AN ANTHOLOGY OF THOUGHT & EMOTION... Un'antologia di pensieri & emozioni
הידע של אלוהים לא יכול להיות מושגת על ידי המבקשים אותו, אבל רק אלה המבקשים יכול למצוא אותו

Tuesday 26 March 2019

JEWISH RITUAL — 2.3 (Prayer)

Tobia Ravà: "Sistema Entropico" (artwork)
PRAYER AND MEDITATION

One of the alternative modes of daily prayer that has gained renewed attention in recent years is Jewish meditation. Judaism has a long tradition of meditative techniques, most of which as associated with Kabbalah Jewish mysticism. Some scholars contend, however, that meditation has historically been part of mainstream Jewish practice. Avram Davis, a leading contemporary practitioner and teacher of Jewish meditation, suggests that the word tefillah   (Hebrew: תְּפִלָּה, [tefiˈla] prayer) was actually used by the Rabbis of the Talmud to mean both prayer and simple meditation: "When they [the Rabbis] use the term tefillah, they can easily be referring to either meditation or prayer or possibly to both. It is both a strength and a weakness of modernity that we feel so sharply the need to differentiate between these transformative tools."1

Jewish meditation takes many different forms, and new approaches are constantly being explored. The basic goal of Jewish meditation is to clear your mind by focusing your intention on certain phrases from the prayer service or images from Jewish tradition. This helps you relax. Moreover, and more important, the goal of meditation is devekut , (Heb. דבקות; Mod. Heb. "dedication", traditionally "clinging on" to God) a "cleaving" to God by quieting the mind and making the ego fade into the background. A Jew who meditates might practice on a daily basis or follow the traditional pattern of morning, afternoon, and evening prayers and meditate three times a day. This is similar to Christian centering prayer, also called contemplation. Such prayer is beyond words and includes an opening of the mind and heart.

CHRISTIAN PARALLELS TO JEWISH PRAYER

According to a familiar maxim, Christians can walk into a synagogue and affirm just about everything that is said, because the prayers primarily praise and thank God, but Jews cannot walk into a Christian church and affirm any of what is said, because of the extent that Christian prayers invoke Jesus as Deity. While this may be substantially true, you can still find parallel themes in Jewish and Christian prayer services.

Much of Christian liturgy is based on Jewish models. In both Catholic worship services and traditional Jewish prayer services, there is a particular psalm associated with each day. The extensive use of the Hebrew psalms in Christian and Jewish liturgy points to the connection between Christian and Jewish liturgy. Even the most widely known Christian prayer, the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), is itself based on Jewish literature—almost every line in the prayer has a parallel in Jewish literature. The beginning invocation, "Our Father who is in heaven," is found in some of the blessings of the Amidah as well as in the High Holiday liturgy. Many scholars have also noted the close connection between the Lord's Prayer and the Kaddish prayer, which begins, "May God's great name be hallowed in the world that God created, according to God's will, and may God establish God's Kingdom... speedily and at a near time." The Lord's Prayer and the Kaddish similarly speak of the coming of a better world under God's providence.

Beyond the particular details, it should be noted that the basic categories of prayer – prayers of petition; prayers of thanksgiving; and prayers of confession, although they are limited in Judaism – are the same in both faiths. This may reflect some universal human traits – there are only so many ways to address God – but it also reflects the Jewish origins of the church. In those aspects of Christian prayer that do not center on Jesus's divinity or his suffering, we see similar language and a similar yearning to reach out to the God of all people.
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1. Avram Davis, ed. Meditation from the Heart of Judaism: Today's Teachers Share Their Practices, Techniques, and Faith (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1997), 84.

Jewish Mysticism: The King Torah Scroll (artwork)