The Prayers of Shabbat

Proper prayer as a real experience of reaching down to the depths of one's heart and one's soul to pour out what one finds there before G-d in a way that makes a true connection which spiritually transforms the penitent is a rare and special experience. In my own life I have had only a very few such moments of ultimate transcendence and connection, but part of why I pray each day is for the hope that such a moment may emerge here and now. Often it doesn't or it is incomplete, but once in a while...

In receiving these special prayer times, one crucial element has always been there beyond the mechanical fact of my allowing for the opportunity by praying regularly. That element is an has always been "mood." Whether climbing a mountain in Israel to pray at the very break of dawn, whether the moments of Neilah--the close of the Day of Atonement, whether the morning after the birth of my first child, or whether on an otherwise average morning when the sense that the presence of G-d is near when the light or the face of someone at the service or an aroma from nearby evokes something inside me, it has always been the mood of the moment that brings on these peak prayer experiences.

Now mood is a powerful but very fragile component of one's experience. Mood can shape the emotions and actions of millions but it can be shattered by a careless word. It is not accidental that reporter are often asked to describe the "mood" of the people who are part of the news story that they are describing.

My sainted teacher, R. Joseph Solovetchik of blessed memory, explained the rationale of mechitza, the physical separation of men and women in the synagogue, as a product of concern for the "mood".

In prayer we are asked to stand alone before G-d, to experience feelings of awe, even of fear. As the attempt to construct a real personal loving connection with this unimaginable and invisible entity. Little will prevent that difficult enterprise from succeeding more than sitting with my spouse, who is my source of strength, support, security, and to whom I eel ultimately connected. In such a setting, trying to connect to g-d in the way described is just much more difficult. Those who understand and appreciate what the mechitza provides in terms of mood may never find it objectionable. The usual complaint is that they would like a more complete mechitza separating each individual from everyone else. Some chassidic synagogues actually provide such mood enhancing as part of their basic architecture.

Nowhere is concern for mood in prayer more prominent then in the wording and melodies of the Shabbat services. It is always jarring to me when someone leading the service uses a melody from Sabbath morning services, as for example the song we sing when returning the Torah in the Friday evening service. Though the words are the same the use of the paragraph and its tone are very different and the mixing of musical modes is jarring to me. Had this occurred in the synagogue in which I grew up, the person leading services would have been spoken to after services would have been spoken to after services and would need to give assurances that he would not repeat this violation of mood before being asked not to repeat this violation of mood before being asked to lead services again.

What are these moods that I mention but have not explicitly explained? With apologies to those whose "modern" sensibilities will not allow them to appreciate the subtleties of psychology and human experience enshrined in these metaphors. Friday night is the female time of Shabbat; Saturday morning is the male experience; and Saturday afternoon is the time of joining. This is reflected in the pronouns used for the Sabbath in the Amidah. We speak of how G-d had lovingly and willingly bequeathed the Sabbath to us and how all Jews who sanctify G-d's name use it. In Hebrew, however, their is no way to say "it" as a gender neutral term. Instead, the world is gender-specific. In the standard siddur, Friday night finds the word, "Bah", meaning rest "on her;" Shabbat morning finds "Boh" meaning rest "on him;" and Shabbat afternoon finds "Bam," rest "on them." All, of course, refer to the antecedent "Shabbat."

The female aspect of Friday night describes its mood and the mood of its prayers. Shabbat descends on us with the setting sun. Our mood changes dramatically from the hustle and bustle of earlier in the day. It is an emotional, intuitive, passionate feeling period feeling period of Shabbat. We review the week in the six paragraphs oft the beginning of the Friday night services and then together we walk toward the Shabbat " the Shabbat bride singing Lechah Dodi.

Our songs are slower, more emotional, more passionate, we do not sing the marching song of returning the Torah on Shabbat morning. We shed our shame and the profanity of the week and feel G-d's loving presence surrounding as we sing in the words of Lechah Dodi.

Even the Amidah for Friday night reflects the image. The flow of holiness comes from G-d to us and we speak of Shabbat as the end point of creation. Woman is the endpoint of the physical creation.

Shabbat morning is very different. The songs are often marching songs or songs with a much more assertive image. The tone is analytic, acquisitive, study-oriented. The Amidah speaks of the giving of the Torah, which of course requires the acceptance and study by those who like Moses receive it joyfully. We read the Torah portion, study it and analyze it in Drasha, Dvar Torah, and study classes.

A note parenthetically that both men and women are involved in the moods of both Shabbat morning and evening. As such, this becomes a an appropriate spiritual mechanism for men to experience their feminine side, and for women to experience their masculine side.

We come to Shabbat afternoon and the joining of the masculine and the feminine. The theme of echad, oneness, singularity, joining and uniqueness. The mood of the davening is pensive. Thoughtful as we review and realize the spiritual peaks we have experienced. "You (G-d) are unique, and your Name is unique, but who is like your people Israel a singular nation in the world," is what we pray. The joining of the masculine and the feminine is ultimately a metaphor for the joining of G-d and His Shechinah as history climaxes and the Messianic era is born.

Mood plays a dramatic, crucial role in our Shabbat experience and particularly in our prayers. To feel the power and meaning of those individual moods and that overarching mood one need do two things. Take part and the be open to the experience.