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                     Conversion Class 1102: The laws of Prayer: 
                     Introduction Part 2

I. Communal Worship

                   A. The Merit of Communal Worship
                        1. One of the distinctive features of Jewish prayer from its earliest 
                            beginnings was this emphasis on communal or congregational
                            worship. One may fulfill the mitzvah of prayer by praying
                            privately (and there will be a distinction between women and
                            men) but there is special merit in praying with others as part of
                            a congregation. So much significance is still placed on 
                            communal worship that if one is unable to attend a communal
                            service, he is advised that the next best thing to do is to pray 
                            privately at the same time as the congregation is praying! The
                            sages taught that G-d listens more readily to the prayers of the 
                            congregation than He does to those of an individual. 
                            Furthermore, the sages tell us that when ten or more pray 
                            together, the Divine Presence is with them and that an 
                            individual’s prayer is more likely to be accepted if he says it 
                            while praying with the congregation.
                        2. The emphasis on getting together to pray instead of praying
                            separately and alone helped spur the growth of the synagogue
                            as the “small sanctuary” for regular communal worship. And 
                            while an established place for worship, the synagogue is the 
                            preferred place for prayer, the absence of a synagogue is not 
                            an impediment to communal worship. A quorum (minyan) can
                            conduct a service almost any place. Communal worship 
                            provided a cohesive influence in the Jewish community. It 
                            added meaning to the fact that most of the prayers were
                            formulated in the plural and not in the singular – stressing the
                            responsibility that Jews have for one another. It seemed to
                            make the community more aware of and responsive to the 
                            needs of the individual.
                        3. Communal worship made it possible to note major occasions of
                            a person’s life. An individual’s grief was shared by the 
                            congregation. So were his joys. The communal service was 
                            even tailored in parts to reflect the special occasions of one’s 
                            personal life. Jews may have known suffering, known too the 
                            empty feeling of being a people isolated in the world, but a Jew
                            who regularly worshipped with a congregation was never alone!
                            The tradition of communal worship also made it possible to
                            bring into the religious community those unable to pray 
                            because of insufficient background and learning. It must be 
                            remembered that until about the eighth century C.E. prayer was
                            always said by heart. There had existed a fundamental 
                            resistance to writing down prayers, just as there had been a 
                            tradition against writing down the Oral Torah. The prohibition
                            was eventually lifted, but it was not until the eighth century that
                            written prayer books came into use. The first formal siddur for
                            year round use, as we know it today, was compiled by Rav 
                            Amram Gaon (ninth century C.E.) Before then it was necessary 
                            to memorize the prescribed prayers in order to fulfill one’s 
                            religious duty. Those unable to memorize would have been 
                            excluded from religious fellowship had it not been the 
                            established practice to gather together for worship. In this 
                            context, only one learned person with a good memory was 
                            required to recite aloud the main prayer in the service (the 
                            Amidah or silent meditation) to enable the untutored to 
                            discharge their prayer obligation by listening to the blessings
                            being recited on their behalf and by responding with Amen.
                        4. The man leading the communal worship in this way was known
                            as the Shaliach Tzibbur (Emissary of the Congregation) At 
                            various times and places, this person has been called by
                            different names. Shatz (the Hebrew acronym for Shaliach 
                            Tzibbur), Ba’al Tefilah (Master of Prayer), and Hazzan (Cantor).
                            The last title is one generally reserved for one who serves 
                            professionally in the capacity of shaliah tzibbur. Actually the 
                            emissary of the congregation need not be a professional cantor
                            nor an ordained rabbi. Any adult male of the congregation may 
                            act in this capacity. The emissary is not an intermediary 
                            between the congregation and G-d, he is simply their agent, 
                            one who says the prayers on their behalf. In parts of the service
                            his role is only to provide the cue and thus coordinate the
                            prayers of the congregation. By concluding the last verse or two 
                            of the each prayer stanza, he sets a uniform pace for everyone 
                            to keep to. 
                        
                   B. Hebrew: The Preferred language for Jewish Prayer
                        1. A legitimate question can be raised by those who do not 
                            understand Hebrew. How can one strive for spirituality in prayer
                            if one does not understand the meaning of the words? Does not 
                            the Code of Jewish Law stress the importance of understanding
                            the words of the prayers? Did not the sages themselves 
                            prescribe that a few prayers, like Kaddish, be said in the 
                            Aramaic vernacular of their day because a great many people
                            don’t understand Hebrew? Although Hebrew is the preferred 
                            language for Jewish prayer, the prayers need not be said in 
                            Hebrew. Indeed the Halacha rules that one may pray in any
                            language that one understands. Therefore, even in a
                            synagogue an individual is permitted to pray in any language 
                            he understands. However, it is important that the congregation 
                            itself pray collectively in Hebrew. There are several reasons for 
                            this distinction: 1) A relatively uniform Hebrew service helps 
                            preserve and maintain the unity of the Jewish people 
                            throughout the world. Not only does it bind every Jew closer to 
                            the Holy Land, it enables a Jew to feel at home in synagogues 
                            around the world, even in countries where fellow Jews speak 
                            other languages and one is otherwise unable to communicate 
                            with them. If Jews everywhere were to conduct services in their 
                            respective vernaculars, and only an elite group of scholars
                            retained the Hebrew, the resulting estrangement from the
                            synagogues of fellow Jews would be a serious blow to Jewish 
                            unity.
                        2. Estrangement from Hebrew also means to become estranged 
                            from the Torah and all other classical sources. It means a loss 
                            in the understanding of Hebraic concepts and Jewish values 
                            which in the final analysis are still best conveyed through the 
                            Hebrew idiom. If we would abandon the Hebrew service, we 
                            would eliminate the most urgent reason for teaching Hebrew to
                            the next generation. By providing an easy path to spiritually
                            meritorious desires the community might well destroy the 
                            incentive of individuals without Hebrew training to invest the
                            time and effort needed to learn, first, Hebrew reading and then,
                            the meaning of the prayers. Finally and most important, the
                            severance of the organic bond with the Hebrew language by a 
                            Jewish community historically has led to the total assimilation 
                            and ultimate disappearance of that community. What has been 
                            said thus far does not resolve the personal dilemma of the 
                            individual who wishes to understand what he or she is saying
                            and finds it meaningless to pray in an unfamiliar language. Yet 
                            even for that individual, use of the vernacular, while permissible
                            as a short-term solution may not be the best way to attain the
                            truly spiritual experience for which he yearns.
                        3. The importance of the Hebrew as the language of Jewish
                            prayer is not that it is spoken, everyday tongue of Israel, but
                            that it is the tongue of the prophets, the language of the Bible,
                            “the sacred tongue.” To countless generations of Jews, in both
                            Israel and the Diaspora. Hebrew is not only a tool of 
                            communication; it possesses innate spiritual significance as the
                            repository of the Divine mystery. If one does not quite 
                            understand it, it is best to use a prayer book with a translation 
                            to which one can frequently refer. In due time, if one prays
                            regularly one will better understand the Hebrew words as well 
                            as the general meaning of each prayer. Although Jewish prayer
                            is not meditation, and words must be uttered, prayer does not 
                            consist only of words. Prayer also requires a mood, a feeling.
                            That is why the pious ancients were known to spend a 
                            considerable amount of time just getting into the spirit of prayer
                          . If a person recites prayers that he does not fully understand, 
                            yet his heart is humble before G-d and his thoughts are
                            directed to his Father in Heaven, will his Father in Heaven not
                            understand his intent or deem his prayers worthy of
                            consideration? 

                   C. Kavanah: My intention when I pray
                        1. Jewish law requires the worshiper to be aware that it is G-d
                            who is being addressed, to “know before Whom you are
                            standing” Reading from a prayer book does not mean that one
                            is praying. One may read a prayer book as one reads any other 
                            kind of book – to find out what it says or to relish the beauty of 
                            the poetry. Such reading does not qualify as prayer. To
                            transform reading into prayer there must be at least a sense of 
                            standing in the presence of G-d and the intent to fulfill one of
                            His commandments. The Hebrew word for having such intent is 
                            kavanah. The Talmud teaches that “he who prays must direct 
                            his heart to heaven” (Berachot 31a). This is the minimum level 
                            of kavanah in all prayer. Without it, it is not prayer. Kavanah in
                            prayer is the very antithesis of the mechanical and perfunctory 
                            reading of words.
                        2. Kavanah can be defined in still other ways, with each definition
                            representing ascending levels of kavanah, each one a 
                            challenge to the worshiper. The next level of kavanah is to
                            know and understand what one is saying. The one following 
                            that is to free one’s mind of all extraneous and interfering 
                            thoughts, so as to concentrate better on the prayers. At the
                            highest level, kavanah also means to think about the deeper
                            meaning of what one is saying, while praying with extraordinary
                            devotion.  The laws of prayer actually forbid one to pray if one
                            cannot attain the minimum level of kavanah. And though the 
                            Shulchan Aruch appears resigned to the fact that Jews will pray
                            even when they cannot attain kavanah, it nevertheless 
                            proceeds to put the rule on record: namely, the “one should not
                            pray in a place where or at such time when there is interference 
                            with kavanah.”
                        3. The sages recognized that one cannot have the proper
                             kavanah when one is in a mood of extreme anger or sorrow, or
                             is distraught with problems, when one is extremely fatigued or
                            when there are external distractions. All such conditions must 
                            therefore be removed before one engages in prayer. “One 
                            stands up to pray only when in a reverent frame of mind,” says
                            the Talmud in a ruling that sets the framework for prayer
                            (Berachot 5;1). “Reverent” is meant not to preclude prayers 
                            said in joy but to exclude frivolity. Individuals even those who
                            pray with faithful regularity may at times be accused of reciting 
                            their prayers in a most perfunctory manner. A far more serious 
                            problem exists in those congregations where idle talk and 
                            endless chatter in the midst of the prayer service indicates an 
                            obvious lack of kavanah and a total absence of spirituality.
                        4. The failure lies with individuals, not with Judaism or Jewish 
                            prayer. Such behavior is contrary to both the letter and the spirit 
                            of Jewish law. Those who are guilty of this transgression are 
                            condemned as “sinners.” They may self righteously view
                            themselves as still engaged in a religious activity, yet their
                            decidedly irreligious behavior makes a mockery of prayer and 
                            constitutes an affront to G-d and to the sanctity of the
                            synagogue. In the same vein Jewish law cautions scholars 
                            against studying the holy books while the congregation is 
                            engaged in prayer. It causes others to sin by encouraging 
                            disrespect for prayer. If there is any mitzvah that spirit that 
                            counts, it is prayer. The Torah, the Talmud, the Midrash, the
                            codes of law are unanimously consistent about this point. And
                            all the halachic rules of prayer and of decorum were designed
                            to intensify the spiritual quality of worship. Should
                            circumstances make it necessary for a person to choose
                            between saying more prayers without kavanah and saying 
                            fewer prayers with kavanah, the fewer are clearly preferred if
                            the choice is kept within the framework of a schedule of 
                            priorities.