Some friends have asked me how it is that I am using Zoom for Services on Shabbat. Here is my reply: An unspeakable tragedy occurred in the year 70 C.E.; the destruction of our Holy Temple in Jerusalem: the Beit … Continue reading →
Some friends have asked me how it is that I am using Zoom for Services on Shabbat. Here is my reply:
An unspeakable tragedy occurred in the year 70 C.E.; the destruction of our Holy Temple in Jerusalem: the Beit Ha Miqdash. Besides being a severe trauma to the nation of Israel, the absence of the Beit Ha Miqdash effectively ended the possibility of the biblically mandated system of animal sacrifices, in essence we were left with no way to gather and connect with our Creator.
Our brave sages recognized that faced with the possibility of losing our ability to both communicate with The Holy One and to commune with our fellow worshippers, a radical move had to be made. The solution was to employ a resource that was available at that time – the developing system of public and private prayer that we continue to use today. These great scholars recognized that since Judaism is a community-based religion, all available options must be employed to facilitate communal worship. This was indeed a watershed moment in Jewish history, had our sages not chosen to turn to this radical methodology, we may well have disappeared as a people.
Similarly, what we know as Passover or Pesach, was celebrated by each family joining with the rest of the community in bringing the pascal lamb to the Beit Ha Miqdash to be ritually slaughtered. The family would then roast the lamb for their festive meal. Unfortunately, the absence of the Holy Temple made this Pesach rite impossible to observe. Once aging our wise scholars adapted to the situation by instituting the Seder ritual during which we merely point to a shank bone on the Seder Plate to remind us of the pascal offering.
In this same spirit, many Jewish clergy have decided that the corona crisis constitutes extraordinary circumstances. Just as our predecessors adapted to a calamity by using the best contemporary resources that were available, we are using our computers to connect with one other on Shabbat. While time will tell whether this too will be considered a watershed moment in Jewish history, we believe that It is especially vital under these dire circumstances for each person to feel as though they are a part of our prayer community, especially on Shabbat and festivals.
The ancient framers of our liturgy, interestingly enough, hoped just as we do that the radical change in worship modality that they instituted would be temporary. Thus each version of the Amidah – the collection of seven to nineteen blessings that constitutes the core of each worship service, contains a paragraph beseeching the Blessed Holy One to accept our supplications in their current form, given the situation at hand. The text begins with the words: “Ritzei Adonai Eloheinu b’amcha Yisrael…”
Our Siddur Lev Shalem for Shabbat (Rabbinical Assembly 2016) translates this prayer as:
“ADONAI our God, embrace Your people Israel and their prayer. Restore worship to Your sanctuary. May the prayers of the people Israel be lovingly accepted by You, and may our service always be pleasing. May our eyes behold Your compassionate return to Zion.
Barukh atah ADONAI, who restores Your Divine Presence to Zion..”
It is always astonishing to me that the age-old prayers continue to take on new relevance in our time. Just as the author of the above prayer yearned for the day when the worship would be restored to the Holy sanctuary of the Beit Ha Miqdash, we too yearn for the day when we can safely return to the Holy sanctuaries of our synagogues. As we long not only for God’s embrace but for the embrace of our fellow worshippers, we too must use the best resources available in our times to ensure the spiritual and physical wellbeing of the congregation and the continuity of communal worship until this crisis becomes history.
Here is a stirring rendition of R’tze by the great Hazzan Moshe Ganchoff