NARRATOR: Act Two begins three weeks later, in the Camp Shul. (Join
ADAM)
RABBI and
ADAM are standing by the shulchan
RABBI: I
don't know, Adam. I mean, this Contemporary Minyan thing… it feels separatist.
ADAM: We've
been down that road, remember? Prayer helps a person talk with Gd, and to grow
spiritually, in a way that makes him better. So what's the point of preserving
Community Prayer, if there is no Prayer?
RABBI: Because
I've come to think that the emphasis in Communal Prayer should be more on the Communal
than the Prayer.
ADAM: Huh? Where
does that idea come from? Of course the point is Prayer -
doesn't the Talmud state that davening communally is good because Gd always
hears the prayers of the community? It's about the prayer![1]
RABBI: That's
not necessarily the main benefit. Communal prayer has always emphasized community.
Look at the mishkan that the Jews traveled with in the wilderness; the site for
talking with G-d was in the centre of the camp, the glue holding the tribes
together. Or the Beit haMikdash, built on communal land owned by no
single tribe, to be neutral ground on which everyone could unite.[2]
ADAM: So
the community's Feng Shui is oriented around the shared place in which they
daven. But that doesn't mean that communal prayer is designed to build
community!
RABBI: Why
not? Rambam even said that biblical rituals were designed to build
community! He wrote that the purpose of עלייה
לרגל, of the mitzvah of going to Yerushalayim for each holiday is to
build community![3] Or look
at the 40 loaves of bread brought with a korban todah, a thanks-offering, in
the Beit haMikdash – the Netziv says that the Torah allows just one day
to eat all 40 loaves, in order to make sure that it will turn into a
community feast.[4]
ADAM: So
you're telling me that the reason to daven together is community-building.
Do you think that works?
RABBI: Sociologists at the University
of Connecticut and Ben Gurion University in Israel think so; they've pointed
out that praying in a group increases cooperation and trust among the members
of the group.[5] They've
found that religious men who attend shul daily are more cooperative and
trusting with each other than any other group, including religious men who
don't go to shul, religious women, secular men, and secular women.
ADAM: Huh?
How did they prove that?
RABBI: It's
a bit of a story, but for example, they did a study with 558 members from 18
kibbutzim in Israel: They paired up people, and gave each pair an envelope with
100 shekel to divide between the two of them. To make a long story short, the
pairs of men who attended minyan together took less for themselves, and
expressed greater trust in each other, than did any other group. The
researchers even found that davening together created greater trust than
eating together.
ADAM: They
should come to our shul, and join the kiddush club; then they could
daven and eat together – that will really build community!
RABBI: Yeah,
yeah. Listen, there are other benefits besides trust, too. In a shul, davening
in a large group brings the children who daven there into the community.[6]
And it offers chances for people to give each other emotional support and to
address communal needs.
ADAM: Communal
needs? How?
RABBI:
Think about it – We add elements like the Kel Malei and Yizkor for grieving, to
give people the chance to cry together; that's what אב הרחמים was originally for, too, after the Crusades. We
have the מי שברך for people who
are sick, which raises awareness of people's needs. We recite יקום פורקן to encourage volunteerism by blessing the community's volunteers.
ADAM: Hah! That
assumes the volunteers are actually back from the kiddush club in time for יקום פורקן, to hear it.
RABBI: That's
two on the kiddush club; make another joke at their expense and you'll never
act in this town again! But the practical aid is about more than prayers and
emotional support - appeals for tzedakah have always been the norm in shul, and
in older times they would announce Lost and Found and even help people find
jobs in shul.[7]
ADAM: So
you're claiming that this is what Gd had in mind – that tefillah b'tzibbur,
communal davening, is really about community first, and davening second? You do
realize that this idea encourages talking in shul, right?
RABBI: Yes,
I-
JOSH
enters; Rabbi stops speaking to look over at him
JOSH (agitated):
Rabbi, Adam, you're not going to believe this. I just heard from some of the
teens who go to the Contemporary Minyan.
RABBI: And?
JOSH: They
don't find the Contemporary Minyan very contemporary; they want to break away
and form an Alternative Contemporary Minyan.
ADAM: But
what don't they like?
JOSH: For
starters, they think the Waiters' idea of a berachah for the stock market is
lame.
ADAM (sarcastic):
Sure, until they want to draw on their trust funds!
RABBI: So
what berachos do they want instead?
JOSH (counting
on his fingers): They want one for the environment and global warming. And
another for world peace – not just Jewish peace, but peace everywhere. And they
want one for children in Africa, and they want one for the homeless-
RABBI (impressed):
Well, it's good that they have such serious concerns. Maybe you're right – we
should be encouraging the kids to take their davening so personally. If they
want to talk to Gd about African children - I'm impressed!
JOSH: Um….
and they want one for keeping Justin Bieber out of jail.
RABBI: They
may want growth, but I guess they're kids all the same…
[1] Berachos 6a, 7b-8a; Mishneh
Torah Hilchot Tefillah 8:1; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 90:9
[2] Yoma 12a, and the Rambam
rules this way
[3] Niddah 34a, Maharitz Chajes
there; Moreh haNevuchim 3:34
[4] Haameik Davar Vayyikra 7
[5] Religious Ritual and
Cooperation: Testing for a Relationship on Israeli Religious and Secular Kibbutzim
(Current Anthropology 44:5 2003); Does it pay to pray? Costly Ritual and
Cooperation, The Berkeley Electronic Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy
7:1 (2007) ; The Adaptive Value of Religious Ritual, American Scientist
[6] Prayer is a Positive Activity
for Children, International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 10:3 Dec. 2005
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