S.5 #14 | What you didn't know about prayer

I recently read in Tanya that prayers and blessings in Judaism must be audible. The explanation for this requirement was so intriguing to me that it led me to further research. This episode is full of Kabbalistic mysticism, Jewish tradition and inspiration. I hope it inspires you to explore the power of prayer!

Mentions:

The Daily Study App

Shtisel - TV series

Kabbalah -  a Jewish mystical tradition that involves esoteric teachings and practices

Alter Rebbe - Shneur Zalman of Liadi, commonly known as the Alter Rebbe or Baal Hatanya, was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. 1745-1812

Israel ben Eliezer (c. 1700 –1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism.

Quote by Jonathan Sacks

Transcript

Recently I found out that prayers must be said out loud. I’d heard something along these lines some time ago, specifically referring to the prayers said before consuming food, but I didn’t pay close attention to the matter. Even before I started practicing Judaism, I talked in one of my episodes about the power of words and how their vibrations can physically change the molecular composition of water, and consequently the food that we consume. So saying a blessing over food literally makes the food good for your body and soul. But before I knew the proper blessings over food in Judaism, I used to just say “thank you G-d” for the meal and oftentimes it would be in my head as not to bother anyone around me, especially if I was at work or in a public place. Plus, I was convinced that since G-d is all knowing that He would hear my prayers even if I said them in my head. Then, this year I learned the proper blessings in Hebrew and I started practicing them whenever possible and when I didn’t forget to do it. And similarly, I would often say the words on my head, thinking that I was doing the right thing or at least not doing anything offensive… until I read a chapter in Tanya - the foundational book of the Chabad movement, which lays down the practical and mystical fundamentals of the Chabad philosophy. I was actually recommended an app called Daily Study that has daily lessons from various sources, including Tanya. And just a couple weeks ago I happened to read a section on this particular topic - the importance of audible prayer. Of course, like everything in Judaism, the explanation I read was extremely interesting and led me to more research, so I decided to share it with you all! As it turns out, it is extremely important to make prayer audible, otherwise the mitzvah of prayer is not fulfilled. This made me think of the series I watched last year called Shtisel. I remember noticing how all the orthodox jews in the series would mumble under their breath right before taking a sip of water or eating. Back then I found it rather amusing or strange more than anything, but now I understand completely why Jews do this. So let me break down the concept of prayer first.

The word to pray in Hebrew is reflexive, which means we don’t just pray, rather we make ourself pray.  It turns out that we don’t necessarily pray TO G-d, it’s something we do to ourself, it’s something that affects, changes and refines us spiritually. And perhaps, while doing so, we can change our part in the matter enough that G-d will change how He chooses to resolve the situation in a way that’s easier for us. Here is an example. Have you ever prayed to G-d for strength only to discover that the very act of prayer gave you strength? By elevating yourself spiritually, by connecting to G-d, you may have found a solution to your problem. Or, sometimes, when G-d’s answer remained a NO to your request, prayer may have given you the fortitude to keep going, to accept His will. 

In Judaism, it is believed that every prayer makes an impact. What we don’t know as human beings, is what that impact is exactly. Sometimes it may feel like G-d is not listening to us and this disappoints us. But we must remember that only G-d can see the bigger picture and only He knows the reason for every occurrence in this life. Jews believe that G-d IS always listening and that He answers sometimes with “revealed good”, but sometimes also with “hidden good”, the latter looking to us like evil or hardship. It’s important to remember, too, that G-d doesn’t give us what we want, He gives us what we need! Let that sink in. True that sometimes what we need, what our soul needs, is pain, but true faith in G-d is believing that the pain is what is best for us on a spiritual level. We must remind ourselves of our human limited capacity for understanding G-d; we simply cannot fathom the purpose of some events.

Coming back to the reason for audible prayer , though, let’s look at some explanations. For example, the short blessing before eating is a formal acknowledgement (and it is important that our own ears hear our own mouth utter those words) that God supplies our food. Our rabbi says it’s also a way of asking G-d for permission to use His food. Since everything in this world belongs to Him and was created by Him, the least we can do is ask first before we use or consume something that’s not ours. Another explanation for audible blessings over food is that blessing our food out loud puts our feelings into words. There is a saying - “What comes out of your mouth is more important than what goes into your mouth.”  This is because the Jewish tradition places a high value on the power of speech. Words are seen as a way to express thoughts, feelings, and intentions, and they can have a significant impact on people and even things surrounding us. There is also the concept of balance. If we keep the thanksgiving inside, if we don’t give voice to the blessing, it will not balance out what we have enjoyed. Judaism balances the two concepts: the first of which is “when you have eaten,” or what goes in, and the second is “when you have been satisfied and blessed,” or what comes out. In layman’s terms , blessings are our tools for mindfulness and creating balance in our life.

There is another, perhaps deeper, explanation by the Alter Rebbe. But first we must understand what a man’s ultimate purpose is on earth. Simply put, the purpose is to draw the light of the Shechinah-the divine presence of God in the world. It is our job, our responsibility, to transform darkness into light. The reason G-d gave us a body is so that He could have an abode, a home so to speak, in the lower realms - in the physical world. You see, there are actually four worlds, or realms, as described in Kabbalah.  Atzilut is the world of Divine emanation, wholly conscious of its Divine origin. As described in Chassidut (a spiritual and mystical revival movement founded in the mid-18th century by Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, AKA Ba'al Shem Tov), the process of "emanation" is described as one of concealment and revelation. The three lower worlds are all created realms, something from nothing, an independent self-consciousness, the hidden Divine origin. The process of "creation" is described as one of “being and extension," as a ray of light extends from the being of the sun, until eventually hiding itself in reality which experiences itself "other" from its source.

Here is a somewhat simpler explanation of all four realms:

• Atzilut (Emanation):
  This is the highest realm, considered the source of all creation, where the Divine consciousness is most directly present. It's the realm of pure potential and the origin of all spiritual sparks.
• Beriah (Creation):
  This realm is the first separation from the Divine, often seen as "Heaven" proper, and is where the first separation from the Divine takes place. It's the realm of angels and higher spiritual beings.
• Yetzirah (Formation):
  This realm is the abode of lower angels, souls, and the realm of the formation of the physical world. It's where the spiritual and physical realms begin to intersect.
• Asiiah (Action):
  This is the material universe, the realm of physical existence, where we live and act. It's the lowest realm, but also the realm where we repair and improve the world, which is the concept of Tikkun Olam - bringing the world closer to the harmonious state for which it was created. Remember, the ultimate purpose of creation is to create a dwelling for G-d in this world.

So, in a human being, the microcosm, the animal soul and the body are considered the lower realms. The lowest, the physical level of Asiiah, which includes our physical universe, is where people exist and experience the world. G-d made our bodies in such a way that we would be able to observe the mitzvot, the commandments. Moreover, we were given two souls, an animal soul and a divine soul. Or I would put it a little differently and say, we have two aspects to the soul. This duality encapsulates our internal struggle—an ongoing battle between our higher aspirations and base instincts. The divine soul is perfect and does need to be elevated spiritually, whereas the animal soul- the one that has to do with our ego and our animalistic instincts - does need to be elevated. The soul’s descent into a human body is for the purpose of ascent. When a person performs a mitzvah, his animal soul ascends to holiness, it gets elevated. Since the animal soul is directly linked to the body and its functions, the soul’s energy is, poetically speaking, clothed in the utterance of letters of one’s speech in Torah study and prayer. In other words, for the animal soul and the body to be elevated, it is required to do a physical action, a physical mitzvah. Thinking about Torah and saying prayers in your head does not count because there is no physical action, in our case no sound and no movement of the lips is made.  

 In fact, in Tanya, it is mentioned that even if you don’t feel with your heart the power of prayer, even if you don’t mean or understand what you’re saying (many of us don’t speak Hebrew but we still the prayers in Hebrew), it’s still better and more important to speak the words out loud than say them in your head. Here is another wonderful Chabbad explanation for why this is so. When we pray, the G-dly soul is doing the talking while the animal soul is doing the listening. Even though it’s the physical mouth that does the talking, it’s expressing the truest feelings of the G-dly soul because our soul is divine in its origin and so it naturally desires to be G-dly, it desires to love and to express gratitude. When we pray audibly, the animal soul listens in, so to speak. It takes time and effort for the animal soul to overcome the rational brain, the ego or the idea that we humans know it all, to overcome this and to hear the passionate descriptions of love of G-d is not an easy task. If we can learn to focus on the words of the prayer and the melody being sung, this is the first step to taming our animal aspect - you know, the selfish one concerned only with its own needs. If we can excite our animal soul through prayer, the cynicism will start to melt away and we will be able to appreciate G-d’s inherent role in the world, which is to provide for the needs of all His creations. But at the same time, we will start to ask ourselves “what does G-d need ME to do in this world to make it better?” The focus will shift from I to WE. The negative thoughts will be replaced with hope, and perhaps we can feel inspired to get closer to G-d. When I became spiritual, and especially now that I am religious, I wake up in the morning and I think of ways to bring about positive change, if not in the whole wide world, then at least in my community. Who can I be nice to today? Who can I demonstrate to how powerful love is? Can I lead by example and show to those around me what it’s like to have a relationship with G-d and how wonderful and complete it makes you feel?

  And finally, one more thing I’d like to bring to your attention is the fact that Jews should pray in Hebrew and not in any other language. For this there are several reasons as well. Firstly, Hebrew is unique in that it is called the “holy tongue.” This is because it is pure, and has no swear words, not even any words directly describing intimate relations or any such matters. It is, therefore, the ideal language through which to approach God.

Furthermore, as the Kabbalists explain, Hebrew is the language God used to create the universe. It is the language of creation, the language the Torah was given in, the language of the prophets, King David and his psalms. Hebrew carries the soul of the Jewish people, their heritage and destiny. It is ideal to communicate with God in the same language He communicated with the Jews.

Secondly , the “Men of the Great Assembly,” the sages who penned the words of the established prayers of the Siddur, cloaked untold layers of meaning in the words of the prayers — from the simplest meanings to the most profoundly Kabbalistic. One could spend an entire lifetime studying the Siddur/prayerbook, and still not plumb the most profound depths of its meaning. Vast Kabbalistic works are dedicated to uncovering the concealed meanings within the prayers. Those veiled meanings, which accompany our prayers uttered even with a simple understanding, “hitch a ride” to the highest heavens through the vehicle of the Hebrew verbiage, which contains those meanings. (See Biur Halacha to Shulchan Aruch, loc. cit.)

Third, by praying in the original Hebrew we join the millions of Jews throughout the world and the generations who have uttered the same exact words for thousands of years. These holy words have been uttered throughout both the best and the most trying of circumstances, and are above time and circumstance.

I hope that this episode has inspired you to explore prayer, if it’s not already part of your life. And if you do pray, hopefully you learned something new!  I’d like to conclude with a quote by the beloved Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Enjoy and until next time.
"Prayer is to the soul what exercise is to the body. You can live without exercise but it will not be a healthy life. You can live without prayer, but whole areas of human experience will be closed to you". 

Mentions:

Daily Study App

Shtisel - TV series

Kabbalah -  a Jewish mystical tradition that involves esoteric teachings and practices

Alter Rebbe - Shneur Zalman of Liadi, commonly known as the Alter Rebbe or Baal Hatanya, was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. 1745-1812

Israel ben Eliezer (c. 1700 –1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism.

Quote by Jonathan Sacks