Month: September 2018

The Yom Kippur Break

The Love and Fear of the Yom Kippur Davening

The Gemora calls prayer the Service of the Heart, and as we’ve pointed out before, it’s a difficult service. It’s difficult to stay on task during a 15 minute Maariv, so it’s no wonder that the 10-14 total hours we’ll spend in Shul on Yom Kippur creates a wide range of emotional responses. For some the day is a tremendous opportunity and they could think of no better place then to spend it then Shul. To others, between the fasting, the length, and the intensity, it is very difficult to spend a long time in Shul. And there’s a wide range of emotions in between.

How Long was the Break?

Although the length of the davening can come under scrutiny on any given Shabbos, on Yom Kippur, almost everybody has an opinion on the subject. So the typical post Yom Kippur cross Shul conversations often involves the question: “how long was the break?”. The fact that most of us need a little down time or a nap before the final Neilah service takes the question beyond the realm of one-upmanship. Although many people will be forgiving on Yom Kippur if the break is short, the Shul really wants to give people as much support as possible on this important and intense day.

Try to Streamline

As we’ve mentioned previously, we don’t always have control over the Baalei Tefillah. If you’re Shul waits for your Rav to finish his viduy, it’s not quite appropriate to ask him to cut it short on Yom Kippur. However you can try to make the Leining as efficient as possible, and make sure that people who are opening the Aron are ready when their time has arrived. Many Shuls start earlier then normal and you may want to push the start time a little earlier for those who say Shiur HaYichud.

All You Can Do is Do Your Best

Even after you’ve done as much as you can to streamline, it will probably be too long or not inspirational enough for some members. Although it would be great if the unhappy members would grin and bear it with the Shul, that’s not always practical and they might chose to daven elsewhere. In all situations, discuss possible solutions but try to keep the issue on a low simmer – because it is a day of forgiveness after all.

The Four Most Important Words in Shul

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains that the key to establishing a palpable closeness to G-d when we say the Shemoneh Esrai, are the words Melekh (King), Ozer (Helper), uMoshia (Rescuer), uMogen (Shield) in the first brocha. We start off addressing G-d as a majestic but somewhat distant King. A Helper is more available and closer than a King, like a friend who we know we can call on. A Rescuer is closer than a Helper, because he is right there to save us when we need help. A Shield is closer than a Rescuer because he is surrounding us, protecting us from harm. If we say these four words slowly (4+ seconds per word), focusing on the different perceptions of closeness, we can sense Hashem’s protection.

This four word progression is also applicable to the Yomim Noraim. On Rosh Hoshana we focus on Hashem as King. In the ten days of Teshuva, we call out more in Selichos to Hashem, our Rescuer, because He is more available in this period. On Yom Kippur, we pray and confess to Hashem, our Saviour, as He saves us from the consequences of our sins. On Succos, we focus on Hashem, our Shield, through the mitzvos of the Sukkah and the feelings of protection that it generates.

The idea of the progression from King, to Helper, to Rescuer, to Shield, might help explain a question regarding brochos. Every standalone or sequence-beginning brocha must contain Hashem’s name and the word Melekh. However, the beginning of Shomeneh Esrai is missing the Melekh. Tosfos gives the most quoted answer: the first Brocha mentions Avrahom, who was the first one who made Hashem King over himself. The question still remains: why not just put the word Melekh, like we find in every other brocha?

Perhaps we can say that the word Melekh by itself represents a distant King. However in Shomeneh Esrai we are talking directly to Hashem, To help us create that conversational closeness, the Men of the Great Assembly, put the word Melekh at the end of the brocha in the progression leading to Magen. This is the relationship Avrahom personified, and that is the relationship we are pursuing in the first brocha and in the entire Shomoneh Esrai.

May we all merit to make the progression from Melekh to Magen in these upcoming Yomim Noraim, and in every tefillah that we daven.