In 2012, I attended the inaugural prayer leaders’ retreat of the European Academy of Jewish Liturgy (EAJL), led by Chazan Jaclyn Chernett, Chazan Jack Kessler, Rabbi Marcia Prager, and Chazan Jalda Rebling. I was asked to lead a tisch on the Friday night, and these are the questions and resources that I created for that, based on Beha’alotcha (Num. 8:1-12:16).
1. Origins of liturgy
- Rosh Hashanah service sections: last half of 10:10 used for malkhuyot-kingship (I am the Lord your God), shofarot (you shall sound the trumpets), and zichronot (they shall be a reminder of you before God)
- Torah service scroll sentences – 10:35 kumah adonai (rise up, O god, let your enemies be scattered); 10:36 shuvah adonai (return O god to the 10,000 families of Israel)
- Healing prayer of Moses: “el, na r’fa na lah”
2. Common purpose
Questions
Ba’alei t’fillah are individuals, each with their own unique ‘light’, gifts, potential and purpose. What do we have in common with each other? What do we have in common with the community we lead in prayer? Are all our ‘lamps’ sending light in the same direction? What are the differences (e.g. in character and purpose) between personal and communal prayer? What is the relationship between the prayer leader’s personal prayer life and the role of shliach tzibbur (community representative in prayer)?
Portion
- “When you mount the lamps, let the seven lamps give light at the front of the lampstand.” [ie all face one direction, towards the centre] Num 8:2
Other sources
- Jonathan Sacks, Covenant & Conversation 2009 commentary on Num 10:2 “[The two silver trumpets] shall serve you to summon the congregation [edah], and cause the camps to journey.” – “People can come together because they share a vision, an aspiration, a set of ideals. This is the meaning of edah, a congregation. Edah is related to the word ed, a witness. Edot (as opposed to chukkim and mishpatim) are the commands that testify to Jewish belief – as Shabbat testifies to creation, Pesach to the divine involvement in history; and so on. … People join to do together what none of them could achieve alone. A society built around a shared project, a vision of the common good, is … an edah – … a congregation.”
3. How did we get to become prayer leaders?
Questions
How does someone come to be (installed / validated as?) a prayer leader? What role is played in this by: a) the community, b) the personal ‘vision’ (chazon) of a chazzan (cantor) or ba’al t’fillah c) God? Where does authority lie? We each have our own story – what’s yours?
Portion
- “Let the Israelites lay their hands upon the Levites, and let Aaron designate the Levites before the Lord as an elevation offering from the Israelites, that they may perform the service of the Lord.” Num 8:10-11 “Thereafter the Levites were qualified to perform the service in the Tent of Meeting …” Num 8:22
- “A youth ran out and told Moses saying, ‘Eldad and Medad are acting the prophet in the camp!’ And Joshua … said, ‘My Lord Moses, restrain them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you wrought on my account? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord may put his spirit upon them!” Num 11:27-29
Other sources
- “And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” Ex 19:6
- It is written, “Nor does darkness obscure for You; the night shines as the day, darkness is as light” (Psalms 139:12). Yet to us He says: “When you raise light in the lamps”! To what may the matter be compared? To the case of a king who had a friend. The king said to him: “I want you to know that I shall dine with you. Go then and make preparations for me.” His friend went and prepared a common couch, a common candelabra, and a common table. When the king arrived there came with him ministers who encompassed him on this side and that, and a golden candlestick preceded him. His friend, seeing all this pomp, felt ashamed and put away all that he had prepared for him, as it was all common. Said the king to him: “Did I not tell you that I would dine with you? Why did you not prepare anything for me?” His friend answered him: “Seeing all the pomp that accompanied you, I felt ashamed, and put away all that I had prepared for you, because they were common utensils.” “By your life!” said the king to him, “I shall discard all the utensils that I have brought, and for love of you I shall use none but yours!” So in our case. The Holy One, blessed be He, is all light; as it says, “And the light dwells with Him” (Daniel 2:22). Yet He said to Israel: “Prepare for Me a candelabra and lamps.” (Midrash Rabbah)
4. Humility
Questions
What does it mean to be a prayer / community leader, and be humble at the same time? Can we be too humble?
Portion
- “Now Moses was a humble man, more so than any man on earth.” Num 12:3
- [God is angry with Miriam and Aaron] “When a prophet of God rises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of God. How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses!” Num 12:6-8
Other sources
- “[A disciple of the Sages] who possesses [haughtiness of spirit] deserves excommunication, and if he does not possess it he deserves excommunication.” (Talmud, Sotah 5a)
- “Anyone who sets a particular place [ie the same place every time] for himself to pray in synagogue, the God of Abraham stands in his aid, and when he dies, people say of him, ‘This was a humble person’.” (Talmud, Berachot 6b)
- “A humble and contrite spirit is a sacrifice to God; God does not ignore a broken heart.” Ps 51:19
5. The prayer leader’s responsibility
Questions
What is the role of the prayer leader? What responsibility do ba’alei t’fillah have for ‘lighting up’ others, or ‘lighting up’ the service? What lights our own inner flame, and keeps it burning? Metaphorically, are we trumpets/ trumpeters?
Portion
- “Have two silver trumpets made … They shall serve you to summon the community [gather into a congregation at the Tent of Meeting, for services, feast days etc] and to set the divisions in motion [marshall the people for war].” Num 10:2
- “Why have you brought this trouble on Your servant? What have I done to displease You that You put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do You tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant […]?” Num 11:11-12
Other sources
- “[Aaron] took what they handed him [gold earrings] and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf […]” Ex 32:4
- “A pious Jew is not one who worries about his fellow man’s soul and his own stomach; a pious Jew worries about his own soul and his fellow man’s stomach.” Rabbi Israel Salanter, quoted in Alan Morinis (2008) ‘Everyday Holiness: the spiritual path of mussar’
- nishmat adam ner adonai – ‘the soul of man is the light/lamp of God’ (Prov 20:27)
- “Hospitality …is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. It is not to lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open wide a spectrum of options for choice and commitment. It is not an educated intimidation with good books, good stories and good works, but the liberation of fearful hearts so that words can find root and bear ample fruit. It is not a method of making our God and our way into the criteria of happiness, but the opening of an opportunity to others to find their God and their way. The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free; free to sing their own song, speak their own languages, dance their own dances; free also to leave and follow their own vocations. Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adopt the life style of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own.” Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out
6. The prayer community’s responsibility
Questions
If we, prayer leaders and congregants, are all created ‘from one piece’ does this have any implications for how responsibility is distributed? What is the community’s responsibility in the communal prayer space? What makes their ‘spirit’ engage and stay engaged? What are the best ways to prevent a prayer leader’s energy being drained? What are the features of a healthy relationship between the community and its prayer leaders?
Portion
- “[the menorah] was hammered work [from one piece] of gold” Num 8:4 “Have two silver trumpets made; make them of hammered work [from one piece]” Num 10:2
- “I cannot carry all this people by myself, for it is too much for me.” Num 11:14 “they [70 chosen elders] shall share the burden of the people with you, and you shall not bear it alone” Num 11:17
- “And when the spirit [of God] rested upon them [the 70 elders around the Tent of Meeting], they spoke in ecstasy, but did not continue. … [Eldad and Medad] had remained in the camp, yet the spirit rested on them …. and they spoke in ecstasy in the camp.”” Num 11:25-26
Other sources
- “Since the spirit of the elders was drawn from Moses, do you suppose that his prophecy was at all diminished? In no way! To what may Moses be compared at that moment? To a lamp that is alight – though many lamps are lit from it, its own light is not at all diminished.” Sifrei Bamidbar #93
- [Jethro to his son-in-law Moses] “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone” Ex. 18: 17-18