Jewish Prayer

Ruach LA Shabbat Service Introduction and FAQ’s

One of our goals at Ruach L.A. is to create services that are family friendly, participatory, Jewish-oriented, creative, spirit-infused, and Yeshua-centered. So what does this look like? What does it mean to be “Jewish- oriented”, and how does that fit with being “Yeshua-centered”?

First let’s look at the basic structure of the Jewish prayer service. Next, let’s endeavor to see why and how this measures up with our Messiah Yeshua’s teachings and those of His followers, His talmidim (students), the Shilichim (Apostles), whom He trained. Lastly, let’s go over a few FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) that some readers might have.

THE BASIC’S—a brief history of Jewish prayer

In times of Yeshua and before, communal prayer was centered on the Temple in Jerusalem that God had commanded His Nation to build, often referred to as “the place I shall choose to have My name dwell”.[1] The Temple in Yeshua’s time served as the nucleus of spirituality for the entire world, as Yeshua called it “the house of prayer for all nations”.[2] To be sure, it was the practice in this time to undergo periods of personal spontaneous prayer (as we have many examples of Yeshua doing); however, the primary mode we see recounted in both Jewish history and the New Covenant writings is corporate prayer centered on the Temple.[3]

Outside of the Temple, as early as the sixth century B.C.E., during the time of the first exile in Babylon, a system of “ma’amadot” (prayer gatherings) were instituted to help fill the void that the loss of the Temple created. Later, when the Temple was rebuilt, certain pious individuals, who were not priests or Levites, were elected to go to the Temple and represent the people during the daily morning and afternoon offerings.[4] When these people were not at the Temple, they met in the local community to gather and pray, timing the prayer gatherings to correspond with the offerings in the Temple. From these gatherings, many scholars believe that the “συναγωγή” (synagogē), or “assemblies”, were born.[5]

In a nutshell, what is Jewish prayer? First, Jewish prayer, as mentioned above, was based on the Temple offerings in Jerusalem. In the wake of the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., Judaism was at a loss for self- expression in terms of prayer. The leading sage, Yochanan (Jonathan) ben Zakkai, a contemporary of Gamliel, the Elder (Shaul/Paul’s teacher—see Acts 5:34ff), was the driving force behind the reinstitution of Jewish prayer as a substitute for the Temple service. He established a school at Yavneh in order to re-establish the Sanhedrin, Israel’s Supreme Court spoken about in Deuteronomy 17 and 18, in order to decide how to deal with the loss of the sacrificial system in the Temple. Referring to a passage in Hosea: "I desired mercy and not sacrifice"[6], he helped persuade the council to replace animal sacrifices with prayer.

We seem to find biblical parallels for corresponding prayers with the times of the offerings as King David[7] and the prophet Daniel prayed three times a day. In Daniel, it says: "...his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees, three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done before" (6:11). According to Jewish understanding, prayer is a biblical command. When Israel was instructed to “serve God with [its] whole heart” (Deuteronomy 11:13), the question was asked and answered: “What service is performed with the heart? This is prayer.” The prayers are therefore referred to as Avodah sheba-Lev ("service that is in the heart").[8]

THE BASIC’S-part II—An overview of the Shabbat morning Jewish prayer service

Now that we have surveyed a brief history of prayer, what does that look like on a typical Shabbat morning service? First, Jewish prayer consists mainly of reciting “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”[9] from a prayer book, called the Siddur (or order). Roughly, eighty to ninety percent of the Jewish Siddur is based on various psalms, biblical passages from the Torah and/or Prophets, and assorted paragraphs consisting of a conglomeration of scriptures. Outside of the material that comes directly from the Bible, the other ten to fifteen percent is made up of ancient songs and hymns either directly quoting or alluding to Biblical events, such as creation, the exodus from Egypt, etc. On Shabbat morning, the service is divided into five parts, with an additional sixth part done at the conclusion.[10]

The Ruach L.A. Shabbat morning service officially begins with the conclusion of the second service, P’zukei D’zimrah (Songs of Praise), and concludes with two hymns extolling the virtues of God and singing His praises:

Shochen Ad (He Who Abides Forever)

Yishtabach (May Your Name be Praised

SHEMA & Blessings

The third section of the service centers on the Shema[1], the national creed of the religion of Israel, and according to our Master, the greatest commandment.[2] Since Shabbat commemorates and gives testimony to the Creation, on Shabbat we introduce the recitation of the Shema with two blessings and four hymns that give speak of God as Creator:

Barchu (Bless) is perhaps one of the most ancient calls to worship

Yotzer Ohr (He Who Forms Light), based on a passage in Isaiah 52:7, opens up a section of thanking God for creation

Ha Kol Yaducha (All Shall Thank You) speaks of the Creator, who renews creation daily

El Adon (God—Master of Works) praises God for the glory of creation, using each letter of the Hebrew alphabet

L’El Asher Sh’vat (To the God Who Rested) is the hymn that celebrates Shabbat, itself, as instituted by God as part of His creation. The longest of the hymns, it weaves together the thanksgiving that humanity offers God with the thanksgiving the ministering angels in Heaven offer, quoting the famous “Holy, Holy, Holy” passage from Isaiah’s vision.

Ahavah Rabbah (Great Love) is the last of the hymns and speaks of the great love that God has for His Nation, as well as the grace He has shown us in giving us His Words of life. Of all the hymns in this section, this is the most ancient and was recited in the Temple during Yeshua’s time.[3]

After the recitation of the biblical passages of the Shema, two more sections are recited:

T’hilot (Praises), which center around the Biblical passages that thank God for His deliverance from Egypt at the Song at the Sea of Reeds.[4]

Tzur Yisrael (Rock of Israel) which looks forward to the future redemption of the Messiah Yeshua when “…all Israel will be saved”.[5]

AMIDAH (Standing Prayer)

The fourth section of our service, the Amidah, or Standing Prayer, is the crux of the daily Jewish prayer service and is simply known as “The Prayer” in Jewish literature. The Amidah on Shabbat consists of 7 blessings. The first three are said together, ending with the Kedusha, including verses from Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Psalms, extolling the Holiness of God. This prayer is most likely what is meant by Yeshua when He instructed His students “..when you stand praying…”[6]

Avot (Patriarchs) is the first blessing that thanks God for the covenant given to the forefathers

Givurot (Might) thanks God for His resuscitating the dead at the end times and for the Resurrection of Yeshua

K’dushat Adonai (Holiness of God’s Name) praises God for His holiness

Kedushat Ha Yom (Holiness of the Day) thanks God for giving the Shabbat and asks for His blessing on the Shabbat day

Avodah (Temple Service) asks God to restore the Temple in Jerusalem, which the book of Revelations explains will be the New Jerusalem.[7]

Modim (Thanksgiving) offers thanksgiving to God for His miracles, grace, and compassion

Shalom (Peace) ends the Amidah by asking God to give us a blessing for peace (shalom).

At Ruach L.A., we observe the instructions Yeshua gave His students on how to pray, and we conclude the Amidah with Yeshua’s personal prayer (more widely known as “The Lord’s Prayer”).[8]

PUBLIC READINGS

The fifth and final section of the service consists of three public scripture readings—one from the weekly parasha (or “portion”) from the Torah, a second from the corresponding haftorah (or “parting”) from a section from the Prophets, and a third section from the Brit Chadasha, New Covenant, that corresponds to the weekly Torah reading. In keeping in practice with both Yeshua[9] and His followers,[10] we read from the same sections read in synagogues across the globe, and in keeping with the admonitions from the Shlichim (Apostles),[11] we also read passages from the New Covenant that correspond with the weekly Torah and Haftorah readings. At Ruach L.A., this is a time of celebration and joy where we process the Torah throughout the congregation and re-enact the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. We begin with several passages from Psalms, praising God’s incomparable greatness, and then begin to process the Torah, reciting in unison a few key passages:

Vayahi Binsoa Ha’Aron (When the Ark Would Travel) is the recounting the power of God’s Word, contained in the Ark of the Covenant, to protect and keep Israel.

Brich Sh’mei (Blessed is the Name) is a hymn that relies on the reading of God’s Word to beseech His compassion.

Before processing and dancing with the Torah, we recite together public declarations of the oneness and greatness of God, ending with…

L’cha Adonai Hagedulah (Yours, Adonai, is the Greatness), the blessing King David gave upon taking up an offering for the building of the Temple. This is supplemented with verses from Psalms that talk about God’s exaltedness.

After publicly reading our three portions, reciting the blessings that correspond and ask God to heal the sick in our community, we conclude with Psalms of praise:

Etz Chaim (Tree of Life), which draws from a conglomeration of verses from Numbers, Psalms and Proverbs, speaking of the virtues of God’s Word

Hagbah (The Lifting of the Torah), where we lift the Torah scroll for all to see and exclaim “This is the Torah that Moses place before the Children of Israel” (Deut. 4:44)

It’s at this point that we conclude the Public Reading section with a drasha (expounding) of the readings by the Rabbi or a distinguished member of our community or distinguished visitor.

MUSSAF (Additional/Concluding)

The last part of service is a condensed version of the additional service that is recited in honor of the Shabbat and/or Holiday. We conclude with two hymns:

Ein K’Elohein (There is None Like Our God), which exhorts us to place our hope in God, who is the ultimate God, Master, King and Savior

Aleinu (It is Our Duty), which concludes each of the three daily prayer services and is attributed to the Prophet Joshua as he lead Israel across the Jordan. This hymn was initially said only once a year during the service for the New Year (Rosh Hashana), but at some point in medieval times was added as part of the daily service. At Ruach L.A., we add a very fitting paragraph from Shaul/Paul’s letter to the Philippians,[12] which acknowledges Yeshua’s supreme position over all Creation.

IN DEPTH-FAQs On Jewish Prayer

Scholar and author Aaron Eby, commenting on Jewish liturgical prayer, makes the following observation that serves well as a brief synopsis of most people’s feelings regarding fixed prayer services:

“For many people from an Evangelical or charismatic background, ‘liturgy’ is a bad word. It is considered synonymous with deadness, dryness, and non-inspiration. It is often perceived as a box that serves only to prevent the Spirit of God from moving during a service. It is discarded as one of the ‘traditions of men’ that the Messiah warned us to avoid.” [13]

It is along the lines of the above sentiments that we’ll endeavor to deal with a few of these concerns.

Why use a liturgical format for the prayer service, and why in Hebrew? Why not simply use spontaneous prayer?

First the word “liturgy” can refer to any proscribed format—whether:

a collection of formularies for public worship, or simply
a particular arrangement of services.

Every religious community has some set order of services that it follows. We, at Ruach L.A., are no different in this regard. We endeavor to follow the ancient prayer service that closely models that of Temple worship—one with which Yeshua and His followers would have been familiar. In fact, historically speaking. it wasn’t until around the middle of the second century CE that believers in Yeshua parted ways with larger Judaism; however, the Jewish prayer service continued to be the basis of worship service well until the middle ages and beyond. Furthermore, as was mentioned above, some sort of liturgical prayer seems to be the way the early Yeshua community conducted their services, using “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (see Ephesians 5:18-19; and Colossians 3:16), public scripture readings (1 Timothy 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:27; and Colossians 4:16), as well as preaching sermons (Acts 20) and answering “amen” to prayers (1 Corinthians 14:16).

As for using Hebrew in our liturgy, we, at Ruach L.A., feel it’s important to continue in the tradition of the Master and His students. Although, His students certainly spoke Greek and/or Latin in order to communicate in their world, they taught and prayed in Hebrew (or a Hebrew dialect known as Aramaic, the language of Yeshua’s statements on the cross, which are preserved in all the Gospels). Hebrew is also the language in which God’s Word was given (most scholars attest to the fact that even the Greek copies of the New Covenant are, in many places, obvious translations from a Hebrew and/or Hebreo-Aramaic dialect), and any translation necessarily is second best to the original language.

Isn’t fixed liturgical prayer a violation of Yeshua’s injunction against “vain repetitions” and/or simply “traditions of men”?

In Yeshua’s discourse on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, He warns against “us[ing] meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7 NASB). Here Yeshua is certainly not referencing Jewish liturgical prayer. We understand this is not the case for two important reasons. First, the types of prayers that Yeshua references are both not Jewish—“as the Gentiles do”—and are vain repetitions. Certainly, Yeshua isn’t speaking against repetitiveness per se, otherwise any song and/or hymns read from a hymnal or off a screen would have to omit any repetition of choruses, etc. Again, to quote Messianic scholar, Aaron Eby:

“Everyone employs some repetition in worship…It is not a sin if you pray for the same thing twice, or even twice in one day. It is not a sin if you use the same words in a prayer that you used last time. [Even] in the most spontaneous prayers, there is typically a substantial amount of repetition.[14]”

Second, Jewish liturgy, as is used at Ruach L.A., is composed mostly (about 80-90%) of psalms, biblical passages, and/or prayers taken directly from the Scriptures, and, therefore, couldn’t rightly be labeled as

“traditions of men.” It seems that this style of prayer would (and definitely does) aid in the Bible’s injunction to “hide God’s Word in our hearts.”

In fact, in traditional Jewish understanding, it has been said, “Prayer without kavanah (sincere intention) is like a body without a soul.”[15]

Isn’t liturgical prayer dry, and doesn’t it quench the moving of the Spirit?

This is an understandable question as much of what is thought of as “a move of the Spirit” today values spontaneity and unpredictability; however, it doesn’t follow that the Spirit can’t and doesn’t move through things done in an ordered and/or fixed manner. This is made abundantly clear in the main passage of the first letter to Corinth, in which we find spiritual gifts discussed. Shaul/Paul spends most of a whole chapter setting out the order for how the spiritual gifts are to be used (1 Corinthians 14:6-40). Not only this, but consider Ephesians 5:18-19, “Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.” So, it seems that praying with psalms and hymns is an example of being Spirit-filled. This is quite obvious in that we have to look no further than the examples of both the Tabernacle and the Temple, which, undoubtedly, were the most “Spirit-filled” places of worship in the entire Bible (see e.g. Exodus 40:35), not to mention the fact that God’s Spirit was certainly in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. It is interesting to point out that the Temple was the epicenter of God’s spiritual presence in the world at that time, and it had, as some consider, very rigid prescriptions of service. It seems that God is a fan of order, and it stands to reason that although spontaneity and unpredictability are a part of worship, we have to ask ourselves how much more are order and structure.

Lastly, having said all of the above, most at Ruach L.A. do practice spontaneous prayer during services and on other occasions. The main Hebrew verb for prayer—hitpallel —is in fact the reflexive form of palal , to judge. Thus, "to pray" conveys the notion of “judging oneself”. Whether we use the traditional Jewish liturgy, which consists mostly of biblical passages, or we use our own voices to cry out to the Divine, one thing is true: ultimately, the purpose of prayer—tefilah —is to transform ourselves.

Let’s close with more insightful words from scholar Aaron Eby:

“Some people reject liturgical prayer and worship because they don’t get the same positive feeling from it that they do with other forms of worship. But prayer takes sacrifice and dedication. We do not [always] worship or pray because we enjoy it, although that may often be the case. We worship because God deserves it. Everyone likes to feel spiritually charged, but whether or not a person feels spiritually charged from a form of worship should not be the primary issue. True worship is submission to God. Our goal should be to determine how God wants us to worship Him.”

[1] Deuteronomy 6:4-9, also recited is a parallel passage in Deuteronomy 11:13-21 and Numbers 15:37-41.

[2] See Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27.

[3] b. Brachot 11b

[4] The specific passages mentioned are in Exod. 15:11, 18

[5] See Romans 11:26

[6] See Mark 11:25 and Matthew 6:5 (note that in Matthew, Yeshua doesn’t discourage the “standing prayer,” but rather the attitude one engages in while praying, see v. 5 versus v.6)

[7] See Revelations 21.

[8] Matthew 6:9-13

[9] See e.g. Luke 4:16

[10] See e.g. Acts 13:15

[11] See e.g. 1 Timothy 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:27; and Colossians 4:16

[12] Phil. 2:9-11

[13] Eby, Aaron. Answering Objections to Liturgical Prayer. 2007. 02 Feb. <http://ffoz.org/blogs/2007/02/answering_objections_to_liturg.html?zoom_highlight=liturgy>

[14] Ibid.

[15] Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man’s Quest for God. See also Rabbi Y. Emden’s introduction to his Siddur, Tanya Ch. 38, and also Guide for the Perplexed.