Читать книгу Hebrew Daily Prayer Book - Jonathan Sacks - Страница 40

The transliteration can be found at the end of the Siddur.

Mourner:

Magnified and sanctified may His great name be, in the world He created by His will. May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and in your days, and in the lifetime of all the House of Israel, swiftly and soon – and say: Amen.

All:

May His great name be blessed for ever and all time.

Mourner:

Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, raised and honoured, uplifted and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond any blessing, song, praise and consolation uttered in the world – and say: Amen.

May there be great peace from heaven, and life for us and all Israel - and say: Amen.

Bow, take three steps back, then bow, first left, then right, then centre, while saying:

May He who makes peace in His high places, make peace for us and all Israel – and say: Amen.

PRAYERS ON WAKING

I thank you: These words are to be said immediately on waking from sleep. In them we thank GOD for life itself, renewed each day. Sleep, said the Sages, is “one-sixtieth of death". Waking, therefore, is a miniature rebirth. Despite its brevity, this sentence articulates a transformative act of faith: the recognition that life is a gift from GOD. Expressing gratitude at the fact of being alive, we prepare ourselves to celebrate and sanctify the new day.

How goodly: Tradition interpreted “tents” and “dwelling places” as synagogues and houses of study (Sanhedrin 105a), which are the vehicles of Jewish continuity through the generations. Rav Kook explained the difference between the two: We use a tent when we are on a journey; we have a dwelling place where we feel at home. Together they represent the twin needs of the soul: to grow on the one hand, and to be rooted in eternal values on the other.

TALLIT AND TEFILLIN

The mitzvah of tzitzit, placing tassels on the corner of our garments, is to recall us constantly to our vocation: “Thus you “will be reminded to keep all My commandments, and be holy to your God” Over the course of time, the fulfilment of this commandment took two different forms: the tallit, worn as a robe during prayer, over our clothes, and the tallit katan, worn as an undergarment beneath our outer clothes. Though they fulfil a single commandment, they were deemed so different as to warrant two different blessings.

Tefillin: The word tefillin (called totafot in the Torah) means “emblem, sign, insignia” the visible symbol of an abstract idea. Tefillin are our reminder of the commandment of the Shema: “Love God your LORD with all your heart, all your soul and all your might". All your heart – this is the tefillin on the upper arm opposite the heart. All your soul – this is the head-tefillin opposite the seat of consciousness, the soul. All your might – this is the strap of the hand-tefillin, symbolising action, power, might. Tefillin thus symbolise the love for God in emotion (heart), thought (head) and deed (hand). The LORD spoke this commandment is alluded to or mentioned in the four passages in the Torah which are contained in the tefillin. These are two; the others are the first and second paragraphs of the Shema.

I will betroth you to Me: These exquisite lines from the Book of Hosea speak of God’s covenant with Israel as a marriage – a mutual pledge of faith, born of love. Wrapping the strap of the hand-tefillin around the middle finger like a wedding ring, we remind ourselves of God’s love for Israel, and Israel’s love for God.

LORD of the universe: A magnificent poem, attributed by some to the Spanish Jewish poet Solomon ibn Gabi-rol (1021–1070). Its power lies in its effortless transition from abstract theology to personal experience. The first six lines speak of GOD in cosmic terms; the last four lines turn to GOD as a personal presence. Though He is unfathomably vast, He is also intensely close. I face the world without fear because I rest in His everlasting arms.

Great is the living GOD: A poetic setting of Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles of Jewish faith, written by Rabbi Daniel bar Judah (Rome, fourteenth century), each line representing one of the principles. Like Adon Olam, the presence of Yigdal in the Siddur reminds us that it is not only a book of prayer but also the supreme book of Jewish faith. Judaism contains little systematic theology. We speak to GOD more than we speak about God. Yet Judaism is a faith whose distinctive beliefs find their home in the prayer book. We do not analyse faith in academic detachment. We sing it, affirming faith with joy.

Who formed man in wisdom: A blessing of thanks for the intricate wonders of the human body. Were one of them to be ruptured or blocked – even the smallest variation in the human genome can cause potentially fatal illness. The more we understand of the complexity of life, the more we appreciate “How myriad are your works, O GOD; You have made them all with wisdom; the earth is full of Your creations” (Psalm 104:24). This blessing is a rejection of the idea that the spirit alone is holy, and physical life bereft of GOD.

BLESSINGS OVER THE TORAH

The history of Judaism is a story of the love of a people for the Book of Books, the Torah. As a preliminary to study, we pronounce two blessings and a prayer. The first, “who has made us holy with His commandments", is a blessing over the commandment to engage in study of the Torah, a declaration that we do not simply study as an intellectual or cultural exercise but as the fulfilment of a Divine commandment. This is followed by a prayer that GOD make Torah study sweet, and help us to hand it on to our children. The final blessing, “Who has chosen us", is a blessing of acknowledgement that chosenness means responsibility, and is inseparably linked to the study and practice of Torah.

So as to follow the blessings immediately with an act that fulfils the commandment, we read three texts whose recitation forms an act of study. The Talmud (Kiddushin 30a) rules that Torah study must be divided into three: study of 1. Torah; 2. Mishnah; and 3. Talmud. Hence we read: 1. a biblical text, the priestly blessings; 2. a passage from the Mishnah about commandments that have no fixed measure; and 3. a passage from the Talmud about the reward of good deeds in this world and the next.

My GOD, the soul You placed within me is pure: An affirmation of Jewish belief in the freedom and responsibility of each human being. The soul as such is pure. We have good instincts and bad, and we must choose between them. The blessing ends with a reference to the resurrection of the dead, returning to the theme of the first words said in the morning.

Blessed are You: These blessings, itemised in the Talmud (Berachot 60b), were originally said at home to accompany the various stages of waking and rising. “Who gives sight to the blind” was said on opening one’s eyes, “Who clothes the naked” on putting on clothes, and so on. Several medieval authorities, however, held that they should be said in the synagogue.

Their purpose is to make us conscious of what we might otherwise take for granted. Praise is an act of focused attention, foregrounding what is usually in the background of awareness. “The world is full of the light of GOD, but to see it we must learn to open our eyes” (Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav).

Who gives the heart: This is the translation according to Rabbi Asher; Rashi and Abudraham read it, “the cockerel” According to Rabbi Asher’s reading, the first blessing mirrors the first request of the Amidah, for human understanding, as well as the first act of creation in which GOD created light, separating it from darkness.

Who has not made me a heathen, a slave, a woman: These three blessings are mentioned in the Talmud (Menachot 43b). They have nothing to do with hierarchies of dignity, for we believe that every human being is equally formed in the image of God. Rather, they are acknowledgments of the special responsibilities of Jewish life. Heathens, slaves and women are exempt from certain commandments which apply to Jewish men. In these blessings, we express our faith that the commandments are not a burden but a cherished vocation.

Who has made me according to His will: Women embrace their vocation positively, unlike the negative formula (“who has not made me”) used by men. Women (“the mother of all life", Genesis 3:20) are able to experience the Divine more closely than men by bringing new life into the world, the most profound of all creative acts. Whereas men thank GOD for the ability to act in accordance with God’s will, women thank GOD existentially: “who has made me according to His will”.

Who removes sleep from my eyes: Having thanked GOD for the blessings with which we are surrounded, we conclude by asking for His help in dedicating our lives to His service, undeterred by obstacles that may stand in our way. The prayer ends with thanksgiving for God’s kindness, reminding us of the verse from Psalms (92:3): “To proclaim Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness at night.”

May it be Your will: A meditation composed by Rabbi Judah the Prince (late second-early third century), redactor of the Mishnah and leader of the Jewish community in Israel. We are social beings, influenced by our environment (Maimonides), therefore we pray to be protected from harmful people, events and temptations. The prayer reflects the “social fabric of faith” (Lord Jakobovits).

A person should always: This whole section until “Who sanctifies Your name among the multitudes” appears in the tenth-century Midrash, Tanna DeVei Eliyyahu (ch. 21). Some believe that it dates from a period of persecution under the Persian ruler Yazdegerd II who, in 456 ce, forbade the observance of Shabbat and the reading of the Torah. Jews continued to practise their faith in secret, saying prayers at times and in ways that would not be detected by their persecutors. This explains the reference to fearing GOD “privately” and “speaking truth in the heart” (that is, the secret practice of Judaism) and the recitation here of the first lines of the Shema, which could not be said at the normal time. The final blessing, “Who sanctifies Your name among the multitudes”, refers to the martyrdom of those who went to their deaths rather than renounce their faith. Martyrdom is called Kiddush HaShem,“sanctifying [God’s] name.”

Master of all worlds: This passage also appears in the Ne’ilah prayer on Yom Kippur. It expresses the paradox of the human condition in the presence of God. We know how small we are and how brief our lives. Fleeting breath – the Hebrew word hevel – the key word of the opening chapters of Ecclesiastes, from which this line is taken – has been translated as “vain, meaningless, empty, futile”. However, it literally means “a short breath". It conveys a sense of the brevity and insubstantiality of life as a physical phenomenon. All that lives soon dies, and is as if it had never been. Yet – You created us, made us, chose us. We are infinitesimally small, yet brushed by the wings of Infinity. We are dust; yet we are Your people, children of Your covenant, descendants of those You singled out to be witnesses to the world of Your existence and majesty.

It was You who existed: This prayer, with its emphasis on the changelessness of GOD, may have been incorporated at a time of persecution, expressing the refusal of Jews to abandon their faith. GOD does not alter or revoke His covenant, therefore we may not renounce our religion or identity: “I, GOD, do not change; so you, children of Jacob, are not destroyed” (Malachi 3:6).

You are the LORD our GOD: This second prayer, for the end of exile, culminates with the verse from Zephaniah (3:20) which speaks of the ingathering of Jews and of a time when “I will give you renown and praise among all the peoples on earth” This entire sequence of prayers is eloquent testimony to how Jews sustained faith and hope, dignity and pride, during some of the most prolonged periods of persecution in history.

OFFERINGS

There now follows a second cycle of study, with the same structure as the first, with passages from: 1. the Torah; 2. the Mishnah; and 3. the Talmud (see below). The passages from the Torah relate to the daily, weekly and monthly sacrifices because, in the absence of the Temple, the

Sages held that study of the laws about sacrifice was a substitute for sacrifice itself (Ta’anit 27b). The passage from the Mishnah (Zevachim 5) is also about sacrifices, Mishnah; and 3. the Talmud (see below). The passages from the Torah relate to the daily, weekly and monthly sacrifices because, in the absence of the Temple, the Sages held that study of the laws about sacrifice was a substitute for sacrifice itself (Ta’anit 27b). The passage from the Mishnah (Zevachim 5) is also about sacrifices, and was chosen because it does not contain any disagreement between the Sages, and thus accords with the rule that one should pray “after a decided halachah”, that is, an item of Jewish law about which there is no debate. Some congregations include additional passages; our custom is to follow the text as it exists in the earliest Siddurim, those of Rabbi Amram Gaon and Rabbi Saadiah Gaon.

THE INTERPRETIVE PRINCIPLES OF RABBI ISHMAEL

This passage is included as an item of Talmud, defined in its broadest sense as “deducing conclusions from premises, developing implications of statements, comparing dicta, and studying the hermeneutical principles by which the Torah is interpreted” (Maimonides, Laws of Torah Study 1:11). It was chosen because it appears at the beginning of the Sifra, the halachic commentary to Leviticus, which is the source of most of the laws of offerings. It also reminds us of the indissoluble connection between the Written Law (the Mosaic books) and the Oral Law (Mishnah, Midrash and Talmud). Rabbi Ishmael’s principles show how the latter can be derived from the former.

LAWS OF KADDISH

1. Kaddish requires the presence of a minyan, that is, ten adult males.

2. It is our custom to say Kaddish standing.

3. It is also our custom that all mourners recite Kaddish in unison.

4. The Sages attached particular significance to the response, “May His great name be blessed for ever and all time.” This should be said with full concentration by all present.

THE RABBIS’ KADDISH The Kaddish, one of the most important of all prayers, had its origins not in the synagogue but in the house of study. It grew out of a custom, still widely practised, of ending every discourse or sermon with the hope that we may speedily see the coming of the messianic age, when the sovereignty of GoD will be recognised by all the dwellers on earth. It is written mainly in Aramaic, the language most widely spoken by Jews in the first centuries of the Common Era.

It has come to have five forms: 1. half-Kaddish, recited to mark the beginning or end of a section of the prayers; 2. full Kaddish (titkabal), to mark the end of the Amidah and its associated meditations; 3. the Mourner’s Kaddish; 4. Kaddish de-Rabbanan, said after a passage from the Oral Law; 5. the Kaddish of Renewal, said only at the conclusion of a tractate of the Talmud, or by a child at the funeral of a parent.

The Kaddish deRabbanan is a prayer not only for the establishment of God’s kingdom but also for the teachers of Torah and their disciples. It is characteristic of Judaism’s value system that this is the first Kaddish we say each morning. Judaism is a faith whose passion is education, whose heroes are teachers, and whose citadels are schools and houses of study. To learn, to teach, to internalise God’s will, to join our minds with the great Sages and scholars of the past – this is a supreme expression of Judaism, and the one from which all else flows.

pesukeide-zimra / verses of praise “A person should first recount the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, and then pray” (Berachot 32b), hence the passages that follow, known as the “Verses of Praise” The morning service from this point until the end is constructed in three movements, whose themes are: 1. Creation: GOD as He is in nature; 2. Revelation: GOD as He is in Torah and prayer; and 3. Redemption: GOD as He is in history and our lives. The theme of the Verses of Praise is Creation – GOD as Architect and Maker of a universe of splendour and diversity, whose orderliness testifies to the single creative will which underlies all that exists. The Psalms tell this story not in scientific prose but majestic poetry, not proving but proclaiming the One at the heart of all.

LAWS OF VERSES OF PRAISE:

1. From the beginning of the Verses of Praise to the end of the Amidah, there should be no talking. It is permitted, however, to answer Amen and to respond to BarChu, Kaddish and Kedushah.

2. One who arrives late and finds the congregation already saying the Verses of Praise should do the following so as to be able to say BarChu and subsequent prayers together with the congregation: 1. put on tallit and tefillin, saying the appropriate blessings; 2. make the blessings over washing hands, “who formed man in wisdom”, and “My GOD, the soul You placed in me is pure”; 3. say the blessings over the Torah (page 14); 4. say “Blessed is He who spoke” and “Happy are those”; 5. on weekdays, say “May Your name be praised for ever”, and on Shabbat and Festivals, “The soul of all that lives”. If there is more time, one should say other passages in the following order of priority: 1. Psalm 148; 2. Psalm 150; 3. Psalms 146, 147, 149; 4. th “David blessed”; 5. “Thank the Lord“; 6. Psalm 100. On Shabbat, the daily psalms take priority over those added on Shabbat.

3. If there is no time to say any of the Verses of Praise before BarChu, one should say prayers with the congregation, and at the end of the service go back and say the full Verses of Praise except for “Blessed is He who spoke” and “May Your name be praised for ever”.

The core elements of Pesukei de-Zimra are: 1. Psalm 145 (Ashrei), a prayer to which the Sages attached particular significance, specifying that it should be said three times daily; and 2. Psalms 146–150 which form the culmination and crescendo of the Book of Psalms as a whole. These six psalms correspond to the six days of creation; others are added on Shabbat and Festivals. Around this inner core other passages have been woven: some from other biblical books and others from selected verses in the Book of Psalms. The section begins and ends with a paragraph of blessings: “Blessed is He who spoke” (Baruch She’amar) at the beginning, and “May Your Name be praised for ever” (Yishtabach) at the end.

Blessed is He: An introductory blessing to the Verses of Praise, in two parts. The first is a ten-part litany of praise to GOD as Creator, each phrase introduced with the word Blessed (the second phrase, “Blessed is He”, is not a separate verse but was originally a congregational response). The number ten corresponds to the ten times the word Vayomer, “And He said’, appears in the story of creation in Genesis 1, hence the rabbinic saying that “With ten utterances the world was created.”

Blessed are You: The second half of the blessing is a prelude to the biblical verses that follow, mainly from the Book of Psalms (“With the songs of Your servant David we will exalt You”) but also from the books of Chronicles and Nehemiah (“extolled by the mouth of His people”). To emphasise the significance of this declaration, we recite it standing and, at the end, kiss the two front fringes of the tallit.