Opening paragraphs
In this chapter, we will acquire some familiarity with the Shacharit prayers, learn how to conduct ourselves during every part of the service, and understand the meanings of the various portions of the prayers.
The Shacharit service consists of a number of segments:
- Introductory paragraphs and the passages dealing with the sacrificial service
- The Hodu prayer and Pesukei d’Zimrah—literally, “verses of praise”
- The Shema and its blessings
- The Shemoneh Esrei prayer (also known as the Amidah— literally, the standing prayer)
- For those praying with a minyan (a quorum of ten men), the Shemoneh Esrei is followed by the chazzan’s repetition
- The paragraphs of Tachanun
- On Mondays, Thursdays, Rosh Chodesh, and other special occasions—the Torah reading
- Ashrei, Uva L’Tzion, and some concluding paragraphs
For an extensive overview of the “Morning Blessings” that are recited before the prayer services, see The Morning Blessings – Daily Jewish Life
It is important to understand the meaning of the words we recite while praying. There are many books that offer a simple translation and explanation of the prayers. At the very least, one should be aware of the simple meaning of every word.
Hareini Mekabel—I hereby accept
We begin the morning prayers with a spirit of love for our fellow Jews by declaring, “I hereby accept on myself the positive commandment of ‘Love your fellow as you love yourself.’” Thus, we express our dedication to the Biblical precept of treating other people exactly as we would wish to be treated.
Why is this a fitting prelude to prayer? We know that the proudest moments of every flesh-and-blood father are the moments when he sees his children treating each other with kindness and love. G-d is our Father in Heaven, and we give Him the ultimate satisfaction by treating His other children— our fellow Jews—in the same way. Thus, the commandment to love our fellow Jews is the key to gaining entry into the world of prayer. When we open our hearts to others, it becomes much easier to connect with our Creator, and our prayers are much more readily accepted in Heaven. Developing a sense of love and kindness for our fellow Jews also makes us into more righteous people who are more deserving of Heavenly blessings.
Mah Tovu—How good are your tents
The paragraph entitled Mah tovu consists of three Biblical verses:
- “How good are your tents, Jacob—your dwelling places, Israel”.
The source of this verse is a blessing that the Gentile prophet Bilam was forced to give the Jewish people when the king of Moab recruited him to curse them. We invoke this verse today in praise of the synagogues and Torah study halls that have accompanied the Jewish people throughout their long history and their wanderings throughout the world. The synagogue serves as a substitute, in a sense, for the Temple, where the Divine Presence used to rest in a clearly perceptible manner. With this verse, we express our joy at the fact that we have a synagogue.
- “And I, in Your great kindness, I will come into Your home; I will prostrate myself before Your holy sanctuary in awe of You.”
This verse appears in the Book of Psalms. We quote it to thank G-d for the immense privilege of being allowed to pray in the synagogue, His “private home,” so to speak. G-d welcomes us into His home and greets us even without our engaging in any special preparations; He is always there for us. Our sense of gratitude, however, must be accompanied by a feeling of awe, indicated at the end of the verse, due to G-d’s endless greatness.
- “And I, may my prayer to You, G-d, be at a time of desire. G-d, in Your great kindness, answer me with the truth of Your salvation.”
The final verse in this set is also drawn from the Book of Psalms. We quote this verse to beseech G-d that the time of our prayers should be a “time of good will”—a time when He accepts our pleas and supplications, and our requests are granted. But as the verse emphasizes, such a request is feasible only because of G-d’s boundless kindness and the fact that He is eternally at our side.
Adon Olam—Master of the Universe
The well-known composition Adon Olam, “Master of the Universe,” is a song of praise to G-d. We declare that G-d’s greatness far exceeds the limits of our perception, that He is the King of the world and its Creator, and that He controls and directs everything that takes place. We also proclaim that He is the only G-d who ever was, is, or will be. When we retire at night, we place our souls and our bodies in His hands, trusting Him to return them to us in the morning healthy and refreshed.
The Sages teach that if a person focuses on the meaning of this passage while he recites it, his prayers will be accepted and the Satan will not be permitted to obstruct them.
The Binding of Isaac
At the beginning of the morning prayers, we recite the Biblical passage that relates the story of the Binding of Isaac. Our forefather Abraham, the very first Jew in history, was instructed by G-d to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice. G-d had promised Abraham that all of his future descendants would come from Isaac, but Abraham did not hesitate to carry out G-d’s command. In an act of total faith and complete self-sacrifice, he placed his son on the altar and prepared to slaughter him.
At the last moment, an angel appeared to stop Abraham from going through with the sacrifice. As a result of this incident, G-d “crowned” Abraham with the recognition of his willingness to commit the ultimate act of sacrifice. This supreme dedication went on to become an intrinsic part of Abraham’s life and personality and was passed on to all of Abraham’s descendants, throughout the generations.
We recite this Biblical passage every day mainly in order to remind ourselves of the merits of our forefathers. In particular, when we recall Abraham’s total dedication and willingness to sacrifice everything in order to heed G-d’s command, it will help us to subdue our own natural drives that may prevent us from serving Him properly. This dramatic passage can thus serve as an inspiration to us to be prepared to give everything for the service of G-d.
In our prayers, the passage is preceded by a short paragraph beginning with the words “Our G-d and the G-d of our forefathers.” This paragraph serves as an introduction of sorts to the account of the Binding of Isaac, in which we mention the oath that G-d took to Abraham at the time of the incident, promising that his descendants would be as plentiful as the sand and the stars of heaven.
After the conclusion of the Biblical passage, we recite another paragraph beginning with the words “Master of the Universe,” in which we beseech G-d to treat us with love and kindness, just as Abraham loved Him. In this paragraph, we quote a number of verses from various Biblical sources that speak of the love that exists between G-d and His children— the Jewish people.
L’Olam Yehei Adam—A Person should always fear G-d
This ancient passage has its roots in a time in history when the non-Jewish ruling powers banned the recitation of Shema in an effort to suppress the Jewish religion. For generation, Jews had no choice but to recite the Shema clandestinely in order to avoid persecution.
Even though we now live in an era of freedom, when we can recite the Shema and openly conduct ourselves in accordance with our religion without fear of persecution or reprisal, we still remind ourselves in this passage that it is important to maintain our fear of Heaven in private as well as in public.
Additional paragraphs
“Master of All the Worlds”—This paragraph speaks of the insignificance of the body and the exalted nature of the soul.
“But We . . . Therefore We. . . .” This paragraph describes the loving dedication to G-d expressed by our three Patriarchs. We express our joy and gratitude for the privilege we have of being their descendants.
Shema Yisrael
We are required to recite the three paragraphs of Shema within the first quarter of the day. The Sages added this paragraph to the beginning of our morning prayers in order to ensure that every Jew will fulfill his obligation to recite the Shema at the proper time.
- If a person knows that he will certainly not reach the Shema that appears later in the Shacharit service within the designated time for its recitation, he should recite all three paragraphs.
Atah Hu—It Was You
This paragraph concludes this particular series of passages with a reference to the Biblical commandment to sanctify G-d’s name. Throughout the history of our people, millions of Jews have given up their lives for the sake of Heaven as a result of this precept,
We conclude this passage with a blessing: “Blessed is He Who sanctifies His name publicly.”
“Atah Hu Hashem—You Are G-d” This is an additional passage that relates that G-d’s existence preceded that of all of His creations, and that He is the sole Power in the universe. He created heaven and earth, and only He continues to control them with His awesome power. We beseech G-d to grant all of our requests and to return the entire Jewish people to His holy land, the Land of Israel.
The sacrificial services
We have mentioned that our prayers are intended to serve as a substitute for the sacrificial services that took place in the Temple. What is the connection between animal sacrifices and the act of prayer? We can understand this by delving into the meaning of prayer itself.
The Zohar describes prayer as “a time of war.” While praying, a person must struggle with his evil inclination and his earthly nature, which is known Kabbalistically as the “animal soul.” He must fight to instill in himself an awareness of G-d and an understanding of abstract spiritual concepts, in order to awaken within himself a sense of love for the Creator of the world. In essence, when we pray, we are sacrificing our own animal soul to the Creator of the world. In fact, the Hebrew word for sacrifice, korban, is related to the word kiruv, “bringing close.”
Every sacrificial offering, beyond the physical act of slaughtering and burning the animal, had a profound spiritual meaning. The sacrificial ceremony was accompanied by the stirring song of the Levites. Every human being who came to the Temple to bring a sacrifice of atonement would be moved by their song to repent from his sins. The inspiring voices of the Levites would cause people to regret their misdeeds and would uplift them, bringing them closer to G-d, so to speak.
Our Sages teach us that when a person recites the Biblical passages about the sacrificial service, he is considered to have actually offered a sacrifice.
It is of particular importance to study this section of the prayers, which consists of Biblical and Talmudic passages pertaining to the sacrificial service, in order to understand their meaning. If we do so, we will be able to offer our “sacrifices” in the most appropriate manner.
Additional passages were included in this part of the prayer service in order to ensure that we would recite one passage from the Bible, one from the Mishnah, and one from the Talmud every single day. The first such passage, from the Bible, is drawn from the beginning of the Torah portion named Tzav, the second portion in Leviticus.
The ingredients of the incense
Our discussion of the sacrificial service in the Temple continues with a passage relating to the ketoret, the incense that was brought in the Temple every day.
The incense was composed of eleven different herbs and fragrances and was offered twice daily, in the morning and at night. The incense ceremony was replete with symbolic meaning. When the incense was burned, the smoke rose upward, symbolizing the soul’s yearning to rise upward and connect with the Creator of the world. Furthermore, the incense is associated with the human sense of smell, which is considered the most spiritual of the five senses. The incense therefore symbolizes the loftiest type of bond that can be formed with G-d.
The ingredients of the incense should be recited slowly; one should take care not to skip any of them,
While reciting the names of each of the ingredients, one should count them on one’s fingers.
Ana B’Koach—Please, With the Power of Your Right Hand’s Greatness
This passage is a prayer of profound depth and mystical meaning. It is attributed to Rabbi Nechunia ben HaKaneh, an ancient Sage who lived at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple.
The prayer takes the form of a poem containing seven lines of six words each. The total of forty-two words corresponds to the forty-two letters of one of the holy Names of G-d.
At this point in the prayer service, after reciting the prayer “Master of all the worlds” and before reciting the chapter of Mishnah entitled “Eizehu Mekoman,” one should rise and don the tallit and tefillin.
The procedure for doing so is described earlier.
Eizehu Mekoman—What is the place of the offerings
At this point, we recite an entire chapter of the Mishnah. This chapter is drawn from Tractate Zevachim and was specifically chosen to represent the Mishnah because, unlike the majority of chapters in the Mishnah, it does not contain any instances of dispute or disagreement between the Sages.
Because there is nothing in the world more desirable than peace, we recite this chapter of Mishnah to represent our prayer for peace.
The Beraita of Rabbi Yishmael
This passage is the third of the three excerpts chosen to represent the Bible, the Mishnah, and the Talmud. This paragraph appears in the Midrashic work entitled Torat Kohanim and describes the thirteen different methodologies by which laws are extrapolated from the verses of the Torah. Each of these thirteen forms of exegesis is firmly grounded in a tradition stretching back for many generations, originating with Moses himself, who received the Torah directly from G-d.
We conclude this passage with the recitation of a short prayer: “May it be Your will, G-d, our Lord and the Lord of our forefathers, that the Temple be rebuilt speedily in our days, and may You give us our portion in Your Torah.”
All of the sections of the prayer that we have discussed until now may be recited alone, without the presence of a quorum of ten men. The “official” Shacharit service, which takes place in a group of ten men and must be led by a chazzan, begins with the next part of the prayers, the Kaddish that precedes Hodu.
