~ PROCEEDINGS I I OF THE I RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA ' l 'I

FIFTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION I AT I BREAKERS HOTEL ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. 1 TAMMUZ 9 TO TAMMUZ 14, 5713 JUNE 22 TO JUNE 27, 19 53 j I

VOLUME XVII

1 I l the rabbinate if they cannot respect the courage and the integrity of those who now practice our calling. Demonstrate to them, our future leaders, that the pulpit is one place where unworthy pressures do not prevail.

* * * "' * * THE SPIRIT OF JEWISH PRAYER* I conclude these considerations with a word of gratitude to PROFESSOR ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL all of you for the opportunity you have given me to be of some service, for the gracious help I have always received from Rabbi It is with a sense of great responsibility that I undertake Wolfe Kelman, our director, Mrs. Carol Edelman, our admini­ to discuss with you such a sacred topic, a topic which is strative assistant, the staff of the Rabbinical Assembly office­ called one of the most sublime things in the world, c·~~, and, of course, our many colleagues who were good enough c\>1y ?!ll 101~~ C',01yr1. to accept assignments and to carry them out. My job has I am going to discuss not only the spirit of Jewish prayer ~JUt taken me to many parts of the United States, and this has also the state of prayer in the present day synagogue. The time given me an opportunity to meet with colleagues in their has come for a rvDm llJttm. 'iT ,~ i'T::mt')1 i'T,1pm1 U':lii i'TtvDm. To own communities, and to learn how many of them are doing find a cure we must have the courage to study the ills. valiantly in behalf of the cause. I have been privileged to In advancing some critical remarks I do not mean c1?<>1 on meet and to advise with high Israeli officials and to learn much to take a superior attitude. In all honesty, my criticism will be about our brothers in Israel which I would not otherwise have to a considerable degree self-criticism. I am conscious of the been able to learn. All in all, it has been an enriching and re­ great work which members of this Assembly are doing, and !t warding experience. Again, thank you for the confidence you is with respect and affection that I address my remarks to this have reposed in me. audience. Moreover numerous conversations with some of my own former stud~nts assembled here tonight give me the right to feel that I am not going to speak to you but for you. I am going to be, in a sense your ~1~~ n•?!ll. ?to~lV' m?r1n ~1111' ,nDo ,nm1 wy~l lllyoo 'lY" 'llr1. I speak to you on prayer, ln?i'Tn i'l' 'D1 nnDn •nmv 'JiK ,l:J? 1Uin 'Ni:J 'l'Nrv 'D ?v ~K.

I Our services are conducted with pomp and precision. The ren­ dition of the liturgy is smooth. Everything is present: decorum, voice, ceremony. But one thing is miss_ing: Life. One _knows in advance what will ensue. There Will be no surpnse, no adventure of the soul; there will be no sudden burst of devotion. Nothing is going to happen to the soul. Nothing unpredictable must happen to the person who prays. He will attain no

* For the sake of clarity the author has expanded certain parts dealing with the main thesis. [ 150 J [ 151 J insight into the words he reads; he will attain no new perspective gregation. In particular, it is the organ that does the singing for the hfe he hves. Our motto is monotony. il'il'tv N1il il';"ltV ;,o for the whole community. Too often the organ has become the no'?" n·~~ "':n ~~ )'1<1. The fire has gone out of our worship. ;D~ n·~rabbis worry about the say, so that we can discern whether we hear a question or an ;1/:l'~ being in the right place. What about the heart being in assertion. the right place? What about prayer? It is the intonation that lends Jn to what we say. But when We have developed the habit of praying by proxy. Many we pray the words faint on our lips. Our words have no tone, congregants seem to have adopted the principle of vicarious no stre~gth, no personal dimension, as if we d_id not mean prayer. The rabbi or the cantor does the praying for the con- what we said; as if reading paragraphs m Roget s Thesaurus. I 152 J I 153 J It is prayer without )n. Of course (1) The Doctrine of Agnosticism. responsive reading, but there is !"ttl we offer _them plenty of they read. No one knows h t lh e responsiveness to what I! The doctrine of Agnosticism claims that prayer is rooted in ' to invest a sigh. Is there n~wt 0 ~ etdha tear. No one is ready superstition. It is "one of humanity's greatest mistakes," Ha ear m err souls? desparate effort of bewildered creatures to come to terms with Is there no balm in Gilead? surrounding mystery." Thus, prayer is a fraud. To the Is there no physician there? worshipping man we must say: "Fool, why do you in vain Why then is not the health beseech with childish prayers, things which no day ever did Of the daughter of my people recovered? bring, will bring, or could bring?" 1 Since it is dangerous fraud, the synagogue must be abolished. A vast number of people Assembled in the synag . . the benches the books ~~e everythmg IS there - the body have, indeed, eliminated prayer from their lives. They made as if they all'suffered fro~ spU _tonel tbhing is absent: ;JO!Vl. It i~ an end to that illusion. '"' ua a senteeism In d wor s ecome one with the soul y t . . goo prayer' There are some people who believe that the only way to h d b h . . e m our synagogues I w o are ot erWJse sensitive vib ' peop e revitalize the synagogue is to minimize the importance of listless, lazy. ;,• ,??;,• c•no;,' ~:~? ~:t, arresting, si~ ~here aloof, prayer and to convert the synagogue into a center. It is some­ cannot praise the Lord. ' ose who are spmtually dull thing which the Talmud characterizes as )19: Jl,N? l',lP" ?9 2 09 n'~ noJ::lii n'~ r,1ptzJ ?91 NJ,~ tznpi1. That we sensed that this is a r bl 1. . many valiant but futile attempts fo ~ ~m _ ~ ~V1denced by the Let us face the situation. This is the law of life. Just as namely, of how to increase ea Wit lt. The problem, man cannot live without a soul, Judaism cannot survive without of suggestions have been ,::d:agogue attendance. A variety God. Our soul withers without prayer. A synagogue in which to date by composin sho t ' e. g., to brmg the ,,o up men no longer aspire to prayer is not a compromise but a defeat; distinguished speaker! radr_ er and better prayers; to invite a perversion, not a concession. To pray with ;JJl~ may be diffi­ ' lo-commentators and I . cult; to pray without it is ludicrous. t o arrange congregational fo rums, panels and syco ummsts,· ce e rate annual projects such "J . mpos1a; to "JI b · h w as eWJsh Culture S bb th " eWJs ar Veterans S bb th " "B a a ' terfaith Sabbath" (wh a a ,; oy Scouts Sabbath," "In- (2) The Doctrine of Religious Behaviorism. stained glass windows~ ::tp~ SabbfJh ~abbath"?); to install There are people who seem to believe that religious deeds cards on the seats; to 'remindace go ' s!lve~ o~ blue pledge­ can be performed in a spiritual wasteland, in the absence of the Well-intentioned as these sugg p:-ople of therr birthday dates. solli, with a heart hermetically sealed; that external action is with the core of the issue. Sp~~t~o;,s m~y be, they do not deal the essential mode of worship, pedantry the same as piety; by admmistrative techniques. pro lems cannot be solved as if all that mattered is how men behaved in physical terms; The problem is not how to fill the bu"ld" b . . as if religion were not concerned with the inner life. the hearts. And this is a problem t I ~ngs ut ~ow to msprre Such a conception, which we would like to call religious 0 psychology can hardly be applied T~hJCh techm~ues of child behaviorism, unwittingly reduces Judaism to a sort of sacred synagogue attendance but one . ': ?roblem IS not one of physics, with no sense for the imponderable, the introspective, problem is not how to attract b d. oft sp>ntual attendance. The the metaphysicaL but how to inspire souls to ente o '"~ o enter the space of a temple As a personal attitude religious behaviorism usually reflects in the presence of God Th r anbl our_ of ~pi ritual concentration a widely held theology in which the supreme article of faith is . e pro em IS time, not space. respect for tradition. People are urged to observe the rituals or II to attend services out of deference to what has come down to us from our ancestors. The theology of respect pleads for the Prayer is an extremely embarrassin h attempts have been made t d fi g p enomenon.Numerous briefly mention four of the it. I will 1 Ovid, Tristia, Ill, 8.11. p~ev:l;;t ~~~t;i~e:':lain s ':l ,to~r, n:lv. [ 154] [ 155] maintenance of the inherited . to that identification is Israel's unique association with the institutions and is characteriz::~ transmtt~ed customs and will of God. It is this association that raises our attachment excessive moderation and d' Y a spmt of conformity to the people Israel above the level of mere nationalism. look of religious behaviorist tsrespect of spontaneity. The out~ The doctrine of prayer as a social act is the product of what in Seneca's saying, tamqua':nc~~es close to the view embodied may be called "the sociological fallacy," according to which grata (observe religious custom ~bus •ussa non tamquam dis the individual has no reality except as a carrier of ideas and by law, not because they are d s . edcabuse they are commanded w· . estre y the god ) attitudes that are derived from group existence. Applied to Ise, Important, essential and d · s · Jewish faith, it is a total misunderstanding of the nature of princi~Je "respect for tradition" te agog~cally useful as the Jewish faith to overemphasize the social or communal aspect. defeatmg to make of it th s, It .'s grotesque and self- R r · b . . e supreme arttcle of faith It is true that a Jew never worships as an isolated individual e tgious ehaviOnsm is a d t . . but as a part of the people Israel. Yet it is within the heart minds, and is to a large me oc nne that dominates many prayer. asure responstble for the crisis of of every individual that prayer takes place. It is a personal duty, and an intimate act which cannot be delegated to either the cantor or to the whole community. We pray with all of Israel, and everyone of us by himself. Contrary to sociological (3) The Doctrine of Prayer as a Social Act. theories, individual prayer came first, while collective prayer There is another definition h' h . . is a late phenomenon which is not even mentioned in the over the country in sermo w tc IS bemg perpetuated all "Prayer is the ide t "' t. ns, synagogue bulletins and books Bible.' n 'J'ca ton of the worsh · · h · Such sociological perspectives forfeit the unique aspects of of Israel" or "the . . •pper wtt the people . . ' occaswn for 1mm · Judaism. Do we, in the moment of prayer, concentrate on the hvmg reality" of our people It . b ersmg ourselves in the group? We read in the Psalms "Give ear to my words, 0 Lord, regards God as a symbol of '\ uti~ on a theology which understand my meditation." According to the Midrash, David the ideals of the group as ..~~eta ~ctton, as an epitome of said, "Lord of the World, at the time when I have strength to munity" ., as "th ..t' f e spmt of the beloved com ' e spm o a pe I d . - stand before Thee in prayer and to bring forth words- give a world of humanity th S o~ e, an msofar as there is 4 ear! At a time when I have no strength to bring forth words­ "Creative Good Will" -~hiche m:~nt of the ,Wo~ld"; as the understand what is in my heart, understand my faltering."' endeavor possible.' es cooperatiOn m our moral Can the sociological definition of prayer as an act of identifica­ ':An act of identification with the , . tion with the group be applied to this Midrash? logiCally speaking, the definition of people Is, phenomeno­ political phenomenon the a pohttcal act. But is a 'd same as worshtp? Mo . (4) The Doctrine of Religious Solipsism. ac t o f I entification with th J . h . reover, Is the of serving God? Wh . e eWJs people necessarily an act . · o ts our model· Elijah h d. The doctrine maintains that the individual self of the htmself from the congregatio f h. · w o Isassociated worshipper is the whole sphere of prayer-life. The assumption the Baal who Jed and iden ti~:do thIS pe~ple, o: the prophets of is that God is an idea, a process, a source, a fountain, a spring, The prophets of Israel were not emse v~s ~Ith their people? popular sentiments. Spiritual! eag_er to e m agreement with G Cn1::Jl'l0 nlClj)O I;J~:l 7~i~' C'~:lp!10 l'j'l tot? .. , <17lili1 !10lJ ij1 <1')7 ll':li j'I':'O ]010, sacred as the identification withyth Important, essential, and i'n':l 77~no j'l';l int-t 7~ t-t?t-t ,il:l::i: n7Dn 1::1 77flnj'17 inl'O c1po:. c•.,;,-::;:1 ;p:ll :rw not forget that what lend ..t ~ ~eople Israel Is, we must '"C'lN upnW ]:lin;, inN i;,l il::J::i: rl~~rl C'::Jlrl::ll O'N'::Jl::J UN~O N~ '::l .1~ ]Oil'lU Clj.'O::J s spm ua Importance and sanctity ,'lNi~O ~01' 'i::J ;'l"C'O 'i ,';"1ilU)i0 rlln~::J Jl'NII' ;"1!Z'lij)::JlU C'i:::lil rll::Ji::J n'• ;'l~liJ;, MOJ::l

,·~w ;'1N'~'l'l ,c•;,~N n•:.. 7 Ul::Ji :N1;"1 1li::J t!?lij.';'l ili iON (':::1 ,';"1 'l'l;"1 :'1"l'::J 'jl ;"'l'!Nj'! 'iON, 3 J. Royce, The Problem of Christianity 1913 1 ~lU 'l~~ C'~j'lrl) 4 E. S. Ames, Religion New Yo k 19''9, ' ' pp. 172, 408 f. n::l ':I ]'NlU ;"1)1~::Jl lj'1l'!N;"1- 'iON N'~lj'l~l j'l~~rl::J 1'l~~ ilO;,I~ rl::l '::J t''!:' 0;JW::J ,C~l)l 6 E W L ' r • ~ , p. 132. . . yman, The .Meaning of Truth in R eI' zgwn, . p. 33. '1 ,';"! c•~;,n !ViiO .''l'l;"1 ;1J'::J ,'::J~::J j'l0 ]ll::Jrl;"1. [ 156] [ 157] r------~-

a_ power. But one cannot pray to an idea, one cannot address in the soul. What has the community of Israel to say to the h~s prayers to a fountain of values. To whom, then, do we world? d1r_ect our prayers? Yes, there is an answer. As a recent Gentlemen, we worry a great deal about the problem of wnter put 1t: We address "prayers to the good within our­ church and state, synagogue and state. Now what about the selves."7a synagogue and God? In fact, sometimes there is a greater I do n~t wish _to minimize the fact that we all suffer from an separation between the synagogue and God than between the ego-c~ntric prediCament_ Our soul tends to confine itself to its synagogue and state. . _ . own 1deas, mterests, and emotions. But why should we raise Now what qualifies a person to be a rabb1? What g~ves h1m the ego-centric affliction to the status of a virtue? It is precisely the right, the privilege to represent the word of God to ~he the function of prayer to overcome that predicament to see people of God? I have been in the United Sta~es of Amer1ca the world in a different setting. The self is not the hub but for thirteen years. I have not discovered Amer1ca but I hav: the spoke of ~he revolving wheel. It is precisely the function of discovered something in America. It is possible to be a rabb1 prayer to sh1ft the center of living from self-consciousness to and not to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' self-surrender. 7b It has become a habit with modem Jews and Jewish move­ Religious solipsism claims that we must continue to recite ments to behead, to decapitate Biblical verses. Some such our p~ayers, for prayer is a useful activity. The ideas may be decapitated c•p10~ have become famous slogans. The name of false; _1t ~~ ab~!""d to believe that God "hearkens to prayers and the ,·~·~ movement is an abbreviation of :1~~11 1~~ ~p~· n·~; supphcat10_ns (c•mnm m~~n ~ow), but we should say all this the essence of the verse, •;~ ,,ll~, was omitted. Disciples of beca~se 1t 1s good for one's health. It is a useful fiction thera­ Ahad Ha'am proclaimed m,~ c~ ·~ n~~ ~~, ~·n~ ll~ ·~. Yet the peutiCs by ~ lie. There is no God who hears our pra;ers but prophet said •m,~. The Jewish N a tiona! Fund has as its official we pray as 1f .... motto mn·o~~ ,~on ll~ !',~,.,,; the end y,ll;T ~~ ·~ ·~ was omitted. Is it really good for one's health? I think it is old-fashioned During the last war the popular slogan among Russian Jews and short-sighted psychology to assume that duplicity, ,Mil was ;J'Mil ·~ moll ll~; the continuation ;~• '

13 ~Jan Is Not Alone, p. 88. eve:ry day constantly. If bread is nothing but flour moistened, :: .J11an Is Not Alo~e.• ch. 8 (The Ultimate Question). E. S. Ames, Rehgwn, p. 217. 1M Man is Not Alone, ch. 23. [ 1621 [ 163 1 knea~ed, baked and then brought forth from the o "t . poles about which Jewish prayer revolves. Since each of the meanmgless to say, Blessed art Thou h b . ven, I IS two moves in the opposite direction, equilibrium can only bread from the earth. · · · w o nngest forth be maintained if both are of equal force. However, the pole The way to prayer leads through acts of wonder and rad. l of regularity usually proves to be stronger than the pole amazement. The illusion of total intelli

16 stifling the other? s·Igm .fi cantly, prayers written in our t" . Prayers of praise often sound like If- . Ime are essentially petitional. At first sight, the relationship between ;,~',;, and ;,;JI< in u A . se praise. ccordmg to Rabbi Yose "He h lte h prayer appears to be simple. Tradition gives us the text, we fixed by the wise has failed to 'fulfil h: oohl~ ~s t .~ form of benedictions create the m1~. The text is given once and for all, the inner shalmi Berachoth VI lOb) Rahb" M . gatwns (!Jerachoth 40b; Yeru- ' 2 ' · I e1r declares It to h th d devotion comes into being every time anew. The text is the every one to say one hundred b d" f . e e uty of bers Rabba XVIII). ene Ic IOns daily (1Vfenahoth 43a, see Num- property of all ages, ~l1~ is the creation of a single moment. na The contrast between order d tb . The text belongs to all Jews, ;,n~ is the private concern of term V.:Ji' Shammai said: "M k an ou u:st IS made clear through the every individual. And yet, the problem is far from being simple. made by the scholar) V.:JP (a fix:det~~nur ~.1ln (m the sen~e of legal decisions The text comes out of a book, it is given; ;m~ must come out of severe to others, nor lenient to othersg~~d Do not be lement to yourself and the heart. But is the heart always ready - three times a day - and the explication in Jni '.:J1i l'11:J~ 47 se~ere to y,ourself. See 1'tl ,tt ,m.:JN 1 In contrast Rabbi Shimeon said· whp. • l :l i' !l • :J ttnOll .1)./tl:lV~ Mtt::>l;"l, to bring forth devotion? And if it is, is its devotion in tune a fixed thing (JJ.Jp). (n'• '.:J m:~~·) R:bro;/ray, d~ not make your prayer with what the text proclaims? prayer a fixed thing (V.Ji') hi . Iezer said: He who makes his In regard to most aspects of observance, Jewish tradition 'i 'i). • s prayer IS not an act of grace (Ml:l,:J ;"1~~ 0 has for pedagogic reasons given primacy to the principle of ~~p; [ 164 J [ 165 J there are many rituals concerning which the law maintains that occasional experience to that of a permanent covenant. It is if a person has performed them without proper ;m:o, he is to be through ;r:o?c that we belong to God not occasionally, inter­ regarded ex post facto as having fulfilled his duty. In prayer, mittently, but essentially, continually. Regularity of prayer is however, ;dm insists upon the supremacy of ;m:o over the an expression of my belonging to an order, to the covenant external performance, at least, theoretically." Thus, Maimon­ between God and Israel, which remains valid regardless of ides declares: "Prayer without ;m;, is no prayer at alL He who whether I am conscious of it or not. has prayed without ;-m;, ought to pray once more. He whose How grateful I am to God that there is a duty to worship, a thoughts are wandering or occupied with other things need not law to remind my distraught mind that it is time to think of pray until he has recovered his mental composure. Hence, on God, time to disregard my ego for at least a moment! It is returning from a journey, or if one is weary or distressed, it is such happiness to belong to an order of the divine wilL I am forbidden to pray until his mind is composed. The sages said not always in a mood to pray. I do not always have the vision that upon returning from a journey, one should wait three days and the strength to say a word in the presence of God. But until he is rested and his mind is calm, then he prays."" when I am weak, it is the law that gives me strength; when my Significantly, Nahmanides insists that "prayer is not a duty," vision is dim, it is duty that gives me insight. and he who prays does not perform a requirement of the law. We must not think, that ;rm is a small matter. It requires It is not the law of God that commands us to pray; it is the constant effort, and we may fail more often than we succeed. love and "grace of the Creator, blessed be He, to hear and to But the battle for 01l1::> must go on, if we are not to die of answer whenever we call upon Him." 20 spiritual paralysis. In reality, however, the element of ~:lp, of regularity, has The Rabbis insisted: In order to prevent the practice of often gained the upper hand over the element of ;m;,. Prayer repeating a prayer for superstitious or magical purposes, the has become "''~lKr, lip service, an obligation to be discharged Talmud ordains that a person who says the word "Hear" something to get over with. •;,m 'Joe pn1 l:J.?l 'Jl,:J:J l'n.mo:n l'!l~ (0 Israel) or the word "We thank Thee" twice, is to be silenced. ;,,o?c c•tzm-t m~o •nN cnN,•. 21 Rab Pappa asked Abbai: But perhaps the person repeated his Typical is the common use of the term "service" for prayer. prayer because when he said the words the first time he did not have 01m. So he repeated the prayer in order to say it with ;-,:l~ means both work, service, and worship. Yet ?:o:l ,,:l~? 1 c::>:l:l? does not mean to work with your heart." Service is an ;-1J1::>. Thus, there was no ground for suspecting him of indulging external act; worship is inwardness. in superstition or magical practices. Why should we silence Prayer becomes trivial when ceasing to be an act in the souL him? Answered Abbai: "Has anyone intimacy with heaven?" The essence of prayer is ;-,K. Yet it would be a tragic failure Has anyone the right to address God thoughtlessly as one not to appreciate what the spirit of ;r:o?;r does for it, raising it talks to a familiar friend? "If he did not at first direct his mind from the level of an individual act to that of an eternal inter­ to prayer, we smite him with a smith's hammer until he does course between the people Israel and God; from the level of an direct his mind" .23 Prayer is not for the sake of something else. We pray in It 18 The polarity of prayer and the declsion in favor of the element of rm:1 order to pray. is the queen of all m~o. No religious act is is implied in the following discussion. ??~n·;u l,:l. In 'H ,1':1, Maimonides' in Caro's ,,,~ Jn?.,, the first section 1 ~ l'i! ,,·~ 0?~n m:~?i! ,ililn , it is ~;m; otherwise it is Wissenschaft. carrying a n•?ro, is vulgar; the cDm belongs elsewhere. Prayer 1s of no 1mportance unless it is of supreme importance. For us, it is of vital importance to beware of intellectual c':>1y ':>IV 101"1~ C'101Y;"J C'1Y1 1':>N ("to .~·· c•?~n) C1N 'l~':> n':>11 011~ vulgarity. Many categories, conceptions or words that are 1 1 Cil:J c• n nn c,N 'J:Jl. 24 properly employed in the realm of our political, economic, or even scientific activities are, when applied to issues such as God or prayer, an affront to the spirit. Let us never put the v shoes in the Ark; let us try to regain a sense of,,,~~. of separa­ My intention is not to offer blueprints, to prescribe new tion, of spiritual delicacy. Let us recapture the meaning of rules- except one: Prayer must have life. It must not be a ,.,~~?. drudgery, something done in a rut, something to get over with. The problem is not how to revitalize prayer; the problem is It must not be fiction, it must not be flattened to a ceremony, how to revitalize ourselves. Let us begin to cultivate those to an act of mere respect for tradition. thoughts and virtues without which our worship becomes, of If the main purpose of being a rabbi is to bring men closer necessity, a prayer for the dead- for ideas which are dead to to their Father in heaven, then one of his supreme tasks is to our hearts. pray and to teach others how to pray. Torah, worship and We must not surrender to the power of platitudes. If our charity are the three pillars upon which the world rests. To be rational methods are deficient and too weak to plumb the depth a Jew implies the acceptance of the preeminence of prayer. of faith, let us go into stillness and wait for the age in which To be able t~ inspire people to pray one must love his people, reason will learn to appreciate the spirit rather than accept unders~nd th~1r pr~dJCaments and be sensitive to the power of standardized notions that stifle the mind and stultify the soul. exaltatwn, pun?catwn and sanctification hidden in our Prayer We must not take too seriously phrases or ideas which the Book. To attam such sensitivity he must commune with the history of human thought must have meant in jest, as for great masters of the past, and learn how to pour one's own example, that prayer is "a symbol of ideas and values," "a dreams and anxieties into the well of prayer. tendency to idealize the world," "an act of the appreciation of We must learn to acquire the basic virtues of inwardness the self." There was a time when God became so distant that which alone qualify a rabbi to be a mentor of prayer. we were almost ready to deny Him, had psychologists or

:Laa 'N ,J'? m:n:J. u A good illustration is the Rabbinical dictum, 1')111' ?:,, :::n "1:::1 pn f'N, ~b ::l.PV mnD , "nJ. "1fl 1? onm 1?'!lN l'DO .,?:Jl 1:::11 N':::l:ll:)l l'D ?:::!~0;"1 ?:J tt?tt ,nDm? ilCl:Jl .,o? 01?:1 24 ':::~ :? m:nJ. ':::1 :n m:Jlll:J ·,.,y.,? 1•?v lDm i1:no? ;'llZ! ::l'li::ltt ?w u•1. I 168 I I 1691 sociologists not been willing to permit us to believe in Him. Without an attitude of piety toward words, we will remain at a And how grateful some of us were when told ex cathedra that loss how to pray. . . prayer is not totally irrelevant because it does satisfy an Moreover, words must not be said for the sake of stJ!Iemng emotional need. the mind of tightening the heart. They must open the mmd To Judaism the purpose of prayer is not to satisfy an emo­ and unti~ the heart. A word may be either a blessing or a tional need. Prayer is not a need but an ontological necessity, misfortune. As a blessing it is the insight of a people m the an act that expresses the very essence of man. 0"11 c•,;-;n) 1:'1lJ,iNl 'lNip' :101Ml ,•n:J::Jnl 1::0?nN jji:! 01':::1 'll'npl ('M ,'J pray. The test of a true sermon is that it can be converted to iOI'Wt' .nOMJ lnM'ip Nj')/11V 1'1::> p 'D ?y ~Nl .(i'::l ,ii'O i1'J,i1V') m],iM 'lKl 1Kip' 010 ·.nOK::l lj')Hnp• iiVN ?::J' 101' ilo?n ?'J' ?r:J• .(n'• ,i1'op c•?nn) l'Kilp '::l' ',; ::mp prayer. ts f . I sig­ 'i1 , '1 ,C''iln IViiO. To the average worshipper many tex o perenrua [ 170 J [ 171 J nificance have become .d syllables. It is therefo;:PI and seem to be an assembly line of The Egyptian priest could not call upon the stars to praise the to bring forth the meani~: :rr:~s:worthy custom for the rabbi gods. He believed that the soul of Isis sparkled in Sirius, the Unfortunately, some rabbis se Prayers to the congregation. soul of Horus in Orion, and the soul of Typhon in the Great teach popular W issenschajt e: to thmk that their task is to Bear; it was beyond his scope to conceive that all beings stand conducted as if they were ad'anlt das a :esult some services are in awe and worship God. In our liturgy we go beyond a mere · . u -e ucatwn progr D . on th e h lstoncal aspects th d' ams. wellmg hope; every seventh day we proclaim as a fact l1~n •n 7~ no.,l composition of the pra;ers e~h lscuss,/or ~xample, the date of lO"' m1. The soul of everything that lives blesses Thy name." form or the supposedly pri;,.t.e pecu l.antJes of their literary and customs. I IVe ongon of some of our laws .'i1:1 !V1,p ,K 110N' ?:~i'TI '11n:::l!V' ?:~m ..,,,,, ?:~it They all thank, What about the spirit of ra e ? They all praise, people to the truth of its .d P / f· What about relating the They all say, tJon kills inspiration 2s T~e :~s. ?o often, so-called explana­ There is none holy like the Lord. ment grew out of a ~agan festi~!~s~o::., that the Day of Atone­ merit, hardly consonant with th . : gardless of Its scientific Whose ear has ever heard how all trees sing to God? Has our reason ever thought of calling upon the sun to praise the Nor must prayer be treat de spmt of the moment of '111 ~~. explaining sections of th e a~ an ancestral institution. In Lord? And yet, what the ear fails to perceive, what reason discourse about quaint e ~rayer ook our task is not to give a fails to conceive, our prayer makes clear to our souls. It is a used to think." The cus oms or about "the way our fathers higher truth, to be grasped by the spirit. t. . . ,,.,o Is not a muse f . an IQUihes and the synago . urn o mtellectual ·l'IV~O ';~ ';'! ln1' a house of worship Th gue IS not a house of lectureship but " . · e purpose of such com t · . All Thy works praise Thee outpourmg of the heart" th men s Is to mspire Psalms 145:10 · · ra er than t t' f curwsity; to set forth the h'dd o sa IS y historical The trouble with the prayerbook is: it is too great for us, hypotheses of forgotten ori~ en relevance of ideas rather than Th . o•ns. it is too lofty. Since we have failed to introduce our minds to ere Is a book which ever one t its greatness, our souls are often lost in its sublime wilderness. have really read. A book w~ch h alks about: but few people The 1110 has become a foreign language even to those of us one of the least known b k . as the distmctwn of being who know Hebrew. It is not enough to know the vocabulary; the prayerbook Have oo s m our literature. It is the 111D I · we ever pond d h • what is necessary is to understand the categories, the way of words? Let us consider an 1 ere t e meaning of its examp e: thinking of the 1110. It is not enough to read the words; what Sing unto the Lord, a new son . is necessary is to answer them. Smg unto the Lord, all the earfh. Our prayerbook is going to remain obscure unless Jewish teachers will realize that one of their foremost tasks is to . Psalm 96:1 I Pra!se Him, sun and moon discover, to explain and to interpret the words of the Prayer­ Praise Him, all you shining stars. book. What we need is a sympathetic ,,,o-exegesis. Religious movements in our history have often revolved Psalm 148·3 2s I am infonned that a congregation . . . around the problem of liturgy. In the modern movements, too, before the ,.,,,.:l,, was told the followin . " hstenmg to c?mments delivered liturgy was a central issue. when the additional soul depart g. At the concluswn of the Sabbath But there was a difference. To Kabbalah and Hasidism the herbs, for at that moment ac~~;~: m~st be refreshed by smelling aromati; primary problem was how to pray; to the modern movements, separated and sad until th~ sm 11 mg o the ,,,lf' 'the soul and spirit are glad.' However, this is of coeur comes and unites them and makes them the primary problem was what to say. What has Hasidism · · ( ' se, not the t ongm o the ceremony is that in . rue reason. The authentic accomplished? It has inspired worship in a vast number of Sabbath and a bad odor came ou::~~~~t .times people ate a great deal on the odor, they used spices." eir mouth. In order to drive out the 2 ~ The usual translation "shall bless" totally misses the meaning of the passage. [ 172 1 [ 173 1 Jews. What have th d inspired the publicatio: o~o erns accomplished? They have praise to his disciples, and even more reason to enter the important for the Assembl a tvas; number of prayerbooks. It is synagogue. When they questioned him further, Rabbi Levi 0 contribution to bibli ~ c anfy Its goal. Is it to make a Yitzhak explained: "Words uttered without fear, uttered a sense of ;ll1~? TherZ~:~ .: orf to endow our people with without love, do not rise to heaven. I sense that the synagogue Commission. Why is. th ee~ or many years a Prayerbook is full of Torah and full of prayer." Modern Jews suffer f:~e no rayer. Com:nission? Judaism is not a religion of space.'' To put it sharply, it is call the 111o-complex. m a neurosis WhiCh I should like to better to have prayer without a synagogue than a synagogue True, the text of the ra without prayer." And yet we always speak of synagogue many people But th . P yerbook presents difficulties to It . e CflSlS of · attendance rather than of prayer. is the right word for the text. Jt is a problem of the SOUrayer IS not a problem of the wrong spirit. By being in the space of a synagogue while a as a scapegoat. A revision of th . The ,,,o must not be used service is being conducted one has not fulfilled his religious crisis of prayer. What we need ~ prayer~ook will not solve the duty. Many of those attending Sabbath services arrive during heart rather than a new text DI~ a revision of the soul, a new the reading of the weekly Torah portion and leave without more ;JJl~ since the referenc to I t;e Jews begm to pray with having read the 90w or prayed the m•o9 of n•1n1V - the two emendations will not sav eth sac~I ces was emended? Textual most important parts of the prayer. than a spiritual revolutio e ·l~ spmt of prayer. Nothing less Nor is it the primary purpose of prayer "to promote Jewish ;JJl~ is more than atte ; Wl save prayer from oblivion. unity." As we said above, prayer is a personal duty, and an inti­ aware of what we are n I Veness, more than the state of being mate act which cannot be delegated to either the cantor or the mind, it would be easi~;~~fi·e;:ct,~~ were only presence of. the whole community. We pray with the whole community, and Yet, according to the Mishn h Y ~ mere turn of the mmd. everyone of us by himself. We must make clear to every Jew they had to meditate an h a '.the PIOus men of old felt that that his duty is to pray rather than to be a part of an audience. ;JJl~. In the words of th ~~ m order to attain the state of The rabbi's role in the sacred hour of worship goes far be­ heart to the Father in heav':n" Is~nah, ;JJl~ means "to direct the yond that of maintaining order and decorum. His unique task heart to the text or the t. t Is not phrased, to direct the is to be a power for m;;wn.,, to endow others with a sense of con ent of the prayer "" h . more t h an paying attention t . · m1:~, t en, Is <1m. And as we have said, m1~ is more than a touch of emotion. It is attentiveness to G d o the hteral meaning of a text ""~ is insight, appreciation. To acquire such insight, to deepen . o , an act of app · t · .< . · stand 'n the presence of God. recw wn OJ bemg able to such appreciation, is something we must learn all the days of Appreciation is not the s . our lives. It is something we must live all the days of our lives. drawn to the preciousne afme as reflectwn. It is one's being Such insight, such appreciation, we must convey to others. ss o somethmg h · f d · sense the preciousness of b . bl e Is ace Wlth. To It may be difficult to convey to others what we think, but it is of the supreme significan:~n~t e to pr~y, to be perceptive be~inning of higher ml~. worshippmg of God is the so "Rabbi Hama ben Hanina and Rabbi Oshaya were strolling near the synagogue of Lud. Rabbi Hama boasted: "How much money have my Prayer without ;JJl~ is lik b . ancestors invested in these buildings!" Rabbi Oshaya replied: "How many word uttered without the fe: a ody Wlthout a soul." "A souls have they wasted here! Were there no students of Torah to support to heaven." Once R bb. and love of God does not rise 1 instead?" visiting a city went t a Levi Yitzhak of Berdychev while Rabbi Abin donated a gate to the Great Synagogue. When Rabbi Mana refused to enter. Wh:n ~i~~~gogue .. ArJ:iving at the gate he came to him, he boasted: "Do you see what I have done?" Said Rabbi with the synagogue th . SCiples mqm.red what was wrong Mana: " 'When Israel forgets its Creator, tbey build temples.' (Hosea 8:14) • ey receiVed the re 1 . "Th Were there no students of Torah to support instead?" (~lo ,'j! c·~pZ'). f ull of words of Torah and " P. y. e synagogue is 31 prayer. This seemed the highest ·11'9:llt' n 0 J ::l ;'! n' :l :l ~~Dl'm ~~!ll'10 :"ll'1NIZ'J 1~ 'n10H 'JH ~N10'~ ;"l':li':"l 10H, ??Dnj'T~ ~l::l' ;"ll'1H )'H CHl ·1 1 111 11n:1 ??~n;, ,l'10J:l:"l 1'1':1:1 ~~!ln;"l~ ?l::l' ;'Ji1H )'N OHl ·1l'1tl0 ?9 ~~Dl'1j'T •1l'1':l11l'1:l ??Dn:-1~ ~l::l' :"ll'1H J'H CNl ·1 l'1' :1 111'1:1 ?~!ll'1j'T •11!0 111'1:1 2ila Cf. 1nZ'il n~!ln IV'1 i1~l' ll':l1. O::l:l:l?:l liON :l'n::l1 H1j'T Hi:"l ·1 :l, :1 1 i1 1 :"1 ,1l'1tl0 ~ll' ?~Dn;"l~ ~l::l' j'Tl'1H )'N OHl [ 174] 't) .'1 ,0'~;'11'1 !11110 '.;'1~0 10111 OJ:l::lZ'O 'll'· [ 175] not difficult to convey to others what we live. Our task is to lk Let us not just utter consonants echo and to reflect the light and spirit of prayer. Let us pray the way we t~o~ to chant our prayers. I~ is one It was in the interest of bringing about order and decorum and vowels. Let us learn d. d ot know how to appreciate the that in some synagogues the rahhi and cantor decided to occupy of our traged!es that we 1 e~ch the nmJ, and instead, have very soul of our anclent sp ' Let us try to recap- a position facing the congregation. It is quite possible that monotonous manner. adopted a pompous . t Let us Jearn to express a reexamination of the whole problem of worship would ture the last traces of our anclen no1J. lead to the conclusion that the innovation was an error. The essence of prayer is not decorum hut rather an event in the what we say. d eo le under the sun. Our We are the most challenge P. P. hi to the world; inner life of men. ;,?yo? 1~?1 ;,~o? 1'l'V )n'tvl',~ ??~no;,. 32 "He existence is either superfluous or md!spensa e who prays must turn his eyes down and his heart up." What . . · tr · 0r holy to he a Jew· d goes on in the heart is reflected in one's face. It is embarrassing 1t 1s e1ther agJC . nsibility that we here an to he exposed to the sight of the whole congregation in moments It is a matter of lmmense respo dertaken to instill in our when one wishes to he alone with his God. Jewish teachers everywhe: ha~e unrrow and forever and ever. youth the will to he Jews t ay, o~o . iflcance how can we A cantor who faces the holiness in the Ark rather than the 81 curiosity of man will realize that his audience is God. He will Unless being a Jew is. of a~~o~u e feople w,;, often forced justify the ultimat~ pr~?et ~ ~c T~:sess Judaism soberly and learn to realize that his task is not to entertain hut to represent 1 0 the people Israel. He will be carried away into moments in to pay throughout 1ts ~ >: · od to he preferred, if which he will forget the world, ignore the congregation and farsightedly is to estahh~h lt :s ha go may ever face. This is he overcome hy the awareness of Him in Whose presence he necessary, to any alternative w ~~ ew~f evaluating Judaism, a stands. The congregation then will hear and sense that the often the only adeq.uate persp~~ lV nts do not tire to force cantor is not giving a recital hut worshipping God, that to perspective into whlch the ~~lie~~~ culture, of Almohadic pray does not mean to listen to a singer hut to identify oneself us, whether m. the name ~ f modem assimilation or of with what is being proclaimed in their name."• Islam, of med!eval. crus;.~:s, tr~th is, we have more faith contemporary. ~asc!sm. d .t y t it is stifled, suppressed and cl1~ requires preparation. Miracles may happen, hut one than we are w!lhng to a ml . e . k' must not rely on miracles. The spirit of prayer is frequently decided during the hour which precedes the time of prayer. distorted hy an irreligious way ~f ~~h~n,!;hts to thee, in tears At this hour, 0 Lord, whe ope 0I I stand at this present Negatively, one is not ready to engage in certain activities, or d t ·r n We teac ers ln srae' f h even in light talk before he prays. And positively one must an con n 10 . ' t d II of the future o t e learn to perform a degree of inner purification before venturing moment between a~l of the P: h:~d :ver the Torah, the holi­ to address the King of kings. According to Maimonides, "One people of Israel. It ls upon us d 'nts to all the genera­ must free his heart from all other thoughts and regard himself ness, the spirit of prop~etsjds~g;s;:u~h s:; Judaism will be lost, as standing in the presence of the C1J'::><>. Therefore, before tions to come. If we s o~ rda'l we confess our failure. Day engaging in prayer, the worshipper ought to go aside a little gone and forgotte\ 0 ~ Thee Steeped in vanity, envy, in order to bring himself into a devotional frame of mind, and after day we have etraye d to magnify our own names, then he must pray quietly and with feeling, not like one who ambition, we have often laho~e? n• Dazzled hy the splendor carries a weight and throws it away and goes farther."" although we smd t<~, c'DIV .,,pn , , t d platitudes as dogmas, of i.nte.llectual fla~.s, weal~~~~g~c!'::r:peated 1l::>1n~ V~l c?1y "m. 32 preJUdices as sou wns, :•~;..·.:> '~tj ~·ny-, ~":l'N ~"Y"' ,"11:)~ i'T:ltv:-1 ti:'tot"'':J, :'J .1':1 i1ll:'0 ti:'H, )"ll ,':J ,it'p MlD:I' 'N O':I~D) 'CC' 'J?1 ':l'}7 1':"11 l:llC'.O '1'"'111 'tl!:l f"''tot? J'ti:!l:l:J l'lD ,1n17fln:J ti:!'l'N ~":!"'!, :''!0, ln,m~ 1J':It-t u~'tuil ('l .'U.

a2a 'jn?!ln ?Jpo Kl,, ll"'':J ~l"''p:-r; ,c:J? ntt J'lll:JD 1lJ~:-r ?, nr:~ ,,:J~ n•?~:~ n?!lnn1 84 "''lO.V ,':J p?n .11NI:l.1 n,no .:"1Htphtoc nn~:~•1 .,. 33 r'un .1'fl .,?fln m:~?;, .,·nm m~:~o.

[ 176 J [ 177 J