A Problem - A Conundrum

A Conundrum...

There are laws and rules regarding the use of all language(s) and how they are to be applied when they come into conflict with one another. Beyond that we Jews use what is claimed to be the language that created all of Creation - Hebrew, the Lashon HaKodesh; for it is said that HaShem brought the world into existence with the softest letter in the Hebrew Alef-Bet: Hey.

Now halakah tells us that when we pray - individually - we may pray in any language that we are fluent in using. With most of us that means the English language. For some of us who speak more that one language we might choose to use German, French, Tagalog or any language that we both read and speak. [therefore I cannot use Japanese as I do not read any of the written forms!]

But! And it is a big “but”... When we pray collectively, as a congregation of Jews, we are, halakaticlly, required to pray in Hebrew!

Now, notice, as an individual, praying in a minyan, we may use any language that we can read and speak (and write?). That means that if you were to go to a shul in a French-speaking part of Canada and picked up the siddur and found that it was printed in Hebrew and French; you have a problem [assuming for the discussion, that you do not know anything about the French language - except for those ‘naughty’ words that you learned in the school yard when you were 14 years old]. You can read the French letters - but you do not know or understand anything about the French language. What do you do? The answer, by Jewish law, is that you must use the Hebrew - even if you do not understand the words!

So let’s consider your situation now: you do know English (at least you got out of High School - so you are supposed to be able to construct a literate simple sentence) and you do not know French. What about Hebrew? This is were we find the conundrum - and this is the “grey area” in Judaism. We find that there are Jews who range from not knowing an Alef from a Tav to those who are completely fluent in both Biblical and Every-day Hebrew and hold advanced degrees in the many forms of the Hebrew language. For most Jews in America, we would probably find that they fall into an area closer to a basic reading skill - at best. And that would fulfill the Jewish law.

But does it?

The Baal Koreh - the one who reads from the Torah Scroll (without cantillation and vowel indications) - reads, or chants, the Torah Portion with as much comfort in his knowledge of the Hebrew as if it was his first language. Therefore... he is quit capable of reading/chanting with great speed. And this is even move evident when he reads the prayers that we read - at least - three times each week. It is sometimes referred to as “speed davening”. And this is another aspect to our conundrum.

The Code of Jewish Law stressed the importance of understanding the words that we pray. And, in fact, this the the basic reason that our Chazal (Scholars and Sages) left several of our prayers in the Vernacular - Aramaic. Because the people (of that time) understood and spoke Aramaic. And Chazal also understood that if we did not insist on using Hebrew, we would soon loose our connection and relationship with Torah. They were also knowledgeable enough to know that future generations would encounter environments like I mentioned about (you don’t know French so you cannot use the siddur printed in French) - but you can go anywhere in the world and the Hebrew will be the same! And as there are other reason from always using the Hebrew language - there is also reason to pray in Hebrew at-a-rate-of-speed-that-permits-comprehension!

Kavanah. It is important too that we allow time for Kavanah. To allow the “spirit” of the text to make itself known to us. After all, we read the same Torah year-after-year, but (hopefully) each year we glean something new and different. The Torah has not changed - we have. We have different knowledge. We have different needs and desires. We have different problems. And we gain different insights. IF WE ALLOW IT.

Reading from a prayer book does not mean that we are praying. You can read any book with either the intent to learn or to “finish” the assigned reading. And that applies to us in the classroom and in life - at the Minyan. We simply cannot “Twitter” the siddur or the Torah. We do not have “emotioncons” in Judaism. There is no shorthand method of connecting to HaShem.

But: Hey! You can read the siddur just to enjoy the Poetry and Prose used in the various translations. But that simply ain’t praying. For prayer must have intent. Prayer must have meaning. Even if you do not believe that there is a G-d... if you prayer ‘for-yourself’, it must - by definition - have meaning. As Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin says (in his To Pray As A Jew) “Kavanah in prayer is the very antithesis of the mechanical and perfunctory reading of words.”

There are different levels of kavanah, and we will not and need not go into that at this time. But the Jewish Code of Law also states that if you cannot reach the minimum level of kavanah, you are forbidden to attempt prayer! Yes. If you do not reach the first step, if you cannot meet the first challenge - then you are not praying! The Shulkan Arukh tells us, as it heaves a great sigh, that “...one should not pray in a place where, or at such a time when, there is interference with kavanah.” And that we understand as being outside ‘distractions’. And we all certainly encounter that all to often. Internal distractions need to be considered and dwelt with in different manner.

Your own mood, anger, sorrow, problems - even excessive joy - can distract you from reaching the first level of kavanah and keep you from prayer. You can, and should, arrive early enough to Minyan to leave “the world” outside the doors and settle yourself into a comfort zone to daven with meaning and intention.

But, again, the Prayer Leader, needs to assist the Minyan in maintaining the primary level of kavanah and assist each individual in moving upward to the next level of kavanah. Yet, here too the world outside intrudes, and we feel the need to ‘finish-the-service‘ and have our coffee and bagel or move on to the next day’s events.

Here we too heave a great sigh and confront our conundrum. I wish I had an answer. For you. For Kol Israel. For myself. Perhaps that Japanese sage was correct; “Study. Study. Study. Only Study can bring a miracle.”

Sigh...