Rabbi Yair Kobernick
From the dawn of Jewish history until the ruin of the First Temple
and the Babylonian Exile (586 BCE) the power of prayer was widely
known among the people and Hebrew was the native language. Until
that time, spiritual expression was widespread hundreds of
thousands of people in every generation participated in the practice
of meditation and prophecy. Besides reciting the Shema, Psalms
and other Biblical passages, each person would use his or her own
words to express their heart's feelings.
During the Babylonian exile, however, the new generation began to
speak the local language, and began corrupting the Hebrew
language. People no longer knew how to utilize the sheer power of
the Holy Language to achieve Godliness. It was in response to this
new situation that Ezra and the Men of the Great Assembly, the
supreme legislative court of the time, set up a standard form of
prayers and blessings for all occasions. Together with certain
Biblical passages and Psalms, these prayers and blessings form
the essence of the Siddur, the prayer-book, as we have it today.
The Men of the Great Assembly who composed these prayers
included well-known prophets, such as Chagai, Zechariah, Malachi,
Daniel, Nehemiah and Mordechai. They had Divine inspiration in
arranging the letters of the Alef-Bet into the arrangement that make
up the fixed prayers and blessings. Their intent was not to limit
personal prayer but rather to enhance it. By creating a set text, they
in effect, established a morse code by which any Jew, educated or
otherwise, could communicate with G-d. This was the base; any
additional efforts on the part of individuals to express their own
spiritual feelings could only add to prayer's influence.
Each word of the Siddur has a obvious, plain meaning that even a
child can understand. At the same time, it is enough to look at the
Kabbalistic writings of the ARIZAL, or a Kabbalistic Siddur to get a
glance of the impressive depths of every single word and the worlds
upon worlds of meaningfulness that hang upon every single letter
and vowel. As the Talmud tells us: “Prayer stands at the very
summit of the universe.”
Just something cute:
THE ANGEL
Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. So one day
she asked Hashem (G-d):
"They tell me You are sending me to earth tomorrow but how am I
going to live there being so small and helpless?"
"Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will be waiting
for you and will take care of you."
"But tell me, here in Heaven, I don't do anything else but sing and
smile, that's enough for me to be happy."
"Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day.
And you will feel your angel's love and be happy."
"And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to
me, if I don't know the language that men talk?"
"Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will
ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach
you how to speak."
"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?"
"Your angel will teach you how to pray."
"I've heard that on earth there are bad men. Who will protect me?"
"Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."
"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."
"Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the
way to feel close to me, for I will always be next to you."
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from
earth could already be heard, and the child in a hurry asked softly:
"Oh Hashem, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel's
name."
"Your angel's name is of no importance, you will call your angel:
Mommy."
Copyright © 2000 by Yair Kobernick and Project Genesis, Inc.
