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66
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1988
Jews Are Missing
The Lost Art Of Prayer
SAMUEL ROSENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
D
uring the past holy
day season, even the
most lukewarm Jew
went to shul and joined in
prayer with
fellow-religionists.
But it is a sad reality of our
time that prayer as a prac-
tical skill has become a lost
art. So each year a variety of
proposals to refurbish that art
on the lips and in the hearts
of Jews is put forward — with
little if any success.
The growing number of
advertisements in the Anglo-
Jewish press offering to teach
people how to pray, or at least
participate in a service, is
testimony to the demise of the
art of praying. Most of the
time, however, what is offered
is the temptation of a quick
fix — five easy lessons on how
to pray, or a new kind of
lowest-common-denominator
prayer service that will tax
neither the brain or the stay-
ing capacity of the would-be
worshipper.
Rabbis, hazzanim and con-
cerned laymen have long
been aware of the desperation
of those who wish to pray but
cannot. Many cures have
been suggested and tried.
Most of them have failed, not
for an absence of sincerity or
determination but for lack of
insight into the real source of
the trouble.
The root problem of this lost
art of prayer is to be found in
the illiteracy and alienation
of the would-be worshipper.
Attempts to find an easy solu-
tion can only fail since they
focus on changing the wor-
shipper's tools instead of
changing the worshipper
himself.
In turn, each failure brings
more frustration and disap-
pointment, driving the Jew
further away from the only
path that will bring him suc-
cess: genuine study, real
preparation.
Learning to pray can take a
lifetime. For this reason the
problem will not be solved by
tampering wth the prayer
book, or simplifying the ser-
vice, or changing the basic
purpose of prayer. All such at-
tempts have been tried and
found wanting.
It is time we faced the pro-
blem honestly. No one in his
Samuel Rosenbaum is ex-
ecutive vice president of the
Cantors Assembly, the world's
largest body of hazzanim.
right mind would hope to en-
joy golf or bridge or skiing —
or to enter a profession or
business — without the pro-
per preparation, motivation,
education and equipment.
And even these are not
enough. There must also be
the inspiration gleaned from
observing a skilled practi-
tioner pursue that art or that
profession.
For example, how does a
concert hall or a ball park or
a theater treat its patrons?
This is not to suggest that
prayer falls into the category
of entertainment, but I
believe much can be learned
from them.
Each of these institutions
exists because of the loyalty of
its devotees. It is in the best
interest of a concert hall, ball
park and theater to make its
product as accessible and
understandable as possible.
Yet no one would suggest that
a concert pianist slow down
the tempo of a composition so
that novices can follow the
score, or that a listener hear-
ing a Beethoven symphony
for the first time can fully
grasp all of the nuances and
meaning of the work.
Institutions offer the most
authentic performance they
can, no matter what difficul-
ty thth may present to the
uninitiated. In the normal
course of events, a'person who
is really interested in music,
theater or football will read a
book, take lessons or attend
enough concerts or ball
games so that he or she
begins to understand and ap-
preciate what's going on.
After that, the concert-goer
or football fan can participate
at a level that brings growing
satisfaction and pleasure.
A Jew cannot come to the
service spiritually naked, in-
tellectually bankrupt, and
liturgically unskilled and ex-
pect to get something out of
it. It takes wanting, prepara-
tion and knowledge.
We cannot hope to revitalize
prayer by catering to the
lowest level, or by changing
the rules or editing the
liturgy to accommodate the
inept. We serve the Jewish
community best by conduc-
ting the most authentic, most
sincere and most genuine ser-
vice we can.
The test for the effec-
tiveness of a service is the
reaction of the experienced
worshipper — the
knowledgeable one. How does
it affect him? Let the novice
begin to sit among Jews a
prayer. Let him study and
practice.