Serve God With Joy
Feb 20, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
I recall reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer while in elementary school, and being stumped by a description of the powerful singing in church of 鈥淥ld Hundred.鈥� What might this 鈥淥ld Hundred鈥� be, and why was it being sung in church with such fervor? Eventually, I found out that this was Psalm 100, and was sung by the community as it learned that Tom Sawyer was alive, and had mischievously staged his own disappearance.
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鈥淔ill Our Eyes with Light . . . Cause Our Heart to Cling鈥� (Part 2)
Feb 13, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Last week we looked at the phrase 鈥�ha鈥檈r eyenynu鈥� (Fill our eyes with the light of Your Torah), and now let us look more closely at the continuation of the same sentence: 鈥渧edabek libeinu bemitzvotekha鈥� (and make our hearts cleave to Your mitzvot) [Siddur Sim Shalom Daily, 32].
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鈥淔ill Our Eyes With Light . . . Cause Our Hearts to Cling鈥� (Part 1)
Feb 5, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Phrases in the siddur are filled with echoes of earlier texts and give birth to newer metaphors and meanings. The blessing immediately before the Shema鈥� in every morning service contains the phrase 鈥�ha鈥檈r eyneinu beToratekha vedabek libeinu bemitzvotekha鈥� (Fill our eyes with the light of Your Torah, and make our hearts cleave to Your mitzvot.) [Siddur Sim Shalom, 32.]
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Blessings
Jan 30, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
The famous Priestly Blessing (Num. 6: 24鈥�26) is an ambiguous text in our liturgy that appears in various guises. It is presented as a selection for study from the Written Torah each morning (Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays, 5), and is chanted by the leader of the service at the end of the 鈥楢尘颈诲补丑 (43). The text presents the Torah verses as a memory:
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Kol haneshamah tehallel Yah! (All that has breath shall praise God!)
Jan 23, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
This is the final verse of Psalm 150鈥攖he culmination of the book of Psalms. Every day our set liturgy includes the final six psalms (145 through 150), and, to my personal sorrow, the pacing of the so-called 鈥減reliminary service鈥� generally allows a couple of minutes (at most) for a rushed recitation of these classic and profound poetic texts. Fortunately, in many communities鈥攁t least on Shabbat, and even on weekdays鈥攁 little more time is allowed for Psalm 150. We find a glorious array of musical interpretations of the text that exemplify the diverse approaches to religious music of contemporary Jewish life. Some examples will be found at the end of this essay.
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Our God and God of Our Ancestors
Jan 16, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
Many prayers begin with the words 鈥�Eloheynu v鈥橢lohei avoteinu鈥� (Our God and God of our ancestors). I hear from so many people that these words are difficult, and an impediment to finding a pathway in Jewish prayer. The word God raises an array of difficulties: people who are inclined to the view 鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe in God鈥� might rightly feel that there is no integrity in addressing their words to God, an entity in whom (or Whom) they do not believe. Others find no security or support in the prayers and traditions of their ancestors, and say Fiddler on the Roof (鈥淭radition!鈥�) is not enough.
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Hamavdil鈥擳he Holy One and Separation
Jan 8, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
We tend to think that the role of religion is to affirm and support an increasing sense of unity in the world. There is much to support such a view. At the end of 鈥榓濒别颈苍耻&苍产蝉辫;(a prayer at the end of every Jewish service), we quote Zechariah 14:9, affirming 鈥� . . . on that day, Adonai will be One and God鈥檚 Name will be One.鈥� The text is enigmatic, but certainly speaks of a vision of great unity. Many other texts, in prayers and elsewhere, speak similarly of a quest and vision for this unity. Scholars of mysticism speak of the unio mystica, the experience of unification that is often associated with testimonies of enlightenment.
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Keva鈥揔avanah (Liturgy鈥揚rayer)
Dec 31, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary
My teacher in London, Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Magonet, wrote a fascinating and inspiring poem-meditation exploring the concepts of prayer and liturgy, which I would associate with the traditional rabbinic terms keva and kavanah (the connection is not 100 percent perfect). Our synagogues are often in fact places of liturgy, where prescribed rites and rituals are carried out, with the gathered congregation participating and/or witnessing. Many among us yearn and dream for synagogues to be places of something else, something more transcendent. Let us turn to selections from Rabbi Magonet鈥檚 words:
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