|
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Mishnah Text "The one who passes before the Ark does not answer 'amen' after the Kohanim, because of [the possibility of] confusion. If there is no other Kohen there except him, he does not raise his hands. If he is really sure that he can raise his hands and then return to his prayer, it is permitted." Context and Commentary "The one who passes before the Ark" refers to the hazzan, or prayer-leader; he does not answer "amen" when the descendants of the priests, or Kohanim (singular: Kohen), recite their special three-fold blessing towards the end of the Amidah. This blessing is derived from a passage in the Torah, Numbers 6:24-26. (Note: the prayer-leader might be a woman in many contemporary synagogues; I use the masculine pronoun to reflect the historical reality of the Talmud) "Lifting up the hands" refers to the unique choreography of this ritual; the Kohanim cover themselves in prayer-shawls and lift up their hands, with their fingers spread out, divided in the middle. (The same arrangement of fingers that Mr. Spock later made famous in Star Trek- and yes, Star Trek got it from the Bible!) The general concern of this mishnah is that the prayer-leader must not become confused or lose his place, even if it means giving up a traditional part of the service. If the prayer-leader answered "amen" to the Kohanim's blessing, he might lose his place and forget which word came next, especially since (in the days before everybody had a book), he was probably calling out from memory the words for the Kohanim to repeat after him, a custom which is still preserved in many synagogues today. If the prayer-leader IS the Kohen, then he should only recite the Priestly Blessing if he is really sure he can do both roles without mixing things up. Nowadays, when prayerbooks are plentiful, synagogues which preserve the custom of the Priestly Blessing often allow the prayer-leader to act in both capacities. For more on the custom of the Birkat Kohanim, or Priestly Blessing, check out our Reb on the Web archives. Open Ended Question In many contemporary synagogues, a typical prayer service is often lead by several people doing different things. You might have a professional hazzan, or cantor, singing parts of the service, along with a rabbi offering introductions to some of the prayers, parts lead in English by members of the congregation, parts lead in Hebrew by members of the congregation or by other synagogue staff, and so on. In fact, it's a very strong custom in many synagogues that the person who leads the first part of a morning service (the introductory blessings and Psalms) not be the same person who leads the main part of the service (the Shma and its blessings, the Torah service, and so on.) What's gained by having a typical Jewish service lead by so many different people? Why not just have one person do the whole thing? Maybe this very strong custom- going back all the way to the earliest days of the Talmud, as we see from this mishna- is teaching us precisely not to have our spiritual experience depend on one person only. If the whole prayer experience was dependent on just one person, we might come to regard that person as holy in themselves, or as an intermediary between the congregation and the Holy One. Built into the structure of the service itself is the idea that no human being is able to lead all the prayers, no human being can be a flawless spiritual vessel. Everybody needs some help, and no one person should be turned into an idol, as it were- after all, the very premise of this mishnah is that the person leading the prayers is likely to make mistakes! Remembering that any spiritual leader is also a fallible human being reminds us to look beyond the leader of the prayers to the One to Whom the prayers are addressed. NJL |
||||||||||||||||
|
[Lobby] [Library] [Classroom] [Office] [Lounge] [Gift Shop] [Site Map] Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
Brachot 5:4
