A Jewish View of Prayer
Rabbi Rachel Montagu (Edited from All in Good Faith)
Session
Co-ordinator: Mordechai Leibling
The
most important prayer in Judaism is the 'Amidah' or 'Standing
Prayer'.
The prayer starts with three blessings of
praise of God, and ends with three blessings of thanksgiving.
In the middle on weekdays are thirteen blessings of petition,
asking God for knowledge, the ability to repent, forgiveness,
individual redemption, healing, prosperity, freedom for all,
a just world, the passing away of evil from us, the well-being
of the righteous of the community, the peace of Jerusalem,
Salvation, the coming of the Messianic Age and for a response
to our prayers. This prayer is also called the 'Sh'moneh Esreh'
or 'Eighteen'; originally it consisted of eighteen blessings;
a nineteenth one praying for an end to sectarians was added
early in the Middle Ages, and that has since been replaced
by the prayer calling for an end to the evil within us.
On
the Sabbath, this prayer is said in very abbreviated form;
the prayers praising and thanking God remain, but the petionary
prayers are felt to be inappropriate on the Sabbath, God's
day of rest, and are replaced by a single blessing thanking
God for the gift of the Sabbath.
There are two other elements which make up the basic structure
of the synagogue liturgy. The Shema is the declaration of
faith in God, and the commandment to love God found in Deuteronomy
6:4-9. It is said in the morning and evening service, together
with Deuteronomy 11:13-21 and Numbers 15:37-41. It is preceded
and followed by blessings which echo some of its themes; the
commandment to love God and to teach these words to your children
is balanced by a blessing reminding us that God loves us and
has given us beautiful teachings. The commandment to say these
words night and morning is balanced by blessings thanking
God for creating light and dark. The theme of God's protection
is reflected by a blessing asking God for redemption. Each
synagogue service ends with 'Aleynu' which hopes for the coming
of the day when all will know God and worship him as One.
At
formal services said in the synagogue with at least 10 people
present, the morning and evening services begin with a call
to prayer for the community. The services will be punctuated
by an end with the kaddish, a prayer in Aramaic, the everyday
spoken language when Hebrew had already become a formal language
used for prayer and study. The kaddish is said especially
by those in mourning although it does not mention death. These
words of praise are thought to help the mourner return to
life and hope.
The
blessings at the beginning and end of the Sabbath, the whole
Passover services and at least some of the rituals of the
other festivals are home-based. It is said that the family
dining-table replaced the altar in the temple as the place
of worship. The blessing is the basic Jewish liturgical form.
Blessings are said at all times of day
. Each blessing
begins 'Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe'
and continues with a form appropriate to the occasion.
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