The Way Into Jewish Prayer , livre ebook

The Way Into Jewish Prayer
2010 Quality Paperback Edition, Third Printing
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2000 by Lawrence A. Hoffman
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hoffman, Lawrence A., 1942- The way into Jewish prayer / Lawrence A. Hoffman. p. cm. -(The way into -) Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-1-58023-027-8 (hardcover) ISBN-10: 1-58023-027-X (hardcover) 1. Prayer-Judaism. 2. Judaism-Liturgy. I. Title. II. Series.
BM669.H64 2000 296.4 5-dc21 00-023844
ISBN-13: 978-1-58023-201-2 (quality pbk.) ISBN-10: 1-58023-201-9 (quality pbk.)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Manufactured in the United States of America Cover design by Glenn Suokko Text design by Glenn Suokko
Published by Jewish Lights Publishing A Division of LongHill Partners, Inc. Sunset Farm Offices, Route 4, P.O. Box 237 Woodstock, VT 05091 Tel: (802) 457-4000 Fax: (802) 457-4004 www.jewishlights.com
Other Jewish Lights books by Lawrence A. Hoffman
Israel-A Spiritual Travel Guide: A Companion for the Modern Jewish Pilgrim
My People s Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries (Two Volumes; coedited with David Arnow, PhD)
Rethinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life
Who by Fire, Who by Water -Un taneh Tokef
The Art of Public Prayer: Not for Clergy Only (from SkyLight Paths, Jewish Lights sister imprint)
My People s Prayer Book Series Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries Vol. 1- The Sh ma and Its Blessings Vol. 2- The Amidah Vol. 3- P sukei D zimrah (Morning Psalms) Vol. 4- Seder K riat Hatorah (The Torah Service) Vol. 5- Birkhot Hashachar (Morning Blessings) Vol. 6- Tachanun and Concluding Prayers Vol. 7- Shabbat at Home Vol. 8- Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming Shabbat in the Synagogue) Vol. 9- Welcoming the Night : Minchah and Ma ariv (Afternoon and Evening Prayer) Vol. 10- Shabbat Morning : Shacharit and Musaf (Morning and Additional Services)
For Children
What You Will See Inside a Synagogue (from SkyLight Paths, Jewish Lights sister imprint)
About The Way Into
The Way Into is a major series that provides an accessible and highly usable guided tour of the Jewish faith and people, its history and beliefs-in total, a basic introduction to Judaism for adults that will enable them to understand and interact with sacred texts.
The Authors
Each book in the series is written by a leading contemporary teacher and thinker. While each of the authors brings his or her own individual style of teaching to the series, every volume s approach is the same: to help you to learn, in a life-affecting way, about important concepts in Judaism.
The Concepts
Each volume in The Way Into Series explores one important concept in Judaism, including its history, its basic vocabulary, and what it means to Judaism and to us. In the Jewish tradition of study, the reader is helped to interact directly with sacred texts.
The topics to be covered in The Way Into Series:

Torah
Jewish Prayer
Encountering God in Judaism
Jewish Mystical Tradition
Covenant and Commandment
Holiness and Chosenness ( Kedushah )
Time
Judaism and the Environment
Zion
Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World)
Money and Ownership
Women and Men
The Relationship between Jews and Non-Jews
The Varieties of Jewishness





The publisher gratefully acknowledges the contribution of Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman to the creation of this series. In his lifelong work of bringing a greater appreciation of Judaism to all people, he saw the need for The Way Into and inspired us to act on it.
Contents


About The Way Into ...
Timeline
Acknowledgments
1. God and the Jewish People: To Whom Jews Pray
Surprisingly, prayer is mostly not about petitioning an allpowerful, all-good, and all-knowing deity to grant our wishes. Provides a foundation for thinking deeply about what prayer is, along with a spectrum of modern Jewish thinkers views on the nature of the God to whom we pray.
2. Prayer as Discipline and as Art: How Prayer Works
Jewish prayer takes place spontaneously or in fixed form; in the synagogue, at home, or through blessings designed to greet the miracle of the sacred along the way.
3. The Synagogue Sanctuary: What s What and Why It Is So
Everything in a synagogue-from the ark to the reader s desk-has a history, as well as a symbolism that points all the way back to the desert wanderings of the Israelites and the First Temple built by King Solomon some three thousand years ago.
4. The Community at Prayer: Who s Who and What They Do
The nature of the Jewish community at worship. Explores the principles of prayer in Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist Judaism, and why the various denominations have different views on some things yet agree on others.
5. The Ideas of Jewish Prayer: What Matters Most
Prayer makes a difference in how we live our lives, because it is a distilled and ritualized reminder of the things that are great, noble, and worth living for. Delves into the great truths of Jewish tradition-about God, human nature, the cosmos, and what we most hope happens at the end of time-as they are found in the prayer book.
6. A Prayerful Person at Home and on the Way: When the Ordinary Can Be Sacred
How we can become prayerful people who appreciate the miracles of daily life, greet the world with blessings, appreciate the feel of the year s different seasons, and build a life filled with moments of mystery.
Notes
Glossary
Suggestions for Further Reading
Index

About Jewish Lights
Copyright
Acknowledgments


Like many authors of this series, I suspect, my way into Jewish scholarship began with family history. I am the product of parents and grandparents who valued Jewish learning. Coming from a small town in southern Ontario, however, my learning was distinctly limited, informed primarily by an hour or two a week with a single devoted rabbi, Philip Rosenzweig, and my own father who sat me down to teach me the Hebrew alphabet when I was five. As a graduating high school student, I still knew no Hebrew, had never opened any of the classics of a rabbinic library, had yet to read a serious book in Jewish history or theology, and had never even heard of the word liturgy. One prominent rabbi said I knew so little that it was too late to consider a rabbinic calling. I mention all of this so people on the way into Jewish knowledge may recognize that it is never too late to begin.
My real beginning was at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where I encountered many devoted teachers. Leon Liebreich first introduced me to the academic study of liturgy, through a book-length syllabus that invited us to look up discussions and citations throughout rabbinic literature. Canadian high schools had taught me never to skip a homework assignment, and by the time the course had ended, I was hooked on the excitement of Judaism s prayer tradition. That excitement was enhanced by Dr. John Tepfer, who frightened me to death with his Socratic method of teaching, but who was reputed to know everything; he introduced me to rabbinic literature and advanced work in liturgy. Dr. Eugene Borowitz was virtually inventing the field of Jewish theology at the time, and, although I didn t recognize it until years later, he was making me into a theologian. More than anyone else, Gene has continued to be my mentor over the years. Dr. Martin Cohen and Dr. Stanley Dreyfus supervised my rabbinic thesis and they too added immeasurably to my learning. I thank the College-Institute for my doctoral work in the field also, particularly the late Dr. Jakob Petuchowski, z l , who supervised my work in liturgy.
It was my very good fortune the first year after graduation to be invited to deliver a lecture at the University of Notre Dame. There I met more Christian liturgists than I thought imaginable, since my understanding at the time was that the number of Jews who would answer to the designation liturgist or theologian was minuscule. My contacts at Notre Dame led me to join-and even to be considered a founder-of the North American Academy of Liturgy, the academic center for people who study, teach about, and plan the liturgies for most North American Christians. Over the years, an Academy study group convened by Dr. Gilbert Ostdiek allowed our several members to educate ourselves and each other about the function of ritual, and why ritual is so central to human beings. One member of that group stands out: Dr. Mark Searle, a brilliant academician and close friend who died before his time, leaving the world bereft of insights he was only beginning to have, well in advance of the rest of us. Some of my best friends have come from that circle, too many to name, but including Dr. Richard Vosko, who continually instructs me in spirituality and sacred space, and Drs. Paul Bradshaw and Janet Walton, with whom I have coedited a series of volumes on the relationship between Jewish and Christian liturgy. My decision to write this book, as so many others, for Jewish Lights derives from my personal friendship with and high esteem for Stuart Matlins. Stuart has taught me much-about Jewish publishing, certainly, but also about living Jewish values in the day-to-day affairs of one s business and personal life. It is an honor to be included in the Jewish Lights enterprise. Sandra Korinchak remains the best general editor I have ever met and probably ever will. Elisheva Urbas has handled this entire project with professio