn westward. This custom is, besides, supported by the following
passage from the prayer of King Solomon: “And they pray unto thee
toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which
thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name” (1
Kings viii. 48). [147]
In most Synagogues there is a continual lamp (נר תמיד) burning. It is
a Biblical institution, but only designed for the Sanctuary; its
presence in the Synagogue is of comparatively modern date. The ner
tamid of the Sanctuary, however, is explained to be a lamp burning
“from evening to morning” (Exod. xxvii. 21). A golden candlestick
standing in the Sanctuary against the south side, with its seven
branches arranged from east to west, served this purpose. According to
Tradition it was the second branch, counting from east to west, which
really burnt continually; but this was not considered as implied in the
term ner tamid, which only meant “a continual lamp” in the sense of a
lamp that burns regularly every night.
The ner tamid in the Synagogue, which burns continually day and night,
is not mentioned by any of the earlier Rabbinical authors. It has been
introduced as a symbol representing our conviction that from the
Synagogue shall continually come forth the light of instruction, the
light of comfort and blessing, and the light of love and peace.
In the Synagogue women are separated from men. There was also in the
Temple an עזרת נשים “court of the women,” distinguished from the
עזרת אנשים “court of the men,” to which women had no access. During
the Feast of Tabernacles, when the great rejoicings in the Temple
attracted a large assembly, special care was taken (תקון גדול היה שם)
that the separation of the sexes should be maintained (Mishnah, Succah
v. 2; and Talm. B., Succah 51b). This precedent has been followed in
the Synagogue, and has been accepted as law up to this day.
Reservedness and modesty (צניעות) have always been the pride and
ornament of Jewish women, both in their homes and in the Synagogue;
hence also their taking a silent part in the public devotion is an
honour to them, and by no means derogatory.
In addition to the above-mentioned points, a Synagogue ought to be
distinguished by the greatest possible simplicity, by the absence of
all kinds of images, portraits, or statues representing living beings,
whether real or imaginary. The Jewish religion is void of every visible
symbol; and the so-called magen-david (the double triangle) is probably
not of Jewish origin, and has no connection with our holy religion. It
is not a symbol of this kind, but some inscription of a passage from
the Scriptures that in most houses of worship reminds us of the
sacredness of the place. We enter it with due reverence, manifesting it
outwardly, in our peculiar traditional manner, by keeping the head
covered. It is our ancient custom to cover the head when engaged in
prayers, in reading the Bible or Talmud and their commentaries. This
outward sign serves to remind us that not only our Service but even our
literature is something holy, and its study a religious act (מצוה).
[148]
Before we proceed to describe the details of our ritual, we mention one
important point in which the present Synagogal Service differs from the
ancient Service in the Temple. From what we are told in the Scriptures
and in the Talmud, we learn that instrumental music was an essential
element in the Service, and that King David and his successors paid
great attention to it, whilst, with a few exceptions, it is almost
entirely absent from our Synagogues. The principal reason why
instrumental music is excluded from the Synagogue is its prohibition on
Sabbaths and Holy-days by Rabbinical law (Babyl. T., Erubin 104a). This
prohibition, like many other enactments, did not apply to the Temple
Service; for the sacrificial laws had to be obeyed, irrespective of the
fact that they involved acts which, if performed apart from the Temple
Service, would constitute a breach of the Sabbath laws. Apart from the
Temple Service the Sabbath laws remained in full force for the priests
as well as for the general public.
There were also other considerations that helped to keep instrumental
music out of the Synagogue Service. Its absence, though not directly a
sign of mourning, served to preserve the memory of the destruction of
the Temple, and to strengthen our longing for its restoration. It is
also urged that the introduction of instrumental music into the Service
would not satisfy any real want of Jewish worshippers, but would merely
be a concession to the desire to assimilate our Divine Service to that
of our non-Jewish neighbours, contrary to the prohibition of chukkoth
haggoyim contained in the words, “Ye shall not walk in their statutes”
(Lev. xviii. 3), i.e., in the statutes of the Gentiles. But, on the
other hand, it has been argued that the feeling once expressed by the
nation in the words “This is my God, and I will worship him in a
beautiful manner” (Exod. xv. 2), still animates us. It is said that it
is our duty to make our Service as beautiful and as attractive as
possible. This argument deserves consideration, and might even outweigh
some of the above-mentioned arguments against the introduction of music
into our Service, if we were sure of the result of such introduction.
But this is by no means the case, for the experiment, where tried, has
not been successful if judged by the most practical test. The number of
worshippers has not been increased, and discontent has not been
removed. Whether the devotion of the worshippers has been improved,
refined, or intensified by music is a question that cannot be answered
with certainty. Even if the answer were satisfactory, it could only
apply to the introduction of instrumental music into our Service on
week-days, on Friday evening before the commencement of Sabbath, but
not on Sabbaths and Holy-days.