The Campus Catholic’s posting a few weeks ago about the lameness of church sounded familiar, but in American Judaism the lameness lies not in the message being delivered, but in the prayer itself. In synagogues across America, Jews sit in pews chatting with their friends, prayer book casually opened on their laps, feeling very little. Usually there are a few individuals who pray with intent and passion, but for the most part there is almost no sense of passion in the community during worship. Too many times services in American synagogues lack real emotion and are straight up boring. And for many of the young American Jews defecting from the religion, this is part of the reason.
Services can be uplifting. This can only happen, though, when there is a lot of kavannah - roughly translated as “oomph” or religious feeling – on the part of the individuals in the group. And because we pray collectively, it is not enough for just one or two people to have kavannah. Although it is fairly contagious, there has to be a critical mass of kavannah in order to alter the atmosphere of the whole service.
I have been to some amazing services, chocked full of kavannah. Living in Jerusalem this summer, I went a few times to a small service held in a bomb shelter, and it was probably the most moving service I’ve ever been to. The tunes were simply gorgeous and people sang, danced, and swayed intently with real feeling. In a different service that I went to on Tisha B’Av, the day when Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple and other catastrophes in our history, people were actually sobbing.
This kind of heart-thumping earth-shattering prayer should not be confined to Israel. I think that the first step towards saving American Jewish prayer through kavannah has to be a larger commitment to teaching Hebrew. A friend of mine who is studying abroad in Haifa next semester asked me recently whether she should take Hebrew or Arabic there. I was vaguely surprised when I heard myself say, “I think all Jews should study Hebrew.” But I really do.
The only way that American Jews will be able to reconnect to the passion and beauty that lies within our prayers is by understanding the meaning and the beauty of our language.
Comments (1)
Shari,
Wonderful thoughts! I know very little about the Hebrew language, but the little that I learned when I played the "Rabbi" in "Fiddler on the Roof" showed me what a beautiful sounding, sacred sounding language it is.
I hope many will be influenced by those like you within the Jewish community who may do as you have suggested. Thanks for such insight.
Posted October 5, 2007 6:02 PM
Posted on October 5, 2007 18:02