Prayers for the State of Israel
Nov 21, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
With sorrow in our hearts, we turn this week to the dangers facing Medinat Yisrael, the State of Israel, and all who live there. The circulation of “composed prayer texts” does not in any way preclude each person from pouring out his or her inner dreams and desires to God. It is the role of the rabbinic leaders of the community to prepare words that express the thoughts, hopes, and dreams within all of our hearts, and give concrete form to the value and ideals we cherish. Rabbi Reuven Hammer writes this week from the Jerusalem: “ . . . I have added Psalm 91 to our services here during this period. I think it is particularly appropriate for this particular situation with its reference to arrows.”
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Could “All” Be in Vain? A Liturgical Response to Ecclesiastes
Nov 14, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Sukkot
The opening words of the book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) have troubled those who read the Bible for a very long time, and remain a challenge—ancient, but still provocative. “Havel havalim, . . . hakol havel” (In vain, in vain, . . . it is all futility) (Eccles. 1, 2). Last week we began to look at the passage “mah anu meh chayyeinu” found in the preliminary service (daily and Shabbat), and I noted the extraordinary feature of this “prayer”—the questions included within the text (Who are we? What is our life? etc.). If we think of prayer as addressed to God, it is remarkable to find within this prayer that we ourselves are questioned. The final words of the paragraph (in the Ashkenazic version) bring us face to face with the troubling opening of Ecclesiastes: “ki hakol havel.”(“because everything is futile” or “because everything is in vain”).
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“Who Are We?” A “Prayer” That Asks Questions (Part 1)
Nov 7, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Many of us are accustomed to the idea that the “prayers” we find in the siddur will be filled with praises for God or with requests. In the first paragraph of our core prayer, the ‘Amidah, we praise God as “ha’el hagadol hagibbor vehanora” (the great, mighty and awesome God), and then continue a little further with requests for wisdom, health, good harvest, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, peace—and that our prayer be heard. There are, of course, many further examples in the pslams, in rabbinic texts, and in the great medieval poems.
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A Prayer in the Face of the Storm
Oct 31, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
“Prayer invites God’s presence to suffuse our spirits; God’s will to prevail in our lives. Prayer might not bring water to parched fields, nor mend a broken bridge, nor rebuild a ruined city. But prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart, rebuild a weakened will.” —Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman
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Psalm 30: Dedication of the “Inner Temple”
Oct 17, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Psalm 30 has the enigmatic introduction, “A Psalm of David for hannukat habayit—the dedication of the Temple”; enigmatic because David never built or saw the Temple. It was his dream, but a dream unrealized in his lifetime and brought to reality by his son, Solomon. So we wonder how it came to be that we have a song (psalm) ascribed to David for an occasion he could not have seen, and we also wonder why this psalm became a part of traditional Jewish liturgy, always recited at the end of the preliminary blessings, followed by the mourners’ kaddish (see, for example, the Rabbinical Assembly’s Siddur Sim Shalom, page 14).
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My Lips, My Mouth, My Heart
Oct 10, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
With the cycle of Festivals behind us, and approaching the Torah portion Parashat Bereishit (“In the beginning . . . ”), it is fitting to look at the very beginning of the core text of our liturgy—the ‘Amidah or tefillah. We turn to this ordered sequence of blessings in every Jewish service, whether with a community or praying privately. The structure and history of the ‘Amidah open enormous areas of reflection—to which this column will turn quite frequently—but here let us look at the phrase that comes, so to speak, even before the beginning. The words “Adonai sefatai tiftach ufi yagid tehilatekha” (God open my lips and my mouth will declare Your praise) are from Psalm 51:17, and are printed in just about every version of the siddur (in smaller type) just before the opening of the ‘Amidah (see for example the Shabbat/Festival siddur of the Rabbinical Assembly on pages 35, 115, 156).
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A Hand to Hold
Oct 16, 2013 By Joel Alter | Commentary | Vayera
Her beautiful 16-year-old Ishmael lying whimpering nearby from mortal thirst and her own death close at hand, Hagar—in Genesis 21:15–18—is about as pitiable as one might imagine.
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Nusah: A Key to the Meaning of Prayer
Oct 5, 2012 By Jack Chomsky | Commentary
Of all the traditional melodies in the liturgical year, I have long been impressed by the remarkable musical setting of the kaddish preceding the prayers for Geshem (rain) at Shemini Atzeret, near the conclusion of the fall festival, and Tal (dew) at the beginning of Pesah in the spring).
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