Modeh/Modah Ani Quietly As People Are Coming In

Shabbat Morning

Modeh/Modah Ani – Quietly as people are coming in Tradition From Fiddler plays Introduction – This morning we will explore our Jewish traditions in prayer. This being Rosh Chodesh, a new month, and Hanukkah we are lucky enough to experience a tradition called Hallel. A Traditional Hallel is a recitation of six of the Psalms that King David wrote. Our Hallel this morning will consist of six readings by your fellow STRites who I invite up now. Hallel readings Before we explore any more traditions I have a warning story to offer you. It takes place in an old Synagogue in Eastern Europe. A visiting Rabbi is attending Shabbat Evening services when he notices something strange. Each time a person walks into the place of worship they bow, take three steps, and then right themselves again. This happens again and again till eventually the old Rabbi can’t take it anymore, he has to ask the next person who walks in why. An elderly man walks into the synagogue, bows, walks forward, rights himself, and takes a seat. The Rabbi quickly asks him, “Why do you bow as you enter? I’ve never seen this practice before in my life.” The elderly man thinks for a moment. “That’s simple,” he responds, “in the old building, we had to duck under the pipes to get in, and so we bow. I guess it just caught on.” Needless to say the old Rabbi was shocked. But there is enough possibility for foreign traditions to catch on that each of us should look closely at what we do when we pray. With that warning, we begin out service. Ma tovu Nisim b’chol yom Ashrei Psalm 150 Chatzi Kaddish Please rise The barchu is our call to prayer. Meaning the leader of the service makes a call “Barchu et Adonai Hamvorach” and the congregation responds “Baruch Adonai Hamvorach L’Olam V’ed.” The leader traditionally bows and says the first line, while the congregation waits to respond. Then your turn for the second line. With that, I ask you to rise for our call to prayer, the Barchu. Barchu Yotzer Or There is a belief in Judaism that one day, when the messiah comes or a messianic era, all the Jews will go back to Israel, to Jerusalem. From the four corners of the Earth, we will be gathered. So to reflect that, there is a tradition (here we go again) that those who wear a tallis gather the four corners of it and hold them in one hand as we pray to be returned to our land in Ahava Rabbah. There is a more modern tradition that this part of the prayer be sung to the tune of HaTikvah, a beautiful symbolism if you ask me. So please join me in singing this prayer to the tune of HaTikvah from (so many lines) from the bottom of page__ Start from Arbah Kanfot (in HaTikvah tune) We are going back to that same Synagogue in Eastern Europe. The hubbub over bowing when they walk in is over and their new Rabbi is about the start the service. It goes quite well up till the Sh’ma. Then something strange happens. As the congregation is preparing to say Sh’ma, half of them are standing and the other half are sitting. The new Rabbi stops the whole service. “What is the tradition here?” he asks. One man standing in front says, “We always stand for Sh’ma, I have since I was a boy.” “Woah woah,” says another man sitting nearby, “I have sit for Sh’ma here since the first time my father brought me to Synagogue.” “Well I cannot continue like this,” says the new Rabbi. So they decide to visit the home of the retired old Rabbi, too old now to leave his bed. The man who stood makes his case, “Rabbi,” He says, “We have always stood for the Sh’ma in our synagogue, correct?” The old Rabbi smiles, “No,” He says, “That is not our tradition.” The sitting man smiles, “Nu? I told you,” He says, “The tradition is to sit!” The old Rabbi smiles wider, “No,” He says, “That is not our tradition.” The new Rabbi is at a loss. “Rabbi, please,” He says, “When we got to the Sh’ma half stood and half sit, but everyone was telling at each other…” Suddenly, the old Rabbi cut him off. “Ahhhh,” he says, “That is our tradition.” So, in the spirit of having many different, acceptable traditions, I invite you to stand or sit, really pray however you feel comfortable for the Sh’ma. Sh’ma and v’ahavta There is (another) tradition. In the last paragraph of the Mi Chamocha for the morning, we say Tzur Yisrael Kuma” Rock of Israel Stand. Now usually when we say Rock of Israel, we mean God, think of Y’hiyu L’ratzon. But some have the tradition of standing themselves at the word Kuma, standing to take responsibility for their own redeption, to be their own help. So, I invite you to stand, either physically, symbolically, for your own redemption at the word Kuma. Mi Chamocha We come now to the main part of our service, the Amidah. There are so many traditions here but we will only touch on one: Bowing. Traditionally during the Amidah, we bow four times. Twice during Avot V’Imahot, the first prayer. And Twice during Hoda’ah, the second to last prayer. In the Talmud we are cautioned against bowing more than this, lest we appear overly pious. So as we pray the Amidah, I invite you to pray however you feel comfortable, after we conclude the first three blessings together. Stand, sit, read the traditional prayers, or offer one of your own. Take this time, and pray. AMIDAH Y’heyu Torah Service Aleynu Kaddish