The Secret of Communal Jewish Prayer

For some people, communal prayer means coming together as a group, with someone standing up front to pray out loud, representing everyone else’s prayers. For others, communal prayer means taking turns praying with others in the room, with the majority listening and agreeing. And for some, it’s more about everyone being in the same physical space, expressing the same exact words at the same moment, simultaneously and jointly. This type of communal prayer could be less personal because it uses pre-determined words, but it is recited in union with others.

Throughout many generations, for Jews, communal prayer means blending many voices into one, like twisting threads into a single rope. Each worshipper speaks the same exact words to God, personally, individually, but together. Prayers spoken in such a manner stop being YOUR prayers and become OUR prayers.

This is why we recite prayers and use Siddurim (prayer books). At synagogue, we follow this format every time we meet. Every time we utter the words of Amidah, we do so individually and also together out loud. That is why we need at least 10 people. That is why we stand. That is why we face East; we turn toward the place where God chose for his name to dwell. We blend our voices into one, and we bless Hashem in harmony. We put our differences aside and seek to speak with a collective voice.

The words we say, and even the pattern of such communal prayer, go back to the days when the Jerusalem Temple stood. As we pray, we reenact the moment of a communal sacrifice and come before God as one people, as if standing in his courtyard, facing the altar of offering made by fire. The secret of communal Jewish prayers is to connect to the heavenly temple, one that cannot be destroyed or defiled. As we try to do that, we join our voices to the praise of angels who surround God’s throne. Like us, they also proclaim predetermined words jointly, announcing one unified message.

Communal worship is meant to be a unifying experience for those who worship and, to a degree, for the one being worshipped. In John 17, Yeshua prayed for his disciples “that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You.” He added, “that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” What if God chooses to manifest Himself and his right hand in the midst of our prayers? It would be a powerful public affirmation. What if Hashem draws many of us close to each other, so we can draw close to him as one?