Prayer

Prayer  -  An Introduction

Rabbi Abraham b. Meir ibn Ezra wrote in the 12th century that it is no mystery why we pray so often.  The great Spanish Bible commentator and poet (who would carry in his later-year travels the influence of Arab science, philosophy, linguistics, and poetry to Jewish communities outside of the Islamic sphere of influence) wrote that the real question is why we do not pray more often.  Anyone who really knows G-d should find him/herself so consumed and preoccupied with G-d's Existence, that he should be able to do little else. 

Tradition made life livable, as it were, by focusing the prayer requirement on fixed times of communal prayer.  In fact, though, through a variety of prayer forms, Jews send their thoughts and words Heavenward many times a day.

The Yiddish verb for prayer is daven.  No one has satisfactorily determined its roots.  One of the theories is that it is derived from the Arabic da'awa.

The formal times for fixed prayer vary according to the day.  On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, there are five prayer services.  Shabbat, holidays, and Rosh Chodesh have four such services; there are three on ordinary days of the year.  But other forms of prayer extend the process to many other varieties of talking to G-d, particularly through berachot, the blessings that Jews recite before the performance of all mitzvoth and before and after eating and drinking.  There are non-verbal forms of prayer, such as the sounding of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah, which can be seen as a cry from the inner self.

Prayer is not just about asking for things.  At its root, prayer is conversation with G-d.  Just as human beings cannot maintain meaningful relationships with loved ones without spending dedicated time talking to each other, so does prayer cement a relationship with G-d.  Jewish prayer, therefore, thanks, praises and converses with G-d - besides entreating Him for the things we need.

Jewish prayer takes place everywhere, but communal prayer - including the fixed daily services - preferably take place in the synagogue.  The synagogue need not be a large imposing building.  In many communities, in fact, the trend has been to smaller, more intimate spaces where each individual feels that he or she can make a larger contribution.   Any synagogue will have an ark up front in which Torah scrolls (carefully handwritten on parchment) are kept, a more central reading table upon which the Torah is placed when it is read (on Shabbat, holidays, and on two of the six weekdays) and a lectern at which the prayer leader stands.  There will be chairs and possibly tables in front of the congregants, and many books.  Because synagogues are holy places, they are also where Jews flock to spend hours in Torah study.  Thus, the books in a synagogue will not only be prayer books, but will often have representative volumes from three thousand years of Jewish learning.   The synagogue will also have some sort of divider or mechitzah, separating the men from the women.

Minimally, Jews are expected to come to the synagogue for the three fixed prayers.  The morning prayer on a weekday typically takes about 45 minutes, while the afternoon and evening prayers are shorter, lasting only about 15 minutes each.  (In many synagogues, the afternoon prayer is left for the last permitted time of day, so that the evening prayer can begin after a short break, meaning that both can be combined in a single trip.)  On Shabbat and holiday mornings, services last from two to three hours or more; on Yom Kippur, people spend virtually the entire day 24 hour period in the synagogue, other than going home at night to sleep.  Gathering in the synagogue and praying with a group is seen as very important, because it calls upon the collective merit of the larger group, where one person's spiritual strengths can compensate for another's shortcomings.

Formal prayer uses a set order of prayers, collected in a volume called the Siddur.  Many of these prayers are very old, some dating back to Biblical times.  Prayers are in Hebrew, except for a few in Aramaic, a cognate language that was spoken in the communities of ancient Israel and Iraq.  Jews are encouraged to use the Hebrew, but they may use any language they understand.  There are separate volumes for the longer prayers on holidays.  Informal prayer employs the words of the individual, although the book of Psalms is considered the ultimate expression of the Jewish sprit of prayer, and often used by people spending extra time in devotional prayer.

Jewish thought offers many reasons for why people need to pray, even though G-d full-well knows their needs.  These include:

a) Prayer changes our spiritual level.  By praying effectively, we become different and better people, and more deserving of what we ask.
b) Prayer makes us use His gifts properly.  G-d, in Jewish thought, is primarily a Giver.  As a perfect being, He is incapable of receiving.  It is His Will that He give us as much goodness as we can use effectively.  When we acknowledge the source of the gifts He wants to bestow, we are more likely to use those gifts beneficially, instead of abusing them, as humans so often do with even the greatest gifts.
c) Prayer reminds us of the what governs our lives.  It is easy to lose ourselves, even as believers, in a world that seems to both function randomly while subject to testable laws of Nature.  G-d can take a back seat in our consciousness.  Prayer reminds us that G-d is the Cause behind all causes.  Only He is responsible for our existence and our happiness.  When we do not pray to G-d, we in effect pray to the other factors that we believe control the quality of our lives.

We will return to the structure of prayer in a future piece.

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