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Jewish
University in Cyberspace (J.U.I.C.E.)
THE PRAYER BOOK: A WINDOW ON JEWISH THEOLOGY
Instructors: Barbara and Reuven Sutnick
questions/comments: <sutnick@internet-zahav.net>
3/12 FIXED PRAYER: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
In the previous Lecture, Jewish prayer as we know it today was connected CONCEPTUALLY
to its antecedents in biblical sacrifice and biblical prayer. This Lecture will
focus on the development of FIXED Jewish prayer as a historical process. For
the purposes of this course, I will not attempt to date with any precision the
various stages of development of the siddur. My purpose is the show that the
development of the siddur was a progression that spanned several periods of
Jewish history, and that this progression reflects Jewish ideas about prayer.
Our working assumption is that prayer is an ancient and integral part of Jewish
ritual, deriving from the earliest stages of Hebrew religion. However, THE FIXED
PRAYER SERVICE as a complete devotion in and of itself, dates from a much later
period in history. The support for this assumption comes from three sources:
a) there is no evidence of a fully-developed fixed prayer rite in the Bible;
b) the overwhelming evidence that the sacrifices addressed ALL the ritual needs
of our ancestors leaves little doubt that sacrifice was the central institution
of Jewish religious life in the biblical period; and c) there are specific Talmudic
sources which place the redaction of major parts of the service in the post-biblical
and Talmudic period (c. 100 B.C.E - 500 C.E.). So our questions this week are
simple but big: how, why and when did the real crystallization of Hebrew prayer
take place?
To refine our question a bit, when a Jew prays, s/he opens a prayer book --
a siddur (plural = siddurim). The Hebrew word, SiDDuR (1) comes from the root
S,D,R, which means "order." Thus the siddur is a book in which groups
of prayers are arranged in a proper and useful order. (Another example of a
word with this Hebrew root is the Passover SeDeR, for which the ORDER of the
rituals is a guiding principle.) As a collection of prayers, the siddur contains
groups of prayers and individual prayers which each have their own history of
development. As a program of ritual practice, the siddur has its own literary
history. You see, people don't write a siddur like one writes a novel. The siddur,
by and large, reflects a rite which has already been in practice at the time
that it was written. IT IS AN ORDERED ANTHOLOGY OF EXISTING PRAYERS WHICH FOLLOWS
THE PRACTICE OF THE COMMUNITY FOR WHICH IT IS COMPILED. (Please read the Appendix
to this lesson, "Order Your Siddur" before going further.)
The task of understanding the history of the development of the siddur is two-fold.
It involves both tracing the origin of individual sections of the siddur; and
explaining how the prayer book we use came to take final shape. We will not
explore prayers in depth yet in this Lecture; rather we will touch on some examples
as clues to the development of the siddur as a whole (refer to notes at the
end of the Lecture for more information on each prayer). For example, in the
Ashkenazic(2) rite, the blessing "Baruch She-amar"(3) appears at the
beginning of the weekday Preliminary Service; in the Sephardic(4) rite, "Baruch
She-amar" appears in the middle. They are the same prayer, only they are
positioned differently in the two siddurim. Clearly, even if we know everything
there is to know about "Baruch She-amar" as a prayer, we still need
to know about its positioning in our siddur. Consequently, we are interested
in the development of the COMPONENT SECTIONS of today's synagogue ritual and
in HOW THEY CAME TOGETHER to form the fixed order of the service.
Finally, even when we do uncover some very specific evidence about the authorship
of a particular prayer, we have to question exactly what authorship or editorship
meant at that stage in history. For example, regarding the "18 Blessings"
of the Amidah (5), we read:
Shimon HaPakuli ordered 18 Blessings before Rabban
Gamliel at Yavneh; Rabbi Yochanan said (some say it was
taught in a Mishnah): 120 elders, among them several
Prophets, enacted the 18 Blessings (already) in order.
(Talmud, Megillah 17b)
This bit of Talmud is an effort to date the origins of the Amida prayer. Yavneh
was the site of the great Rabbinic reconstruction of Judaism after the destruction
of the Second Temple (70 C.E.) Rabbi Yochanan, however, places the editing of
the 18 Blessings in the end of the prophetic period, hundreds of years earlier
and BEFORE the BUILDING of the Second Temple. Also if we look at the verbs describing
the activities involved -- "ordered" and "enacted" -- we
notice that neither really imply composition. So it is possible to say that
the 18 blessings from which the fixed Amidah was "enacted" date from
a much earlier period. Indeed we read:
We find 18 blessings of the "Prayer" (a code-word for
Amidah) were always (sic.) enacted one after the other;
when the Men of the Great Assembly(6) came, they collected
them and ordered them according to their accepted order.
(Midrash Shibolei HaLeket, ch.18)
According to this piece of the puzzle, there was always a tradition of 18 blessings
(note the small "b" in blessings); exactly WHICH eighteen blessings,
we do not know. There may have been several renditions. This idea makes sense:
the Amidah for the Sabbath is not the same as the Amidah for holidays, which
is not the same as the Amidah for weekdays. The Men of the Great Assembly selected
the best individual blessings and created a proper order out of a treasury of
blessings which dated back to biblical times.
We will return in a future lecture on the "18 Blessings" to Shimon
HaPakuli's contribution. However, for our present purposes, we have before us
evidence of a process of compilation taking many centuries. The Talmud considers
Shimon HaPakuli, who lived in the first century C.E. (Common Era), to be a prayer
editor. However, the tradition of a prayer service consisting of "18 Blessings"
and possibly the texts themselves (or portions of text) is considerably earlier.
So even the identification of an editor does not prove anything about the condition
of the texts he received.
I want to discuss one additional segment of the Prayer Book which also illustrates
this point. This time, however, we can date the canonized text exactly and we
can use the language of the siddur to document the process of editing. *SIDDUR
SEARCH* In the complete siddur, at the conclusion of the Additional Service
for the Sabbath, *EUREKA* we find a number of passages from the Mishnah. One
of the quotations, Mishnah Tamid 7:4, lists the Psalms which were recited by
the Levites at the time the wine libation was poured out evenings and mornings
in the Temple.
The Song which the Levites recited in the Temple:
On the first day of the week they said....(Psalm 24)
On the second day.... (Psalm 48) etc.
We can draw a straight line from the Bible to the Temple ritual to the Mishnah
to the siddur: the Levites made use of chapters from the Psalms in their performance
of the daily wine libation; the above-mentioned mishnah is part of the Sabbath
service; and common to all Daily Prayer Books, the same sequence of Psalms is
recited at the conclusion of the Morning Service. Now, if I were to ask you
how and when the particular Psalms came into the Daily Service, how would you
answer? There are several choices. Do we assume that the original intent of
the psalmist was to create liturgy for the respective days? Do we assume that
the incorporation of these particular psalms into the Daily Service came in
Temple times? Do we assume that our recitation of these psalms marks the first
time that they are used as part of a pure prayer ritual (unconnected to sacrifice)
and therefore constitutes authentic innovation? The bottom line: seemingly simple
questions are more common than simple questions!
A QUASI-SCIENTIFIC METHOD:
If the truth be told, the study of Hebrew liturgy is a scholarly field with
its own method. There is probably somebody out there right now with a PhD. in
Liturgy screaming at the computer monitor that there's not "a prayer's
chance in Hades" we can do anything of value in several pages on the INTERNET!
But I think we already have. Let's state several assumptions, formulate a working
hypothesis and test it.
- Assumption 1: When the signs of an editor are present,
we can assume that s/he is drawing upon earlier work (remember, there is a
tendency in Judaism to connect back to earlier communications with God, particularly
biblical ones--see Lecture 2) and we automatically look for precedents.
- Assumption 2: We will know prayer ritual when we see it!
Ritual recitation has unmistakable characteristics.
- Assumption 3: While accepting that the primary mode of worship in
the Bible was the system of sacrifices, this does not exclude the possibility
of a recognizable prayer ritual.
HYPOTHESIS: We can study our fixed prayer ritual, found in the siddur, and
identify its BIBLICAL antiquity in EACH case.
Just for the record, I know my hypothesis is overstated. No one argues that
today's Jewish prayer service is biblically ordained. However, let's have fun
with our Quasi-Science, and push the hypothesis to the limit!
Assumption 2, that we will recognize a ritual text when we see one, is an
important idea that we have not discussed until now. In fact, it may be the
most important assumption. An example will help to clarify matters. Psalm 136
is part of the Sabbath morning service:
Give thanks to God Who is Good
His Mercy is Forever
Give thanks to the God of gods
His Mercy is Forever etc.
This Psalm is referred to as Hallel HaGadol (The Great Praise). It is recited
on Sabbath and Holidays during the morning service and as part of the Passover
Seder. If you examine the Psalm cursorily, you will notice the refrain, "His
Mercy is Forever" (Ki L'Olam Chasdo) repeats at the end of each phrase.
(If you have trouble finding it in your siddur, try the biblical Book of Psalms,
which is in numerical order.) Lest we miss the refrain, in every edition of
the Prayer Book I have seen, this refrain section is set off in its own column.
There are 26 verses, the numerical(7) equivalent of God's holiest name, the
four-letter tetragramaton. Read this Psalm out loud in any language you wish.
I think you will intuitively sense that the Psalm was created for use in a call-and-response
ritual; the people answered "His Mercy is Forever" as the leader's
extolled each of God's attributes. To recognize a prayer created for public
ritual, it is helpful to use your ears! Repeated phrases, the feel of repeated
rhythms, parallel meanings -- all are indicators of ritual. (For a corollary
in modern culture, think of the mammoth refrain in "We Will Rock You"
by the rock group Queen. You can bang out the three beats of the chorus on any
table and in no time people will join in. I am not the first to suggest that
rock music can be ritualistic.)
So why do I say this assumption is perhaps the most important? Perhaps some
(albeit somewhat politically INCORRECT) humor will help make the point:
George Burns turns to Grace Allen after being flabbergasted and bamboozled once
again by her inanity: "Gracie, why don't you think before you speak!"
She responds: "How do I know what I'm thinking until I say it!?!"
The sound, rhythm and physicality of verbal expression CAN serve to enhance
our understanding of the cognitive message.
Once we have established that elements of prayer ritual existed side-by-side
with sacrifice, it makes sense that there was something unique and recognizable
in the reciting. Read the Psalm aloud to yourself. How can we understand it
until we say it? Once we say it, how can we fail to understand it? Psalm 136
bears the unmistakable mark of ritual. It should not surprise us that it figures
prominently in our service today!
TESTING 1,2,....
One of the most recognizable sections of the Festival Service and the Service
for the New Moon is Hallel. *SIDDUR SEARCH* Hallel is found in most siddurim
after the daily prayers and the Sabbath prayers and just after the New Moon
blessing. It comes before the special sections (including Musaf) for New Moons
and festivals *EUREKA*. The melodies of Hallel are well known to pray-ers; the
words are used throughout modern, popular Chassidic music. Hallel consists of
Psalms 113 to 118, six liturgical songs which refer to the Exodus from Egypt,
the parting of the Red Sea, the giving of the Torah, the raising of the dead
(in the messianic future) and the messianic awakening. On the most facile level,
the Psalms are all biblical, so the argument for antiquity is obvious. However,
if we look at our Prayer Book we will notice something interesting: there is
a blessing which precedes Hallel, "... Who commands us to recite Hallel"
and a long blessing at its conclusion, "...the King is celebrated in praise",
neither of which come to us from Psalms. In other words, in the evolution of
fixed Hebrew prayer, six songs were taken from the Book of Psalms, and were
designated as a unit for performance at specific points in the Jewish liturgical
cycle. The blessings serve to frame the biblical text; they also say that the
recitation of these songs at specific times fulfills a commandment.
Referring now to our hypothesis, beyond the fact that the texts are biblical,
we want to examine the possibility that the fixed prayer unit of the six psalms
of Hallel is also biblical. Clearly the siddur treats the six psalms as a unit
-- were they always so, or is this a later innovation?
The Talmud in Pesachim 117a sheds some light on the matter:
The Rabbis taught: This Hallel, who said it? R. Eliezer
said: Moses and Israel said it at the moment they stood
by the [Red] Sea....R. Yehuda said: Joshua and Israel
said it....R. Elazar HaModai said: Devorah and Barak ...
...R. Yosi HaGlili said: Mordechai and Esther said it ...
The Sages said: the Prophets among them decreed that Israel
should recite it at each juncture and that each misfortune
should not befall them; and when they are redeemed, they
should say it on their redemption.(8)
We see that the Talmud attributes to these particular psalms even greater antiquity
than the Book of Psalms itself! Dating back to the earliest stage of Jewish
nationhood, the Hallel unit was invoked as the expression par excellence of
national joy -- King David, the author of the Psalms, dates from the middle
Biblical period. This piece of Talmud is giving us liturgical history. We see
when Hallel was said and by whom; most importantly, we see when Hallel should
be said, and who decreed it. It was always a unit. Prior to the time of the
prophets, the unit was recited spontaneously (as a result of KaVaNah -- see
Lecture 1) and sporadically at times of great celebration; the Prophets decreed
the occasions in which the ancient unit should be recited as part of the fixed
ritual.
One last point: the word Hallel has the special ring to it that indicates ritual.
It is the root of the word Hallelujah (jah = God). For those familiar with Middle
Eastern and Sephardic culture, they know that in times of celebration, revelers
produce a high-pitched wavering cry of joy by ululating with their tongues.
Try to pronounce the word "ululate" and you will know what it means!
Hallel means to rejoice by ululating, or at least the root originally meant
that. Hallu-jah means to ululate for God, in other words, to celebrate in religious
ritual. If you say it, you cannot help but know what it means!
* * * * *
All rights reserved. No part of this lecture may be reproduced for distribution
except by permission of the Instructor.
* * * * *
NOTES
(1) The doubled "d" in English reflects the intensive form of the
Hebrew letter d (dalet) in this grammatical form of the root.
(2) Jews of German or Eastern European origin.
(3) A prayer of praise for God which begins "Blessed is the One who spoke
and the world came into being, blessed be He."
(4) Jews of Spanish/Portuguese and sometimes North African origin.
(5) Amida = 18 Blessings = "SHMoNeh ESRei" ("Eighteen")
= "The Prayer" (in Talmudic Hebrew). The standing silent prayer during
which the worshipper tends to rock back and forth gently and bow sporadically.
We will focus on this prayer in detail in an upcoming Lecture.
(6) Men of the Great Assembly: rababinic inheritors of the Hebrew prophetic
tradition. They are generally dated to the time of Ezra.
(7) Gematria is a special type of numerology that we find applied to Hebrew
religious texts. Gematria derives significance from the fact that every Hebrew
letter also has a numerical equivalent. For example the first Hebrew letter,
"aleph", has the value of 1; the second letter, "bet" is
valued at 2, etc. Basically gematria advances the creative notion that if two
words add up to the same number then they can be deemed as equivalent in meaning
for the purposes of interpreting a text. In the case of our Psalm 136, the holiness
is enhanced by the fact that it has 26 lines. Specifically, the numbers corresponding
to the holy four letter name of God in Hebrew are as follows: yod = 10; hey
= 5; vav = 6; and hey = 5. The sum is 26.
APPENDIX: ORDER YOUR SIDDUR
Although there are numerous editions of the prayer book available, all tend
to be arranged according to an order which is more or less uniform. For this
reason, the prayer book is called a "siddur" in Hebrew, which means
"order" (plural = siddurim). In order to follow many of our course
discussions, please arm yourself with a traditional Daily Prayer Book (siddur)
with an English translation. (One that has only Sabbath services will not be
sufficient). Please *order* a siddur if you do not have one already!
Despite all the order, finding your place in the siddur may take some patience.
A siddur does not have chapters and verses; nor is there uniformity of pages
from edition to edition. I will do my best to direct you in locating particular
sections that we will be discussing. Such directions will be prefaced with the
marker *SIDDUR SEARCH* and will conclude with the marker *EUREKA!*. Please persevere!
-- I'll try to make it worth your while!
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