Services in the synagogue
A rabbiAn ordained Jewish religious leader who is trained in interpreting and applying the sacred scriptures to contemporary issues and circumstances. usually leads services of worship in both Orthodox JewsJews who live by the Torah and rabbinic law (halakhah) and who only accept changes that can be supported by the Torah. and Reform JewsJews who have adapted their laws and practices as modern life has changed.synagogueBuilding for Jewish public prayer, study and assembly.. Often a cantorAn official who sings liturgical music in a synagogue. called the hazzan stands at the front facing the aron hakodeshThe Hebrew word for the cabinet in a synagogue where the scrolls of the Torah are kept. to lead prayers, which are said, sung or chanted. The SiddurThe literal meaning is order, ie the order of the synagogue service. The term is used for the daily prayer book used by Jews. is used during each service. It contains the prayers for the day.
A service begins with opening prayers, which are followed by a recitation of the ShemaMajor Jewish prayer affirming belief in one God. The Shema is found in Exodus 20:2-14, Deuteronomy and Numbers.. The Shema is the Jewish declaration of faith in only one God:
Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone
Services also contain readings from the TorahLaw; teaching. The word Torah can be used in a narrow sense to mean the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (The Five Books of Moses) and also in a wider sense to include the whole of the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud. and end with final prayers, such as the AleinuA key Jewish prayer said at the conclusion of each Sabbath service., which is a prayer to praise God.
The Amidah
The AmidahOne of the most important and most ancient prayers in Judaism, prayed in a standing position three times daily. Also called Tefillah (Prayer). is a prayer that is central to Jewish worship. Worshippers stand together in the synagogue facing Jerusalem to perform the prayer in silence - worshippers think over the words of the prayer in their minds rather than saying them out loud.
The Amidah prayer consists of a series of blessings:
- The first three blessings praise God and ask for his mercy.
- The middle 13 blessings ask for God’s help.
- The final blessing thanks God.
Shabbat service
Many Jews go to a ShabbatThe seventh day of the week; a day of spiritual renewal and rest commencing at sunset on Friday and terminating at nightfall on Saturday. service on a Saturday morning. This service is called Shacharit ShabbatIn Judaism, a Shabbat (Saturday) morning service held in a synagogue.. Shacharit Shabbat services vary from synagogue to synagogue, but share a similar overall structure:
- The service opens with Birchot Hashachar, the morning blessings, and P’sukei D’Zimra, which are the Verses of Song containing readings from PsalmsA book in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) containing songs of praise and worship. and other books of the TanakhThe collected 24 books of the Jewish Bible. There are three sections: Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim (TaNaKh). May also be spelled Tenakh. . These prayers are intended to help worshippers get into a reflective state of mind before the main service begins.
- Next, the Shema and blessings are said, followed by the Shabbat Amidah. On Shabbat, the middle section of the Amidah is a prayer to celebrate the holiness of the Sabbath day, instead of asking for God’s help. This is to help the worshipper stay focussed and avoid becoming distracted by other concerns.
- Following the Amidah, the Sefer TorahThe Torah scroll, handwritten on vellum (the skin of an unborn calf). These are kept in the synagogue and are treated with the utmost respect. is removed from the aron hakodeshThe Hebrew word for the cabinet in a synagogue where the scrolls of the Torah are kept. and that week’s section of the Torah is read aloud. A reading related to the Torah section is shared before the Torah is placed back in the aron hakodesh.
- The final prayer is the Aleinu, which focuses on the duty to praise God and the hope that one day all human beings will be united in service to God.
Question
How does the Shabbat Amidah differ from the Amidah in weekday services?
On weekdays, the middle section of the Amidah contains prayers asking for help from God, whereas on Shabbat, the middle section is focused on the specialness and holiness of Shabbat.
