From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: Thursday, November 6, 1997 11:43 PM
To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: Understanding Jewish Prayer - Part 7
From: JUICE Administration <juice@virtual.co.il>
To: siddur@virtual.co.il
Subject: JUICE Siddur 7
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World Zionist Organization
Student and Academics Department
Jewish University in CyberspacE
juice@wzo.org.il birnbaum@wzo.org.il
http://www.wzo.org.il
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Course: THE PRAYER BOOK: A WINDOW ON JEWISH THEOLOGY
Lecture: 7/12
Lecturer: Barbara Sutnick and Rabbi Reuven Sutnick
"THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS: 3 MAJOR TYPES OF PRAYER"
Ladies and Gentlemen! The moment we have all been waiting
for. Until now, we have spent a lot of time discussing what
prayer is NOT. We have described the way in which the siddur
leads us through a preparatory exercise which must be
conceptually differentiated from "prayer". We have discovered
that the very terminology used in classical Jewish texts sets off
the 18 Benedictions of the Amidah as something unique. Now, it
is time for us to discuss exactly what "prayer" is.
The fact of the matter is, this discussion must take place
on a number of levels. First, we can discuss the Amidah from the
perspective of the emotions of the pray-er. By the time we stand
to say the morning Amidah, we will have been involved in ritual
activity for quite some time. What is our psychological state
supposed to be now? Is it meditative, introspective, peaceful,
ecstatic, desperate, contrite, religiously self-assured, etc.?
Second, we can discuss the Amidah purely from the vantage point
of technique. The Amidah as the high point of "Jewish Prayer"
calls for a technique that is unique from that of ultimate prayer
experiences in other religions. Our preparation, our religio-
philosophical intent, the formulation of our liturgical texts,
and their ritual value -- all are uniquely Jewish. We can safely
assume that the Catholic taking communion, the priest offering
communion, the Yogi meditating, the revivalist dancing in the
aisles in Harlem and the Orthodox Jew 60 blocks uptown in
Washington Heights, DO NOT all use the same technique or have the
same emotional experience at the critical moment in which they
reach the high point of their devotions in their respective
traditions. Thirdly, we can discuss the Amidah from the
perspective of content. What are these blessings and how does
their content differ from anything we may have seen in our
service until now?
Let us begin with content. Open your Siddur to the Amidah.
Please note that this prayer is called Amida (lit. "standing")
because it is said standing. *SIDDUR SEARCH* Look for the Amida
in the afternoon WEEK-DAY service (Mincha), since it will be
easiest to find there. It forms the better part of the mincha
service. *EUREKA* This section of the service is also referred
to as the "Shmonah Esrei" or "18 Benedictions". Each benediction
is actually a small paragraph. The first one opens and closes
with a blesing formula (Blessed are you...) and has several
sentences in the middle. Each of the others opens with several
sentences and is closed with the blessing formula. While you
count them to make sure they are all there, let me tell you a
joke:
Goldstein was an undistinguished Jew, good enough in some
respects but not so good in others. When his time to leave
this world came, he appeared before the Heavenly Court half
a point shy of entry to Heaven. The gallery of angels hooted
their disappointment until the Judge of All said: "OK! we
can't let you into Heaven just yet, but for now you can take
your choice of Jewish or Gentile Hell." Goldstein was not
one to be put off. "Before choosing, I want to see my
choices." Miraculously, he found himself standing near some
poor fellow in Gentile purgatory. "Here," the simmering
sinner said, "we get up at 9 - we have breakfast - we burn
'til noon - we eat - from 1 to 5 we burn - after dinner, our
time is our own." Goldstein was soon transported to Jewish
Hell. "Here," one miserable soul told him, "we get up at 9 -
we have breakfast - we burn 'til noon - we eat - from 1 to 5
we burn - after dinner, our time is our own."Puzzled,
Goldstein asked the angel accompanying him, "Aren't they
both the same?" "Mr. Goldstein," the angel answered, "in
Jewish Hell, 9 is not 9, 12 is not 12, 1 is not 1 and 5 is
not 5!!!"
Sound like the Borscht Belt? How many blessings did you
find in the "18 Benedictions"? You found 19! In fact, nowhere in
the siddur is there an Amidah (Shmonah Esrei) which consists of
18 blessings. In the daily service, there are 19. On the
Sabbath, 7; Rosh Hashannah, 9. Unless we believe 18 is not 18,
as the story goes, one blessing was added after the service had
been canonized at 18. See if you can figure out which one it
was. (Answer next week.) As for the reduced "Shmonah Esrei" of
the Sabbath and Holidays, the explanation for this lies in the
content.
The "18 (19) Benedictions" can be grouped into three major
divisions. We will focus on the first division this week and th
others next week. They are:
I THREE OPENING BLESSINGS: (1)"Avot" (Forefathers);
(2) "G'vurot" ([God's] Powers); and (3) "K'dushah"
(Sanctification)
II TWELVE (ACTUALLY THIRTEEN) MIDDLE BLESSINGS: Petitions for
the individual and the community
III THREE CLOSING BLESSINGS: (1) "Avodah" (Temple Service);
(2) "Hoda'ah" (Thanksgiving) and "Birkat Kohanim" (Priestly
Blessing)
These divisions are not arbitrary. They serve to highlight
three different categories of prayer: Praise, Petition and Thanks
(Rambam, Laws of Prayer 1:4). Read through the first three
blessings in English and pay attention to what each is saying.
You will notice that each relates to a different aspect of God
and our relationship to Him. To summarize their meanings briefly
at first:
Avot (Forefathers): PRAISES God by referring to the
forefathers, each of whom came to
recognize God individually.
G'vurot (Powers): PRAISES the life-sustaining "powers" of
God, specifically rain and resurrection
of the dead.
K'dushah (Sanctification: PRAISES the holiness of God.
Two considerations emerge within the context of our earlier
discussions. First, we know that Verses of Praise (see Lecture
5) were an important antecedent to PRAYER. Here, we see that our
petitions in which we ask God for personal and communal needs,
even within the section of PRAYER (proper), are again preceded by
a section of "Prayers which Praise" (as opposed to "Verses of
Praise"). It is intriguing to contrast the earlier part of the
service with these first three blessings. What really is the
difference between formal "prayers which praise" and preparatory
(pre-prayer) "Verses of Praise?" Why, after spending so much
time praising God, do we once again have to do so before
petitioning for our needs? As we see in Talmud, Berachot 34a:
Rav Yehuda says: A person should not ask for his needs, not
in the first three blessings [praises] and not in the last
three [thanks]. In the first three, he should appear as a
servant who praises his master; in the last three, he should
appear as a servant who has already received his reward...
If this is the case, then what have been doing until now saying
all those "Verses of Praise?"
The simplest explanation and the historically accurate one
you already know. The innovation of the "Pious Ones of Old" (see
Lecture 5) was to augment the service by an hour of preparation
before reciting the Amidah. This means that their innovation,
the P'sukei D'Zimra (Verses of Praise), followed the compilation
of the Amidah historically. Thus, the first three blessings, the
"Prayers which Praise" were already in place by the time the
Verses of Praise were incorporated into the siddur. However,
what we must see here is that the unique contribution of P'sukei
D'zimra to our service was PSYCHOLOGICAL preparation. Here, the
"prayers which praise" are RITUALLY weighted. These are
formulaic blessings, the most halakhicly (i.e. from a Jewish
legal point of view) significant units of prayer. According to
Jewish law, if we fail to say them properly, we must go back and
repeat! These three "prayers which praise" are absolutely
requisite.
I know this seems a fine point of distinction. But it is
important to emphasize the mainstream Jewish belief that the
essence of prayer lies in the ritual or technical aspect. Rav
Yehuda describes the psychology beautifully. When we initiate
the recitation of the Amidah, we take three steps backward and
then move forward and bow at the knee -- as if before a human
king. We begin by praising the King of the World, which is
necessary before placing our petitions before Him. After all,
who would think of approaching a human king with requests before
praising him and without thanking him afterwards? Thus, I would
say that the Pesukei D'zimrah serves to prepare the pray-er
internally, psychologically, spiritually for the prayer
experience to follow. By contrast, with the opening Prayers of
Praise of the Amida, the pray-er shows respect and gives homage
to the King of the king of kings before getting down to the
business of requests.
Let's look at the "Avot" closely:
Blessed ...God of our forefathers, God of Abraham,
God of Isaac and God of Jacob; the great, the mighty
and awesome God, the supreme God, Who bestows beneficial
kindnesses and creates everything, Who recalls the
kindnesses of the Patriarchs and brings a Redeemer to
their children's children, for His Name's sake with love.
O King, Helper, Savior and Shield. Blessed ... Shield of
Abraham.
The phrase "God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob"
conveys a remarkable bit of educational psychology. Regarding
each of the forefathers, "God of ..." is written separately. The
commentators (e.g., Etz Yosef in Otzar Ha-Tefilot) point out that
although it might have been enough to write "God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob." The language of the prayer stresses that it is
not enough for a person to relate to God simply as a custom
inherited from one's parents. Each of the our forefathers came
to know God IN HIS OWN WAY. So too each of us, as we stand to
pray does so in our own unique knowledge of God.
Let us also, just for the sake of being contrary, consider a
few passages from the Rambam:
...the true perfection of man ... (is) the possession of
such notions which lead to true metaphysical opinions as
regards God... the highest aim of man (is) the knowledge
of God... (Guide to the Perplexed, III, ch. 54)
Rambam, stresses that KNOWLEDGE OF GOD is an individual's true
perfection. This is accomplished through study and rigorous
contemplation, essentially a life-long process of philosophical
examination. Interestingly, in the Guide I, ch. 54 Maimonides
writes:
Not only is he acceptable and welcome to God who fasts
and prays, but everyone who knows Him.
It is apparent that the "knowledge" of God referred to here is
NOT the same as that achieved through prayer and fasting. In
other words, the "Avot" prayer alludes to the individual's quest
to know God -- but it does NOT bestow that knowledge on the pray-
er. There is a big difference between "knowing God" and
mentioning Him in your prayers! There is a big difference
between dedicating one's life to study, and giving lip-service to
study, as it were, in one's prayers! Clearly: the tried-and-true
method for attaining knowledge in the Jewish tradition is study
(or for Maimonideans, philosophising).
Given all the above, the mention of or allusion to
"knowledge of God" in one's prayers must serve a very specific
purpose. I mean to suggest that within the context of our daily
ritual, we mention that each of the forefathers achieved his own
individual knowledge of God, the content of which is the specific
list of attributes brought in the "Avot." In Jewish prayer,
there is a very high value in structuring the right lists (c.f.
lists of praiseworthy attributes of God in Pesukei D'zimra. Our
tradition of laws guides us in enumerating the correct
attributes, the exact number of blessings -- in short, the
technically correct manner in which authentic Jewish prayer is to
be offered according to Jewish law.
I would never want to suggest that the totality of Jewish
prayer is technique. But by the same token, I would never want
to give the impression that the rabbinic tradition lacks focus in
how it would have us perform our ritual. A close reading of the
siddur unavoidably yields up the impression that structure
conveys content.
For another example of this, read the "G'vurot" prayer which
follows "Avot". We find here another list of praises which range
from supporting life and providing rain to resurrecting the dead.
There is no explanation given of any single attribute in the
prayer itself. This is simply a list which culminates in a
blessing that mentions the general attribute which includes all
the others (resurrector of the dead, presumably in the end of
days. Those who want more information about this very
complicated concept should be taking Jeffrey Woolf's J.U.I.C.E.
course on Messianism!). Pure and simple, one of the preferred
techniques of Jewish prayer involves reciting a clearly set out
list.
Could we possibly be saying that the ultimate, the high
point of Jewish prayer reduces to the mere recitation of lists?
Yes and no. More correct would be to say that when we stand to
pray we pray in a type of short-hand. Many of the words and
phrases of the Amida (and of other composed prayers as well) are
unmistakably culled from the Bible and other classical Jewish
texts. Those already familiar with the biblical context (or
those who bother to look up the references) can pull into their
experience of prayer the enriched images that reverberate through
the quoted phrases. Here again, the best illustration is a joke:
The newcomer to the prison is in the inmates' lounge for the
first time. One old-timer shouts out "number 23" and then
everybody laughs out loud. Then another person calls out
"number 87," and again there is uproarious laughter. Later
the newcomer asks his cell-mate what was going on. The
cell-mate responds "that is how we tell jokes in here.
Everybody knows the jokes so well already that just hearing
the number of each joke is enough to crack people up." The
next day the newcomer calls out "number 56" to his new
colleagues, but nobody laughs. "What's the matter?" asks,
puzzled. Their response: "you didn't tell it right!"
For those steeped in the tradition, a mere piece of a phrase is
enough to turn what reads like a list into a well-annotated
spiritual picture. Thus, in order to benefit fully from the
prayer experience, the editors of the siddur intended for us to
do our homework in advance. They wrote prayers in the spirit of
the Rambam's construct that the fullest path to spirituality is
in increasing ones knowledge.
Clearly a detailed examination of all the referents in all
of the prayers is well beyond the scope of this course. Just by
taking this course, however, you are already beginning on your
path towards enriching your Jewish prayer experience. (So pat
yourself on the back, both for me and for the Rambam.)
Our next lesson will look at some sample referents from the
words of the Amida. If you should wish to pursue this line of
inquiry further on your own, a good way to begin is to obtain a
siddur that footnotes biblical references. Look these up and
read the verses in context. However a word of caution: you will
still have to decide if the editor of the siddur meant to bring
in the biblical referent "straight" -- i.e. with its biblical
meaning in tact; or if the intention was to pluck it OUT of its
original context and highlight other ways of reading such words.
(For example, if a phrase is uttered biblically in the context of
war, and appears in the siddur in a prayer about peaceful
outcomes -- does this mean the editor hopes that the war will
turn to peace, or that the peace is not meant to be as peaceful
as one might think?)
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