Prayer must be personal in order to be potent. We are encouraged to pray anytime, anywhere, for G-d is near all the time, everywhere. Even in the congregational service, the silent prayers like the Amidah allow our individual hearts to reach out to G-d. We are alone together, as Rabbi Wolpe says.
But why together?
- Prayer services physically convene the Jewish community together. The Hebrew for synagogue, Beit Knesset, means House of Meeting. It’s where the community assembles. How often would the Jewish community gather together if we never had group worship? Services should be a worship experience followed by a social experience. The joke says that “Goldberg goes to Temple to talk to G-d, but I go to Temple to talk to Goldberg.” Shmoozing at Kiddush is important because it strengthens relationships; that’s the moment when community is built.
- Prayer services identify and reinforce shared values. When I pray my own Tefillot I am focused on myself: what blessings in my life am I grateful for? Where can I use some help? How can I be a better person? What people in my world need some strength? But in thinking about “Me,” I ignore the “We.” However, communal prayer reminds us of what our values should be: loyalty to G-d, Torah, Mitzvot, and Israel, among other things. Our Jewish tradition emphasizes the group ahead of the individual, whereas our Western culture emphasizes the opposite. As Rabbi Sacks writes, “I am who I am because my people are who they are.”
- Only groups can sing. This is fundamental because music adds spirit and soul to any service. I suppose that an individual can sing as part of a personal prayer, but I don’t know anybody who does. Even if he did, an individual can’t accomplish with music what a congregation can. Music, even without words, makes us feel something that nothing else can. And that feeling is integral to genuine prayer. Our Temple and its Tefillot would feel spiritually impoverished without Cantor Singer’s talents.
“Halleluyah! Sing a new song to Hashem!” (Ps. 149). Song itself is a form of prayer to G-d because it flows from the heart. In fact it was the first Jewish group prayer. We read this week Parshat Beshalach, which features the Song of the Sea. When Moses and the Israelites crossed the split Red Sea, they thanked G-d in a song (Ex. 15). A song of praise, gratitude, and hope. On this Shabbat Shirah – named after this song (Shir) – let us remind ourselves of the power and potency of music in prayer. Only together can we best sing a new song to Hashem.
Have a question about Jewish prayer? Email me. I’ll be sharing my answers here in 2017.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Alex Freedman