Time and Eternity on Shabbat Morning (Part 2)
Mar 19, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Here is a parable for worship from the experience of my wife, a management consultant. A professor comes into class at Harvard Business School with a glass bucket, which he places on the desk. He then takes some large rocks from under the desk, places as many of them in the bucket as will fit, and asks the class if the bucket is full. The students (of course) reply that it is. He then takes out some pebbles and pours them into the bucket until it overflows, and, upon being questioned, the students again affirm the bucket is full. A bag of sand is then procured and poured into the bucket, followed by the same question, and finally water—each of these examples drawing some suspicion and hesitancy from the students. The class is then asked the point of this exercise, and a couple of bright ones who have read The One Minute Manager reply that it’s always possible to squeeze a little more into the day, to achieve one more small task. The professor replies, “The only way to get the big rocks in is to put them in first.”
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Time and Eternity in Shabbat Services (Part 1)
Mar 11, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
I remember well a warning from one of my teachers in rabbinical school (for me, the Leo Baeck College in London). We were discussing Shabbat morning services, and the warning was to young(ish) rabbis and rabbinical students that if we “indulge ourselves too greatly in liturgy, the result will be that the ovens of our congregants will come to be the homes of a new generation of burnt offerings.” The message was quite clear that these burnt offerings would be desirable neither to our congregants nor to God.
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“Light and Dark, Peace and . . . ?”
Mar 5, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Many regular shul-goers are familiar with the two blessings that precede the Shema’ in the morning service (whether on a weekday, Shabbat, or Festival). The first (Yotzer) addresses God’s role in the natural cycles of creation and the physical world, and the second (Ahavah Rabbah) speaks of God’s love for Israel, manifested in the gift of Torah. After the opening blessing formula, Yotzer continues, “yotzer or u-vorei choshech, oseh shalom u-vorei et ha-kol” (God forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates everything; Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat, 107). The text has a poetic balance and engages with familiar metaphors; it is no surprise to learn that this line is based upon Isaiah, as much of the text of the siddur is based upon biblical sources and allusions.
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On Doubt and Prayer (Part 4): “Soul” of Prayer
Feb 19, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
In the preliminary section of the morning service, the siddur guides us through some of the most basic concepts of our existence. We ask each day, “Mah anu? Meh chayeinu?” (Who are we? What are our lives?), and I confess that I always wonder if the questions are rhetorical or if they demand from us, each day, an answer. Each day, we also turn to two paragraphs that address the core nature of every human being: the siddur invites us to affirm that we are more than “a body with vessels and glands, organs, and systems of wondrous design” (Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays, 4), and presents the challenging, inspiring, and even comforting words, “Elohai neshamah she-natata bi tehorah hi” (My God, the soul You planted within me is pure). Very starkly, the soul is identified as a gift from God, created by God and “breathed into us,” that will one day be taken from the body. Unlike Descartes, who in his Meditations on First Philosophy reflects extensively on where precisely in the body the soul is to be located, the siddur does not deal with this question.
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On Doubt and Prayer (Part 3)
Feb 11, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
The droughts experienced recently in California and Israel became so severe that religious leaders of many faith traditions called for special prayers for rain. In the context of the history of Jewish liturgy, this is especially resonant, for much of our earliest data about rabbinic liturgy is based upon the detailed description of prayers for rain in the Mishnah (see Mishnah Ta’anit chapters 1 and 2, and extensive discussion in the Gemara). However, prayers for rain, especially in modernity, also bring us immediately into some of the most challenging contemporary reflections about prayer and ritual: “Does it work?!” Even though meteorology is far from an exact science, I suspect that there are few (if any) climate scientists who would include ritual gatherings, no matter how sincere, among the variables that determine the likelihood of rain.
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On Doubt and Prayer (Part 2)
Jan 29, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Dan Savage offers a reflection on prayer that is both humorous and poignant, noting that, as a self-identified “lapsed Catholic,” he prays only when he feels his life is in danger (in planes and when driving with his partner), and then never follows up, making him “not only an ingrate, but also a hypocrite” (see full video). Perhaps this is an updated version of the old adage, “There are no atheists in foxholes.”
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On Doubt (Part 1)
Jan 22, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
There are many texts found in the siddur that are not easily planted in our mouths, minds, hearts, and souls. For example, how might a person say with integrity, “My God, the soul You have given me is pure” (Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays, 4), while intellectually struggling with the existence of soul, and beset by uncertainty about the presence of God in the world?
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Shabbat Eve (Part 3): “Sit in the Dark, or Light Candles”
Jan 15, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Lighting candles at home (and in some synagogues) is a deeply rooted practice among the Jewish people all over the world. A pair of candlesticks is often identified as among the most precious (Jewish) possessions of a family, and many people speak of the sense of ethereal peace that descends upon a household (or community) as the flames of the candles come to life and the blessing is chanted.
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