Definition:

Prayer is the act of communication with God, the opening of a dialogue or a meeting with the Other.

It is an encounter, something pure, something which takes us beyond ourselves. It is the outward expression of our inner theology. It is beyond words and yet impossible without words. Prayer is, as Abraham Joshua Heschel says, our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. “Liturgy is the vehicle, prayer is the journey. Liturgy is the companion, prayer is the destination” (Jonathan Magonet, Forms of Prayer vol. 8 (2008), p.15).

Early Jewish prayer was not guided by liturgy. In the Bible, Hannah prays before God under the watchful eye of Eli who sees her lips move but who hears no voice, so he mistakenly assumes that she is drunk (1 Sam. 1:12-13). We have records of the centralisation of worship (such as 1 Sam 9:12) describing people worshiping at a shrine although Biblically there are examples of personal prayer, such as Moses’ passionate plea to God to heal Miriam “God, please, heal her please” (Num. 12:13)

Prayer three times a day is suggested in the Book of Daniel, who kneels before God and prays three times a day (Dan. 6:11). The book of Psalms describes regular prayer with the verse “evening and morning and at noonday will I complain and moan, and God has heard my voice.” (Ps. 55:18). After the building of the Temple, these regular prayers were synchronised with the daily, weekly and annual offerings – “As the duty of every day required, offerings according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the appointed seasons, three times in the year – on the feast of unleavened bread, on the feast of weeks, and on the feast of tabernacles.” (II Chron. 8:13)

While there were no siddurim (prayer books) until the Middle Ages, our liturgy began to take form in the Second Temple, where the priests would recite the Decalogue (Ten Commandments/Sayings), the Shema, the Kaddish and the Priestly Blessing amongst others. There was, in fact, a prohibition against writing down prayers expressed in the Talmud, describing those who write down blessings as being like those who burn the Torah (Shabbat 115b)! Nonetheless, as Jewish communities spread across the world, prayer books were written, the first being ascribed to Amram b. Sheshna (d. 875).

The content of the prayer service retained a static structure but much flexibility in terms of content. Thus, the medieval Kabbalists were able to introduce many innovations into the Shabbat liturgy, such as the songs Lecha Dodi and Yedid Nefesh. Jewish prayer as found in the liturgy is thus a tapestry of innovation and connection with God spanning the millennia. It was important that the prayers themselves retain some fluidity in accordance with the Mishnah – “Whoever makes his prayer fixed, his prayers are no longer petition” (Berachot 4, see also Talmud Berachot 29b). The Talmud interprets this by explaining that “fixed” relates to someone who is not able to innovate in their prayers (Talmud, Berachot 29b). The great medieval commentator Rashi says such a person thinks, “As I did it today, just as yesterday, so tomorrow.” We can even ascertain that in the Amidah, the central prayer in the service, only the first and last three blessings were definitely fixed, while the intermediary blessings served as frames for personal expression. Jewish prayer is always involved in a delicate balance between two key elements – the fixed (keva) and the fluid (kavannah).

Prayer is not just limited to the thrice daily services. Indeed, the Talmud suggests that every Jew should recite 100 blessings a day. While traditionally this is covered by the set prayer services and blessings before and after meals, some contemporary Jews prefer to include their own blessings, sometimes in the vernacular. There are two opposing opinions regarding the language of prayer – one suggests that it should be in Hebrew, the holy tongue (lashon hakodesh) because this connects us with all Jews worldwide, with our heritage, and (mystically speaking) with the language with which God created the world. This viewpoint suggests that we should pray in Hebrew even if we do not understand what we are saying, because Hebrew has a special power. The opposing viewpoint suggests that prayer is the deepest expression of the soul and therefore needs to be comprehensible – this viewpoint advocates prayer in the vernacular. Reform services are usually a combination of prayers in Hebrew and in the vernacular.

There are prayers for almost every occasion to be found in the Reform siddur, Forms of Prayer – traditional prayers such as those on seeing a rainbow, hearing thunder, seeing lightning or for eating different foods (see p. 408f.) and more contemporary prayers such as a prayer on leaving home, a prayer for retirement, a prayer during depression and a prayer about animal companions.

Prayer is incredibly difficult. When we are young we are taught how to read prayers, but often not how to pray them. Prayer is clearly more than the mindless recitation of texts – it requires time, effort, patience and perseverance. The simplest way to start praying regularly is to set aside a regular time each day for some uninterrupted quiet, and then focusing on a particular text. If you are not able, or not yet ready to set aside a regular time for prayer, you can experience prayer simply by thanking God for things that you encounter during the day. Some Reform Jews have the custom of saying the things that they are thankful for before eating their dinner. While entering prayer may at first seem daunting, it is in fact a remarkably simple, and usually very rewarding endeavour. It always helps to have a guide into prayer and for this you are always welcome to contact a Reform rabbi.

Sources:

• Forms of Prayer Siddur, Eighth Edition, Movement for Reform Judaism, 2008
• Jewish Liturgy and Its Development, A. Z. Idelsohn, Constable & Co., London, 1995
• Entering Jewish Prayer, Reuven Hammer, Schocken Books, New York, 1994
• Your Word is Fire – the Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer, ed. Green & Holtz, Schocken Books, New York, 1987
• To Pray as a Jew, Hayim Halevy Donin, 1980

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