Tefillah Blog

Passages of Song

The Talmud states that one should first recount the praises of God and then pray.

The second section of the morning service is the P'sukei d'Zimrah the traditional beginning of the worship ritual and is made of praises and songs.

• Baruch She'amar
• 1 Chronicles 16:8-36
• Romemu
• Psalm 100
• (Shabbat will include additional Psalms)
• Y'hi Ch'vod
• Ashrei
• Psalms 146-150
• Psalms 89:53, 135:21, 72:18-19
• 1 Chronicles 29:10-13
• Nehemiah 9:6-14
• Exodus 14:30-15:18
• Psalm 22:29
• Obadiah 1:21
• Zechariah 14:9
• Nishmat Kol Chai
• Yishtabach Shimcha
• Chatzi Kaddish

I try to use some imagery in the form of a diagram or map of how the services are laid out from a spiritual perspective. This map shows that we first wake up and acknowledge the presence of God in our lives (originally performed at home). The worship service is like a journey up the mountain to God's presence. The praise section is like our climbing up the steps to His sanctuary. The Sh'ma section is our approaching His presence in His sanctuary. The Amidah section is our communion with God. The Torah section is our lingering in His sanctuary and exploring His words and recalling our history. The concluding section is our return to everyday life.

In class I also tried teaching the popular Israeli folk dance "Mayim, Mayim" from Isaiah 12:3 as an ancient and tangible way of expressing praise to God. I also played two video clips I found on You Tube showing two examples of the dance. (If you go to YouTube and search for "Mayim dance" you will find them. One clip is from some dancers presenting in Berlin a few years ago, the other is from a Jewish summer camp in California .)

For each class I have asked the students to write a personal prayer or blessing related to the section. This may help make these sections more relevant and demonstrate the concept of kavanah. Some that have been shown to me are profound and sublime and I find it a humbling experience.

Awaken

The first section of the traditional morning prayer service begins with the Birchot HaShachar (the Blessing of the Dawn) section which contains:

• Mah Tovu
• [donning the] Tallit [prayer shawl]
• [donning] Tefillin [phylacteries]
• Adon Olam
• Yigdal
• Asher Yatzar
• Brachot for Torah study
• Torah Study
  Numbers 6:24-26
  Mishnah Peah 1:1
  Talmud Shabbat 127a
• Elohai N'shama
• Birchot HaShachar
• Vihi Ratzon
• Ribon Kol HaOlamim
• Readings
  Numbers 28:1-8
  Leviticus 1:11
  Mishnah Zevachim 5
• Rabbi Ishmael's thirteen rules for interpreting Torah
• Kaddish d'Rabbanan
• Psalm 30
• Kaddish Yatom

The morning ritual was at one time performed at home but as this was observed more infrequently these rituals were adopted into the morning synagogue services. The liturgy varies by denomination, such as the 15 blessings that make up the "Birchot HaShachar" contains controversial brachot such as for "not making me a woman". Conservative liturgy changes this to "who made me in God's image" whereas Reform liturgy simply omits the bracha altogether.

As the first of six sections that make up the prayer cycle not only does this section apply to the morning ritual of waking up from slumber but also metaphorically to a spiritual awakening. Prayer is distinguished fundamentally from our rational thinking processes that consider the physical world by focusing on the spiritual realm. Chasidic tradition relates to living in a universe that is composed of a physical world and a spiritual world under one God (where the ideal is a balance of the two). The Birchot HaShachar section is thus an ideal way to begin the day reminding us of the two worlds we can choose to function in by recognizing the awakening of our physical and spiritual beings.

In class I tried to demonstrate the rational consideration of a spiritual world by showing three sections of the DVD "What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole" dealing with our perception of reality, quantum mechanics and the messages from water (by Mr. Emoto). Happily some students were familiar with the movie and generated a lot of positive discussion. While the material in this film is neither proof nor wholly convincing it is able to convey to open minded people that there are many mysteries left in our universe and quantum physics challenges many of our basic models of how the universe operates. This is one of those DVDs where the bonus material is as interesting (if not more) than the main feature. An interesting claim (and not to be taken literally) in the film is that it took Native Americans time to "see" the ships of Columbus due to the utter strangeness of the spectacle, so to should we realize that we filter what we see.

If prayer is our vehicle to communicate with God then Birkat HaShahar is the first step in preparing our consciousness and a very narrow definition of reality only serves to limit us.

Siddur

The last Sunday's lesson was on the siddur (סידור) or Jewish prayerbook.

Different denominations have specific siddurim they use and often with newer or older versions in common use. Reform congregations typically use Gates of Prayer (but with a wider diversity of choices and the least traditional of the prayer books and services); conservative congregations often use Siddur Sim Shalom (which blends traditional and modernizing elements); modern orthodox congregations will often use the Artscroll Siddur (traditional services with some English); and Chasidic congregations use HaAri or Siddur Tehillat HaShem among Chabad (traditional with mystic emphasis). Many other variants exists but the differences are far outweighed by the similarities.

The siddur is a basic framework of liturgy that has developed over thousands of years with key prayers having crystallized around 2000 years ago before the Diaspora. The first printed prayerbooks were made around 500 years ago in Europe. The siddur reflects the shift from temple (sacrificial) service to communal prayer (synagogue) service. Someone who is familiar with the traditional prayer service will easily be able to recognize almost any prayer service from most any denomination around the world. Indeed my wife and I walked in to a traditional orthodox service in a suburb of Istanbul several years ago and despite our inability to understand Turkish we were able to participate in the service. The most modern services (such as Reconstructionist and Reform) are the least recognizable of the services but with careful attention the same basic structure is discernible although noticeably shortened.

There are four basic patterns made from the same six "building blocks" with some variations for holidays. Traditional practice calls for services three times daily:

Ma'ariv (evening service) consists of

1. Warm up section (short medidation)
2. Sh'ma section (ancient Jewish creed and preparation to speak to God)
3. Amidah (ancient Jewish prayer service conducted while standing before God)
4. Conclusion (reminders of God's greatness and societal concerns)

Shacharit (morning service) consists of:

1. Wake up rituals (carryover from home rituals once observed widely)
2. Warm up section (formally larger P'Sukei D'Zimrah or praise section)
3. Sh'ma section (ancient Jewish creed and preparation to speak to God)
4. Amidah (ancient Jewish prayer service conducted while standing before God)
5. Torah section (reading from the Bible and remembering God's guidance and history)
6. Conclusion (reminders of God's greatness and societal concerns)

Shabbat Shacharit (Sabbath morning service) consists of:

1. Wake up rituals
2. Warm up section (formally larger P'Sukei D'Zimrah or praise section)
3. Sh'ma section
4. Amidah (shortened version of the "18 blessings")
5. Torah section (reading from the Bible and remembering God's guidance and history)
6. Musaf (additional recitation of Amidah parallel to additional offerings of ancient temple worship)
7. Conclusion (reminders of God's greatness and societal concerns)

Mincha (afternoon service and shortest of the services) consists of:

1. Warm up section
2. Amidah
3. Torah section (shortened version)
4. Conclusion

Each section is separated by a Kaddish prayer which sanctifies God.

Ushpizin II

I had to cancel the showing due to scheduling conflicts (Purim was celebrated during the prior weekend and it became obvious that we couldn't cover the rest of the material before the school year ended) but I hope students will take the chance to see the film and review my notes.

• 00:48 Moshe visits to the Rebbe who advises Moshe to make sure he listens to his wife. This section deals with prayer and revelation - confession/resolve and our guests are revealed to Malli. Moshe gets caught up in lie about leaving to travel to Gadera on a pretext. In their circumstances does this seem reasonable/prudent/believable?
• 00:53 Moshe's guilt is revealed (again) - is it reasonable to expect a blessing as a result of deceit? The "miserable" guests take advantage of their hosts' generosity and guilt - is this foolishness? Are Moshe and Malli repaying evil with good (consider Abraham) or are they receiving their just reward? Notice that Moshe and Malli are not unaware of the exploitation and they seem to be happy even those they are being used. Who is using them? Who are they serving?
• 01:00 Now even the crooks don't understand why they are allowed to get away with their actions. Where do we see doubt? Do you see sin? Not satisfied with the explanations - what are they trying to sort out? Moshe seeks forgiveness from his "victim".
• 01:05  Instead of redemption now events in the 'hood turn to a near riot. We see the crooks looking for forgiveness as they pushed the limit and the accusations fly - we see a sense of disgrace? We see crooks being hidden (calling to mind a scene out of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah - perhaps the reverse?) The crooks are completely revealed as fugitives to Malli and Moshe
• 01:12 The deceit catches up with Moshe, Malli leaves miserable and her trust broken in her husband. The truth continues to be wrung out of people - even the crooks take pity on Moshe, asking for forgiveness from Moshe who says (knowingly) 'you didn't do anything'. Why didn't Moshe just blame the crooks for his circumstances?
• 01:18 Moshe goes to the Rebbe again (the wife having been advised to take some time away) who lures Moshe into prayer. Change in our lives is progress but it tests us and these tests get harder. Why is the prayer to not get angry so pivotal? Upon returning home the crooks are now serving Moshe! When they try to do good and make him a meal with the 'diamond' citron why is this the breaking point? (A symbol to ward off childlessness and representative of Moshe's life and relationship with Malli.) Moshe goes from acceptance (ignorant of the citron) of their gift to a complete breakdown into anger (upon discovery). This is the climax and heart of the film.
• 01:24 Moshe experiences his greatest threat (anger) and instead of killing his guests turns in abject frustration to God in prayer. Moshe is humbled, a broken man. The holiday ends, the guests having left. But Malli returns (is this reasonable?) and her news is a shock. How does this show redemption? Is there a lesson in this about patience? Humility? Coming to terms with our shortcomings? Is there a lesson about pain? What lessons do we learn from this film? What does this tell us about our relationship with God? What does this film tell us about prayer?

The next lesson is Siddur (the Jewish prayerbook).