Jewish Liturgy
Level: Intermediate |
In the giving credit where credit is due department: much
of the information in this page is derived from Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin's
"To
Pray as a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer Book and the Synagogue Service",
an excellent Orthodox resource on the subject of Jewish prayer.
Observant Jews daven (pray) in formal worship services three times a day,
every day: at evening (Ma'ariv), in the morning (Shacharit), and in the afternoon
(Minchah). Daily prayers are collected in a book called a siddur, which derives
from the Hebrew root meaning "order," because the siddur shows the order
of prayers. It is the same root as the word
seder, which refers to the
Passover home service.
Undoubtedly the oldest fixed daily prayer in Judaism is the Shema. This consists
of Deut. 6:4-9, Deut. 11:13-21, and Num. 15:37-41. Note that the first paragraph
commands us to speak of these matters "when you retire and when you arise."
From ancient times, this commandment was fulfilled by reciting the Shema
twice a day: morning and night.
The next major development in Jewish prayer occurred during the Babylonian
Exile, 6th century B.C.E. People were not able
to sacrifice in the
Temple at that time, so they used prayer as
a substitute for sacrifice. "The offerings of our lips instead of bulls,"
as Hosea said. People got together to pray three times a day, corresponding
to the three daily sacrifices. There was an additional prayer service on
Shabbat and certain
holidays, to correspond to the additional
sacrifices of those days. Some suggest that this may already have been a
common practice among the pious before the Exile.
After the Exile, these daily prayer services continued. In the 5th century
B.C.E., the Men of the Great Assembly composed
a basic prayer, covering just about everything you could want to pray about.
This is the Shemoneh Esrei, which means "18" and refers to the 18 blessings
originally contained within the prayer. It is also referred to as the Amidah
(standing, because we stand while we recite it), or Tefilah (prayer, as in
The Prayer, because it is the essence of all Jewish prayer). This prayer
is the cornerstone of every Jewish service.
The blessings of the Shemoneh Esrei can be broken down into 3 groups: three
blessings praising G-d, thirteen making requests
(forgiveness, redemption, health, prosperity, rain in its season, ingathering
of exiles, etc.), and three expressing gratitude and taking leave. But wait!
That's 19! And didn't I just say that this prayer is called 18?
One of the thirteen requests (the one against heretics) was added around
the 2nd century C.E., in response to the growing
threat of heresy (including Christianity, which was a Jewish sect at the
time), but at that time, the prayer was already commonly known as the Shemoneh
Esrei, and the name stuck, even though there were now 19 blessings. Many
non-Jews, upon hearing that there is a blessing like this, assume it is much
more offensive than it actually is. Here is what it says:
For slanderers, may there be no hope; and may all wickedness quickly be
destroyed, and may all your enemies be cut off swiftly. The intentional
[sinners], swiftly may they be uprooted, broken, cast down and subdued, swiftly
and in our days. Blessed are you, L-RD, breaker of enemies and subduer of
intentional [sinners].
Another important part of certain prayer services is a reading from the
Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and the Prophets.
The Torah has been divided into 54 sections, so that if each of these sections
is read and studied for a week, we can cover the entire Torah in a year every
year (our leap years are 54 weeks long; regular years are 50 or so, we double
up shorter portions on a few weeks in regular years). At various times in
our history, our oppressors did not permit us to have public readings of
the Torah, so we read a roughly corresponding section from the Prophets (referred
to as a Haftarah). Today, we read both the Torah portion and the Haftarah
portion. These are read at morning services on
Shabbat and some
holidays. In addition, at Monday and Thursday
morning services, we read part of the upcoming Shabbat's Torah portion (about
10 to 15 verses; the first aliyah of the week's portion).
The Torah and haftarah readings are performed with great ceremony: the Torah
is paraded around the room before it is brought to rest on the bimah (podium).
It is considered an honor to have the opportunity to recite a blessing over
the reading (this honor is called an aliyah). For more information, see
Torah Readings.
That's the heart of the Jewish prayer service. There are, however, many
additional prayers leading up to these things and following these things.
There is a long series of morning blessings
at the beginning of the morning service. Some people recite these at home.
They deal with a lot of concerns with getting up in the morning, and things
we are obligated to do daily. There is a section called P'sukei d'Zimra (verses
of song), which includes a lot of Psalms and hymns. I like to think of it
as a warm-up, getting you in the mood for prayer in the morning. Some people
don't show up for services until after that "warm-up."
There are also a few particularly significant prayers. The most important
is the Kaddish, one of the few prayers in
Aramaic, which praises G-d. Here's a small piece
of it, in English:
May His great Name grow exalted and sanctified in the world that He created
as He willed. May He give reign to His kingship in your lifetimes and in
your days, and in the lifetimes of the entire family of Israel, swiftly and
soon. May His great Name be blessed forever and ever. Blessed, praised,
glorified, exalted, extolled, mighty...
There are several variations on it for different times in the service. One
variation is set aside for mourners to recite,
the congregation only providing the required responses. Many people think
of the Kaddish as a mourner's prayer, because the oldest son is obligated
to recite it for a certain period after a parent's death, but in fact it
is much broader than that. Someone once told me it separates each portion
of the service, and a quick glance at any
siddur (daily prayer book) shows that it is
recited between each section, but I don't know if that is its purpose.
Another important prayer is Aleinu, which is recited at or near the end of
every service. It also praises G-d. Here is a
little of it in English, to give you an idea:
It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to ascribe greatness to the Molder
of primeval creation ... Therefore, we put our hope in you,
L-rd our G-d, that we may soon see Your mighty
splendor... On that day, the L-rd will be One and His Name will be One.
On certain holidays, we also recite Hallel, which consists of Psalms 113-118.
Many holidays have special additions to the liturgy. See
Yom Kippur Liturgy for additions
related to that holiday.
There are a few other things, but that's a pretty good idea of what's involved.
Here is an outline of the order of the daily services:
-
Evening Service (Ma'ariv)
-
Shema and it's blessings and related passages
-
Shemoneh Esrei
-
Aleinu
-
Morning Service (Shacharit)
-
Morning Blessings
-
P'sukei d'Zimra
-
Shema and it's blessings and related passages
-
Shemoneh Esrei
-
Hallel, if appropriate
-
Torah reading (Mondays, Thursdays, Shabbat and holidays)
-
Aleinu, Ashrei (Psalm 145), and other closing prayers, Psalms and hymns (not
on Shabbat and holidays; recited at the end of Musaf instead on those days)
-
Additional Service (Musaf) (Shabbat and holidays only; recited immediately
after Shacharit)
-
Shemoneh Esrei
-
Aleinu and other closing prayers, Psalms and hymns
-
Afternoon Service (Minchah)
-
Ashrei (Psalm 145)
-
Shemoneh Esrei
-
Aleinu
This is based on the Ashkenazic service, but the Sephardic service has a
very similar structure. They use different music, and have a few variations
in choice of psalms, hymns, and prayers. See
Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews for
more information.
A regular weekday morning service in an
Orthodox
synagogue lasts about an hour. The afternoon
and evening weekday services (which are usually performed back-to-back) are
about a half-hour. A Shabbat or festival morning service, which includes
Shacharit and Musaf, runs three to four hours, but what else are you doing
on Shabbat? The service starts early in the morning and runs through to lunch
time. The evening service on Shabbat (that is, Friday night) and festivals
are also somewhat longer than on weekdays.
The above is from the Orthodox prayer book.
The Reform service, although much shorter,
follows the same basic structure and contains shorter versions of the same
prayers with a few significant changes in content (for example, in one blessing
of the Shemoneh Esrei, instead of praising G-d
who "gives life to the dead," they praise G-d who "gives life to all" because
they don't believe in resurrection). The
Conservative version is very similar
to the Orthodox version, and contains only minor variations in the content
of the prayers (instead of praying for the restoration of the Temple with
its "offerings and prayers," they pray only for the restoration of its prayers).
See Movements of Judaism for more
on the theological distinction between Orthodox, Conservative and Reform.
There are a few significant differences in the way that services are conducted
in different movements:
-
In Orthodox, women and men are seated separately; in Reform and Conservative,
all sit together. See The Role
of Women in the Synagogue.
-
In Orthodox and usually Conservative, everything is in Hebrew. In Reform,
most is done in English, though they are increasingly using Hebrew.
-
In Orthodox, the person leading the service has his back to the congregation,
and prays facing the same direction as the congregation; in Conservative
and Reform, the person leading the service faces the congregation most of
the time.
-
Conservative and Reform are rather rigidly structured: most people show up
at the same time (or if they don't, they simply pick up where the group is),
and do the same thing at the same time. Orthodox is somewhat more free-form:
people show up when they show up, catch up to everybody else at their own
pace, often do things differently than everybody else. For example, different
people may have different customs about when to stand, when to bow, and so
forth. This is terrifying if you don't know what you're doing, but
once you've got a handle on the service, I find it much more comfortable
and inspirational than trying to stay in unison.
If you've never been to a Jewish religious service, following along can be
quite a challenge! Even if you are experienced, it's possible to get lost
at times. In fact, a friend of mine tells me she once heard a song called
"The I-Don't-Know-What-Page-We're-On-In-The-Siddur Blues"! In most synagogues,
the person leading the service will periodically tell you what page they
are on, particularly when portions of the service are skipped. In some
synagogues, they even have a flip-board with the page numbers on it. Here
are a few hints to help you stay with the group, even if the leader isn't
providing such assistance:
The biggest trick is being aware of the structure of the
siddur itself. The siddurs most commonly used
in Orthodox and
Conservative
synagogues include within a single volume
all of the prayers for all four prayer services (Shacharit, Musaf, Minchah
and Ma'ariv). Make sure you know which service you are attending. Normally,
services are held at two times of the day: morning (Shacharit and Musaf)
and early evening (Minchah and Ma'ariv). The morning services are generally
at the beginning of the siddur, while the afternoon and evening services
are normally in the middle.
Most siddurs include weekdays, Shabbat and most festivals in a single volume.
(Exception: Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur have such extensive additions
that they have their own separate siddur called a machzor). To save space,
the sections are not laid out exactly in the order they are recited, so you
may need to skip around the book a bit for certain sections. Usually, the
prayer leader will tell you when you are skipping around, but sometimes they
will not. Watch for notes in the siddur that will tell you to skip to different
sections depending on whether it is: 1)
Shabbat; 2) a
Festival (i.e., non-working day); 3)
Chol Ha-Mo'ed (intermediate days of festivals);
4) Rosh Chodesh (the first day of a Jewish
month); or 5) a weekday. Most of the major skips will occur at the breaks
in sections described above under Outline of Services
above. For example, a Shabbat morning
service on Rosh Chodesh (the first of the month) in my siddur would begin
with a generic Morning Blessings, then would skip 200 pages forward for a
Shabbat/Festival P'sukei D'Zimra, Shema and Shemoneh Esrei., then forward
200 pages to pick up Hallel (which is recited on Rosh Chodesh), then back
to where I came from for the Torah reading, followed by the Musaf Shemoneh
Esrei and the closing blessings.
Another skip that is confusing for most newcomers is the Shemoneh Esrei (also
called the Amidah). At the beginning of the Shemoneh Esrei, the congregants
stand. They read through the entire prayer silently, skipping the Kedushah
blessing and the Priestly Blessing. This is a very long prayer -- 10-20 pages
in my siddur. The process may take as much as five minutes, and the end is
not always clearly marked. Watch for Oseh Shalom (May He who makes peace
in his heights make peace for us and for all Israel, and let us say Amen).
The Shemoneh Esrei ends with the paragraph after that one. The leader of
the service then begins repeating the entire Shemoneh Esrei aloud, and you
must flip back to the beginning to read along with it. (Note: the Shemoneh
Esrei is not repeated at Ma'ariv).
Another source of confusion for newcomers is what to say and what to do.
When do I say "Amen"? When do I stand or bow? Here are a few of the more
common things to watch for. There are a lot of these, and not all of them
are easy to spot the first time.
Saying "Amen"
As a general rule, you say "amen" whenever someone else says a
blessing. It's sort of the Hebrew equivalent
of saying "ditto": when you say "amen," it's as if you said the blessing
yourself. Whenever you hear someone say "Barukh atah...", get ready to say
"amen." The "amen" may be at the end of the current sentence, or at the end
of the current paragraph.
Keep in mind that you only say "amen" when someone else says a blessing.
After all, it would be silly to say "ditto" after something you yourself
said!
There are a few other places where "amen" is said. If the leader says "v'imru
amen" (let's say "amen"), you join in on the word "amen," so watch for the
word "v'imru." This comes up several times in the
Kaddish prayer. There is also an additional
"amen" within Kaddish: right at the beginning, after "sh'mei rabbah."
Other Responses to Prayer
On many occasions, when a person says, "Barukh atah
Adoshem," others who hear him interject "Barukh
Hu u'Varukh Shemo." This is generally recited very quickly, and often sounds
like "Barukh Shemo" (and some people say it that way). However, you do not
do this all the time, and I'm not sure how to explain the pattern of when
you do and when you don't.
There are several congregational responses in the
Kaddish prayer. We noted above the many "Amens"
within Kaddish. In addition, after the first "v'imru amen," the congregation
recites, "y'hei sh'mei raba m'varakh l'alam ul'al'mei al'maya" (May His great
Name be blessed forever and ever). Also, after "sh'mei d'kud'sha" in the
next paragraph, the congregation joins the reader in saying "b'rikh hu" (Blessed
is He). All of this is usually clearly marked in the siddur. I have provided
a text of the Mourner's
Kaddish, where you can see this all laid out.
Whenever someone says "Bar'khu et Adoshem
ha-m'vorakh" (Bless the L-rd, the Blessed One) the congregation responds
"Barukh ha-m'vorakh l'olam va-ed" (Blessed is the L-rd, the Blessed One,
forever and ever). There are two times when this happens: the Bar'khu prayer
(a formal summons to prayer after P'sukei D'Zimra and at the beginning of
Ma'ariv), and as each person blesses the Torah reading.
During the repetition of the Shemoneh Esrei, when the leader recites the
three-part priestly blessing (May the L-rd bless you and safeguard you...
May the L-rd illuminate His countenance for you and be gracious to you...
May the L-rd turn His countenance to you and establish peace for you...),
the congregation replies kein y'hi ratzon (so be it) after each of the three
blessings.
Standing
You should stand at the following times:
-
When the Ark is open.
-
When the Torah is being carried around the room.
-
During the Shemoneh Esrei, from the beginning of the silent portion until
after the Kedushah during the reader's repetition (Kedushah is the part that
includes the "Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh" (Holy, Holy, Holy) blessing).
-
During the Aleinu prayer, near the end of any service.
There are a few other prayers that require standing, but these are the most
notable.
In addition, in Orthodox
synagogues, it is customary for everyone
to stand when Kaddish is recited, except for
the Mourner's Kaddish, where only the
mourners stand. The prayer is usually rather
clearly marked as Kaddish, and begins "Yit'gadal v'yit'kadash sh'mei raba"
(May his great name grow exalted and sanctified). However, I have noticed
in some non-Orthodox synagogues that the congregants do not stand during
regular Kaddishes, or sometimes stand during Mourner's Kaddishes.
Bowing
 Judaism
has a special procedure for bowing during prayer: first you bend the knees,
then you bend forward while straightening the knees, then you stand up. See
the animation at right.
Bowing is done several times during the service:
-
During the Aleinu prayer, when we say "v'anakhnu korim u'mishtachavim u'modim"
(which quite literally means, "so we bend knee and bow and give thanks").
-
Four times during the Shemoneh Esrei (at "Blessed art Thou, L-rd" in the
beginning of the first blessing; at "Blessed art Thou, L-rd" at the end of
the first blessing; at "We gratefully thank You" at the beginning of the
Modim blessing and at "Blessed art Thou, L-rd" at the end of the Modim blessing).
There is also a special bow during the Oseh Shalom blessing: at "He who makes
peace in his heights," bow to the left; at "may he make peace," bow to the
right; at "upon us and upon all Israel" bow forward.
-
During the Bar'khu blessing (after P'sukei d'Zimra and at the beginning of
Ma'ariv), the leader recites the Bar'khu blessing, during which he bows.
The congregation responds with "Barukh ha-m'vorakh l'olam va-ed" and bows.
-
During Torah readings, when a person recites
a blessing over the Torah, this same Bar'khu and it's congregational response
are recited, with the same bowing. Often, the bow here is less obvious: seated
congregants just sort of lean forward out of their chairs.
Kissing the Torah
In any service where there is a Torah
reading, there is ordinarily a Torah procession.
A congregant holds the Torah and carries it around the
synagogue. As the Torah passes congregants,
they touch the cover with their hand (or sometimes with a prayer book, or
with their tallit) and then kiss their hand (or whatever they touched it
with). In Orthodox synagogues, where the Torah procession often does not
encompass the women's section, women generally reach out in the direction
of the Torah, then kiss their hands.
After a Torah reading, the Torah is held up in the air with its words facing
the congregation. It is traditional to reach out toward the Torah, usually
with the pinky finger, while reciting the congregational response (v'zot
ha-Torah...), then kiss the finger.
 Of course, the best place to read about a
Jewish service is in a siddur! The one I use is
The
Artscroll Siddur (Siddur Kol Yaakov), which is also available in
Paperback.
It is uncompromisingly Orthodox, but contains
detailed commentary and instructions for those who are less familiar with
the service.
The siddur used in most Conservative
synagogues is
Siddur
Sim Shalom. The siddur I have used in
Reform synagogues is
Gates
of Prayer.
In researching this page, I relied extensively on Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin's
To
Pray as a Jew, and I recommend the book highly. I have also heard good
things about the
Synagogue
Survival Kit by Jordan Lee Wagner, although I have not had a chance to
review it myself.
© Copyright 5756-5766 (1995-2006), Tracey
R Rich
|
