A Guide to Jewish Prayer

Table Of Contents

Introduction  /  xvii
 
PART ONE • Prayer
 
CHAPER 1. The Prayer Book  /  3
 
CHAPTER 2. The Essence of Prayer  /  8
 
CHAPTER 3. Individual and Communal Prayer   /  14
The Nature of Communal Prayer  /  15
The Communality of Prayer  /  18
Individuality of Prayer  /  19
The Meaning of Communal Prayer  /  22
Individual Prayer Within Communal Prayer  /  24
  
CHAPTER 4. Men and Women  /  26
The Commandment to Pray Applies to All  /  26
Differences in the Concept of Prayer  /  26
Historical Causes  /  28
 Women’s Prayer Texts  /  30
The Women’s Gallery (Ezrat Nashim)  /  31
 
CHAPTER 5. Kavvanah  /  34
The Importance of Kavvanah  /  34
Levels of Kavvanah  /  35
Kavvanah and the Regularity of Prayer  /  38
Achieving Kavvanah  /  40
 
PART TWO • History
 
CHAPTER 6. The History of the Siddur  /  47
The Creation of Standard Prayer Texts  /  48
Prayer in Mishnaic and Talmudic Times  /  51
Liturgical Poets and Devotional Poetry (Piyyut)  /  53
Suddurim and Mahzorim  /  57
The Influence of the Kabbalah  /  58
Recent Generations  /  61
 
CHAPTER 7. Prayer Rites  /  62
Antiquity of the Prayer Rites  /  63
Justification for the Different Prayer Rites  /  64
Prayer Rites Today  /  66
        Nusaḥ Ashkenaz—The Ashkenazic Rite  /  66
        Nusaḥ Sepharad—The Sephardic (Hasidic) Rite  /  69
        The Oriental (Sephardic) Rite  /  71
        The Yemenite Rite  /  73
        The Italian Rite  /  75
Extinct Prayer Rites  /  77
 
PART THREE • The Order of Prayer Services
 
CHAPTER 8. Weekday Prayer Services  /  83
Prayer and the Life Cycle  /  83
The Daily Prayers  /  84
        Tikkun Ḥazot  /  84
        The Sharḥarit Service  /  86
        The Minḥah Prayer  /  96
        The Ma’ariv (Arvit) Prayer Service  /  98
        Shema Upon Retiring to Bed  /  101
 
CHAPTER 9. Shabbat  /  104
The Order of the Shabbat Day  /  105
Shabbat Prayer Services  /  107
         The Friday Minḥah Prayer  /  107
         Kabbalat Shabbat—The Reception of Shabbat  /  107
         The Shabbat Ma’ariv Service  /  110
         The Shaḥarit Service  /  112
         Torah Reading  /  114
         The Musaf Service  /  115
         The Minḥah Service  /  116
         The Ma’ariv Service on Motza’ei Shabbat (“The Conclusion of Shabbat”)  /  118
The Departure of Shabbat  /  119
         The Havdalah Ceremony  /  120
         After the Havdalah  /  123
Shabbat Meals  /  124
         The Kiddush of Shabbat Eve, and the First Shabbat Meal  /  126
         Preparations for the Kiddush  /  127
         Some of the Laws and Customs of the Kiddush  /  128
         The Second and Third Shabbat Meals  /  130
         Study on Shabbat Afternoon  /  131
         Melaveh Malkah  /  132
Special Sabbaths  /  133
        Shabbat Mervarkhim  /  133
        Shabbat Rosh Ḥodesh  /  134
        Shabbat That Falls on Festival Days  /  136
        Shabbat Ḥol ha-Mo’ed  /  137
        Shabbat of Ḥanukkah  /  139
        Shabbat Rosh Ḥodesh on Ḥanukkah  /  140
        The Arba Parshiyyot (“Four Portions”)  /  140
        Shabbat on Days When Taḥanun Is Not Recited  /  142
        Shabbat ha-Gadol  /  142
        Shabbat Teshuvah (Shuvah)  /  143
        The Sabbaths of Evil Dispensation  /  144
        The Sabbaths of Comfort  /  144
        Other Sabbaths  /  145
 
CHAPTER 10. Festivals  /  146
Festival Days  /  146
The Three Pilgrimage Festivals  /  147
The Second Days in the Diaspora  /  148
Festival Prayers in General  /  150
        The Ma’ariv Service  /  150
        The Shaḥarit Service  /  153
        Torah Readings  /  153
        The Musaf Service  /  154
        The Minḥah Service  /  155
        Conclusion of the Festival  /  156
The Pesaḥ Festival  /  156
        The Beginning of the Pesaḥ Festival  /  156
        The Pesaḥ Seder  /  157
        The Shaḥarit Service  /  161
        The Musaf Service  /  162
        The Minḥah and the Ma’ariv Services  /  162
        The Second Day of Pesaḥ (in the Diaspora)  /  162
        The Seventh Day of Pesaḥ  /  163
        The Last Day of Pesaḥ (in the Diaspora)  /  164
The Shavu’ot Festival  /  165
        Shavu’ot Prayer Services  /  166
        The Second Day of Shavu’ot (in the Diaspora)  /  168
The Sukkot Festival  /  168
        Sukkot Prayer Services  /  170
        The Second Day of Sukkot (in the Diaspora)  /  171
        Shemini Atzeret and Simḥat Torah  /  172
        Shemini Atzeret (in the Diaspora)  /  173
        Simḥat Torah  /  174
 
CHAPTER 11. Days of Awe  /  177
Rosh ha-Shanah—The New Year Festival  /  178
        The Minḥah Service on Rosh ha-Shanah Eve  /  180
        The Ma’ariv Service  /  180
        Kiddush and the Festive Meal  /  182
        The Shaḥarit Service  /  183
        Torah Readings  /  184
        Teki’ot—The Blowing of the Shofar  /  185
        The Musaf Service  /  188
        The Minḥah Service  /  192
        Tashlikh  /  192
        The Second Day of Rosh ha-Shanah  /  192
        Prayer Services on the Second Day of Rosh ha-Shanah  /  194
Yom Kippur—The Day of Atonement  /  195
        Yom Kippur Eve  /  197
        Kol Nidrei  /  198
        The Ma’ariv Service  /  201
        The Shaḥarit Service  /  203
        Torah Readings  /  204
        The Musaf Service  /  205
        The Minḥah Service  /  207
        The Ne’ilah Service  /  208
        Conclusion of the Festival  /  211
 
CHAPTER 12. Special Days  /  213
Rosh Ḥodesh—The New Moon  /  213
Ḥol ha-Mo’ed—The Intermediate Days of a Festival  /  217
        Ḥol ha-Mo’ed of Pesaḥ  /  219
        Ḥol ha-Mo’ed of Sukkot  /  220
        Ḥosha’na Rabbah  /  221
        Shabbat Ḥol ha-Mo’ed  /  222
Hanukkah  /  222
        Rosh Ḥodesh During Hanukkah  /  225
Purim  /  225
         Shushan Purim  /  227
Fast Days  /  229
         The Ninth of Av (Tish’ah be-Av)  /  229
         Memorial Fast Days  /  233
         The Twentieth of Sivan—A Fast Day of Remembrance  /  236
         Fast Days for Repentance and Atonement  /  237
         Other Fixed Fast Days  /  239
         Nonfixed Fast Day  /  240
Special Time Perios  /  243
         The Ten Days of Repentance  /  243
         The Month of Nisan  /  244
         The Counting of the Omer  /  244
         The Three Weeks (Bein ha-Meitzarim)  /  245
         The Month of Elul  /  245
Days of Joy  /  246
         Local Purims  /  247
         Lag ba-Omier—The Thirty-third Day of the Omer Period  /  247
         The Day of Independence and Jerusalem Day  /  248
         Other Days When Taḥanun Is Not Recited  /  249
 
CHAPTER 13. Torah Readings  /  253
The Cycle of Torah Readings  /  254
Taking the Torah Scrolls Out of the Ark  /  256
The Order of Calling Up to the Torah  /  258
Blessings for the Torah  /  260
Torah-Reading Customs  /  263
Hagbahah (“Raising”) and Gelilah (“Winding”) of the Torah Scroll  /  265
Returning the Torah Scrools to the Ark  /  267
The People Called Up to the Torah Reading  /  268
The Torah Scroll  /  270
Wrappings and Decorations of the Torah Scroll  /  274
The Pointer (Yad)  /  276
Cantillation of the Torah Reading (Ta’amei he-Mikra)  /  277
         Emperor Accents  /  279
         King Accents  /  279
         Minister Accents  /  280
 
PART FOUR • The Synagogue and Communal Prayer  
 
CHAPTER 14. The Synagogue  /  285
Ancient Origins of the Synagogue  /  285
Ancient Synagogues  /  286
Synagogues Outside the City  /  287
The Structure of the Synagogue  /  288
The Women’s Gallery  /  290
Orientation  /  290
Synagogue Accessories  /  292
         The Holy Ark  /  292
         The Bimah  /  292
         Ner Tamid—The Eternal Light  /  293
         The Prayers Lectern  /  293
         Candles and Lamps  /  294
         The Basin  /  294
         Seating  /  295
         Additional Accessories   /  295
Synagogue Architecture  /  297
         Ornamentation  /  298
         Small Synagogues  /  300
         Minyanim  /  301
         The Shtibel  /  302
Synagogue Laws  /  303
The Synagogue and the Beit Midrash (“House of Study”)  /  305
Official Functions and Appointments  /  306
         Head of the Synagogue (Rosh ha-Knesset)  /  306
         Parnas  /  307
         Gabbai  /  308
         Ḥazzan—Cantor  /  309
         Shammash  /  309
         Ba’al Keriah—Torah Reader  /  310
         Meturgeman—Interpreter  /  311
         The Ten Batlanim  /  312
         Rabbi  /  312
Other Use of the Synagogue  /  313
         Talmud Torah—Torah Study School for Children  /  214
         Communal Meetings  /  315
         Weddings and Circumcision Ceremonies  /  316
         Beit Din—Religious Court  /  316
         Guest House  /  317
 
CHAPTER 15. The Shaliaḥ Tzibbur  /  318
The Role of the Shaliaḥ Tzibbur and Its Origins  /  318
The Ḥazzan  /  319
The Shaliaḥ Tzibbur as Emissary to God  /  321
Various Demands on the Shaliaḥ Tzibbur  /  324
The Choir  /  325
Ḥazzan versus Ba’al Tefillah  /  328
The Kavvanah of the Shaliaḥ Tzibbur  /  329
  
CHAPTER 16. Prayer Accessories  /  332
Prayer Garments  /  332
Head Coverings  /  333
The Tallit  /  336
         When and by Whom the Tallit Is to Be Worn  /  337
         Significance of the Tallit and Its Blessing  /  339
         The Tzitzit  /  341
         Laws and Customs of the Tzitzit  /  342
         Making the Tzitzit  /  344
         Making the Tallit  /  346
         The Tallit Band (Atarah)  /  347
         The Tallit Bag  /  348
         The Blue Thread (Tekhelet)  /  348
Tefillin  /  349
         Making the Tefillin  /  351
         The Content of the Commandment of Tefillin  /  354
         The Manner of Donning Tefillin  /  358
         Blessings and Recitations  /  361
         Tefillin of Rabbenu Tam  /  363
         Some Laws and Customs of Tefillin  /  363
The Prayer Sash  /  365
Hand-Held Objects  /  366
         The Siddur  /  367
         The Arba’ah Minim (“Four Species”)  /  368
 
CHAPTER 17. The Music of Prayer  /  370
         Music and Prayer  /  370
         Music in the Temple  /  370
         The Loss of Ancient Music  /  372
         Evolution of Prayer Music  /  373
         Melodies of Oriental Congregations  /  374
         Ashkenazic Cantorial Music  /  376
         New Melodies  /  378
         Styles of Prayer Music  /  381
         Musical Expression in Prayer  /  382
 
Appendices  
 
Glossary of Terms  /  387
 
Biographies  /  410
 
Bibliographical Notes  /  415
 
The Jewish Months and the Festivals and Special Days That Occur in Each of Them  /  419
 
Index  /  420