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Prayer and Poetry a R EVIEW E SSAY by David Ebner

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Prayer and Poetry a R EVIEW E SSAY by David Ebner Prayer and Poetry A R EVIEW E SSAY By David Ebner hy do so many people course. This is obvious when one for- seem to feel that daven- mulates law, philosophy and medicine. Wing begins somewhere Yet it is equally true—nay, most true— around Barchu and actually being when engaged in the composition and on time for it is the domain of recitation of poetry! insomniacs and Kaddish-sayers? Poetry? But what does that have Why do educators wring their to do with davening? hands in despair about the low level Now, I have often found that of inspiration and kavanah that so when I say the P word, students’ eyes many students attach to prayer? glaze over. Long gone are the days when These are just a few manifesta- students actually studied poetry in a tions of what sometimes seems to be an wider cultural environment in which almost insoluble malaise at the core of poems were published in daily newspa- one of Judaism’s pillars—prayer. While pers, or poetry readings were regular many suggestions and programs have events attended by the general public. been devised to contend with this prob- The truth is, however, that Torah lem, little attention has been paid to the gives itself the name Sefer Shirah, literary issue involved. The root of the Book of Poetry. In addition, we con- problem for the English-speaking public would be fairly obvious. stantly recite the shirei David of may partially be found in the very issue Second, Maimonides explains that Tehillim as the text of our prayers. In of language itself. the formalization of the text of prayer other words, prayer is expressed through First, the most obvious manifesta- (Amidah) was instituted by the Men of the poetic mode. It may well be that tion of this problem is that many people the Great Assembly because many peo- poetry is the outer province of the quest are simply unable to make any reason- ple were unable to express themselves to stretch language beyond the point “of able sense of a good part of prayer. As properly in Hebrew. They were, he tells that which one can not speak, one must an educator, I have long noted the phe- us, “ilgim” who used a polyglot lan- remain silent.” Before davening the nomenon of people who regularly daven guage. Amidah we ask God to give us the gift but cannot translate or explain in any So what? Why not simply pray in of speech. And His gift is the speech of reasonable way what they are saying. whatever language one uses, be it poetry, the spirit of ruach memallelah, Unfortunately, the matter does not end Hebrew, English, Chinese or whatever the form of Torah language itself. In there. Indeed, if it were so, the solution polyglot of these one employs? standing before God, whose very name Perhaps he was driving at a subtle, is unutterable and in whose presence we yet critical point—one abundantly clear tremble and lose our tongue, how then Rabbi Dr. Ebner is rosh yeshivah at Yeshivat to any student of his works. The style, can we find words of petition and Eretz HaTzvi in Jerusalem and the author of intonation and precision of language are praise, of loss and longing unless we two volumes of poetry. His web site of sichot necessary conditions at all levels of dis- resort to poetry? and shiurim is esnips.com/web/DivreiDovid. 44 JEWISH ACTION Fall 5768/2007 This was the gift of prayer that the words that give expression to one’s own Men of the Great Assembly gave us inchoate longings and concerns. when they composed the Amidah. They Of course, those whose native wove the tapestry of Biblical poetry into language is not Hebrew are left with language that would give shape to the only two options: to improve their deepest sensitivities of both the frailty Hebrew to the point that they become and spirituality that comprise the core sensitive to Hebrew poetic prayer, or to of the human condition. They sought to read the prayers in translation. Those give voice to this animal called man, who are serious about their davening gathered from the dust of the earth but often rely on translations, and these animated by the breath of God. translations, as verbally accurate as they The ultimate model of this is may be, rarely have any poetic quality found in Tehillim, in the words of the to them. Nonetheless, Robert Frost’s prophets, and in the very text of Torah observation that it is precisely poetry itself, the ultimate Sefer Shirah—Book that is lost in translation and William of Poetry. Mathews’ contention that “it is because This effort was further expanded it is impossible that translation is so over the generations by all the great pay- interesting” are, in fact, vitiated by tanim, or poets, who composed their many significant exceptions. Thus, we own prayer-poems, many of which still hopefully await an English transla- entered our liturgy. tion of the siddur that is poetically It is at this point that the crux of faithful to the original. the problem becomes even more com- plicated. For even were we to successful- I have long noted the ly teach the translations of the words, the fundamental problem of poetic sen- phenomenon of people sibility still remains. Granted, there are who regularly daven but those who have a natural affinity to poetry just as there are those naturals in cannot translate or Lichtenstein seeks to translate the mean- music, baseball, art, et cetera. The sad explain in any reason- ing and idea and not be a slave to the truth is that most people may not be word. Furthermore, he is not afraid of blessed with an affinity to poetry. able way what they are departing from forms that preserve the However, while natural genius is saying. majesty of monarchy, but unfortunately, the stuff of which Mozarts are made, a majesty that does not speak to the education is the stuff of which those modern temperament. (Indeed, the con- who appreciate Mozart are made. David It is my contention that, aside stant reference to monarchy in prayer and the Men of the Great Assembly cre- from broader cultural contexts such as and the requirement of relating to God ated the poems and prayers, which we the disappearance of the sense of depri- employ to beseech and glorify God; vation and dependence, the problem of as King are problems to those for whom without them, we would be mute. prayer needs to be addressed in the basic monarchy is an antiquated institution Thus, it is not merely the transla- education students receive in sensitivity whose relevance is only for tourists. tion that is critical to a person who to the poetic mode. Therefore, the Educators who ignore this fact are not would seek to find his prayer modes in appearance of Dr. Aaron Lichtenstein’s helping their students learn to pray.) the words of others. Equally critical, and translation of Psalms, The Book of One has the sense, when reading certainly much more difficult, is the Psalms in Plain English: A Contemporary Dr. Lichtenstein’s translation, that it is development of a sense of the poetic Reading of Tehillim (Jerusalem: Urim the work of someone for whom the spirit, a nurturing of the ability to read Publications, 2006), is a most welcome Psalms are prayers with which he has and recite language that is not reduced addition to the attempt to present the identified so fully that he is not afraid to into simple sound bites or CliffsNotes. poetry of Tehillim in poetic idiom. employ figures of speech that others This can only be developed by a good edu- Following Maimonides’ advice to may find jarring or trivial. cation in which one is sensitized to the Samuel ibn Tibbon concerning the Thus, Psalms 39:5, which reads in precision and passion of poetry by translation of his Guide to the Perplexed the standard Jewish Publication Society learning to enter poetry and find the from Arabic to Hebrew, Dr. (1917) as: Fall 5768/2007 JEWISH ACTION 45 Lord, make me to know mine end, (The Hebrew title of the book is Zir The collection has been skillfully and the measure of my days, what it is; / Kissufim, which translates as “Route of edited by Rabbi Daniel Gutmacher, let me know how short-lived I am is ren- Longing” and refers to the road that who arranged the poems thematically dered as: joined the Negev with the settlements and provided an introduction to each O Lord, tell me the sum total of all of Gush Katif.) As Rabbi Adin unit that is not only informative but my years, / The bottom-line value of all Steinsaltz notes in his introduction to also challenges the reader to internalize my life. the book: the poems/prayers intellectually and Or his translation of Psalms The uprooting from Gush Katif emotionally. It is further graced by a 126:1-2: brought with it a great deal of sorrow and selection of artwork and photographs When the Lord restores Zion, it will emotional pain, rage and bitterness— that generally illustrates and captures be like a dream, / Our mouths will be full together with feelings of despair and loss of the mood of the prayers. Particularly of laughter and tra-la-la. Rather than: direction. Many of these feelings remained moving is Boris Shapiro’s painting “In When the Lord brought back those deeply hidden within the hearts or were Flight,” which powerfully complements that returned to Zion, we were like unto transmitted from one person to another in Elon’s short story.
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