Hebrew Daily Prayer Book. Jonathan Sacks

Hebrew Daily Prayer Book

life into the world, the most profound of all creative acts. Whereas men thank GOD for the ability to act in accordance with God’s will, women thank GOD existentially: “who has made me according to His will”.

Who removes sleep from my eyes: Having thanked GOD for the blessings with which we are surrounded, we conclude by asking for His help in dedicating our lives to His service, undeterred by obstacles that may stand in our way. The prayer ends with thanksgiving for God’s kindness, reminding us of the verse from Psalms (92:3): “To proclaim Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness at night.”

May it be Your will: A meditation composed by Rabbi Judah the Prince (late second-early third century), redactor of the Mishnah and leader of the Jewish community in Israel. We are social beings, influenced by our environment (Maimonides), therefore we pray to be protected from harmful people, events and temptations. The prayer reflects the “social fabric of faith” (Lord Jakobovits).

A person should always: This whole section until “Who sanctifies Your name among the multitudes” appears in the tenth-century Midrash, Tanna DeVei Eliyyahu (ch. 21). Some believe that it dates from a period of persecution under the Persian ruler Yazdegerd II who, in 456 ce, forbade the observance of Shabbat and the reading of the Torah. Jews continued to practise their faith in secret, saying prayers at times and in ways that would not be detected by their persecutors. This explains the reference to fearing GOD “privately” and “speaking truth in the heart” (that is, the secret practice of Judaism) and the recitation here of the first lines of the Shema, which could not be said at the normal time. The final blessing, “Who sanctifies Your name among the multitudes”, refers to the martyrdom of those who went to their deaths rather than renounce their faith. Martyrdom is called Kiddush HaShem,“sanctifying [God’s] name.”

Master of all worlds: This passage also appears in the Ne’ilah prayer on Yom Kippur. It expresses the paradox of the human condition in the presence of God. We know how small we are and how brief our lives. Fleeting breath – the Hebrew word hevel – the key word of the opening chapters of Ecclesiastes, from which this line is taken – has been translated as “vain, meaningless, empty, futile”. However, it literally means “a short breath". It conveys a sense of the brevity and insubstantiality of life as a physical phenomenon. All that lives soon dies, and is as if it had never been. Yet – You created us, made us, chose us. We are infinitesimally small, yet brushed by the wings of Infinity. We are dust; yet we are Your people, children of Your covenant, descendants of those You singled out to be witnesses to the world of Your existence and majesty.

It was You who existed: This prayer, with its emphasis on the changelessness of GOD, may have been incorporated at a time of persecution, expressing the refusal of Jews to abandon their faith. GOD does not alter or revoke His covenant, therefore we may not renounce our religion or identity: “I, GOD, do not change; so you, children of Jacob, are not destroyed” (Malachi 3:6).

You are the LORD our GOD: This second prayer, for the end of exile, culminates with the verse from Zephaniah (3:20) which speaks of the ingathering of Jews and of a time when “I will give you renown and praise among all the peoples on earth” This entire sequence of prayers is eloquent testimony to how Jews sustained faith and hope, dignity and pride, during some of the most prolonged periods of persecution in history.

OFFERINGS

There now follows a second cycle of study, with the same structure as the first, with passages from: 1. the Torah; 2. the Mishnah; and 3. the Talmud (see below). The passages from the Torah relate to the daily, weekly and monthly sacrifices because, in the absence of the Temple, the

Sages held that study of the laws about sacrifice was a substitute for sacrifice itself (Ta’anit 27b). The passage from the Mishnah (Zevachim 5) is also about sacrifices, Mishnah; and 3. the Talmud (see below). The passages from the Torah relate to the daily, weekly and monthly sacrifices because, in the absence of the Temple, the Sages held that study of the laws about sacrifice was a substitute for sacrifice itself (Ta’anit 27b). The passage from the Mishnah (Zevachim 5) is also about sacrifices, and was chosen because it does not contain any disagreement between the Sages, and thus accords with the rule that one should pray “after a decided halachah”, that is, an item of Jewish law about which there is no debate. Some congregations include additional passages; our custom is to follow the text as it exists in the earliest Siddurim, those of Rabbi Amram Gaon and Rabbi Saadiah Gaon.

THE INTERPRETIVE PRINCIPLES OF RABBI ISHMAEL

This passage is included as an item of Talmud, defined in its broadest sense as “deducing conclusions from premises, developing implications of statements, comparing dicta, and studying the hermeneutical principles by which the Torah is interpreted” (Maimonides, Laws of Torah Study 1:11). It was chosen because it appears at the beginning of the Sifra, the halachic commentary to Leviticus, which is the source of most of the laws of offerings. It also reminds us of the indissoluble connection between the Written Law (the Mosaic books) and the Oral Law (Mishnah, Midrash and Talmud). Rabbi Ishmael’s principles show how the latter can be derived from the former.

LAWS OF KADDISH

1. Kaddish requires the presence of a minyan, that is, ten adult males.

2. It is our custom to say Kaddish standing.

3. It is also our custom that all mourners recite Kaddish in unison.

4. The Sages attached particular significance to the response, “May His great name be blessed for ever and all time.” This should be said with full concentration by all present.

THE RABBIS’ KADDISH The Kaddish, one of the most important of all prayers, had its origins not in the synagogue but in the house of study. It grew out of a custom, still widely practised, of ending every discourse or sermon with the hope that we may speedily see the coming of the messianic age, when the sovereignty of GoD will be recognised by all the dwellers on earth. It is written mainly in Aramaic, the language most widely spoken by Jews in the first centuries of the Common Era.

It has come to have five forms: 1. half-Kaddish, recited to mark the beginning or end of a section of the prayers; 2. full Kaddish (titkabal), to mark the end of the Amidah and its associated meditations; 3. the Mourner’s Kaddish; 4. Kaddish de-Rabbanan, said after a passage from the Oral Law; 5. the Kaddish of Renewal, said only at the conclusion of a tractate of the Talmud, or by a child at the funeral of a parent.

The Kaddish deRabbanan is a prayer not only for the establishment of God’s kingdom but also for the teachers of Torah and their disciples. It is characteristic of Judaism’s value system that this is the first Kaddish we say each morning. Judaism is a faith whose passion is education, whose heroes are teachers, and whose citadels are schools and houses of study. To learn, to teach, to internalise God’s will, to join our minds with the great Sages and scholars of the past – this is a supreme expression of Judaism, and the one from which all else flows.

pesukeide-zimra / verses of praise “A person should first recount the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, and then pray” (Berachot 32b), hence the passages that follow, known as the “Verses of Praise” The morning service from this point until the end is constructed in three movements, whose themes are: 1. Creation: GOD as He is in nature; 2. Revelation: GOD as He is in Torah and prayer; and 3. Redemption: GOD as He is in history and our lives. The theme of the Verses of Praise is Creation – GOD as Architect and Maker of a universe of splendour

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