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more parties to join their destinies together in a reciprocal bond of loyalty and love. The nearest human equivalents are: 1. the bond of marriage; 2. peace treaties between nations. The unique idea of the Torah is that such a covenant can exist between GOD and humanity.
Thus
, often translated as “true” actually means “faithful, one who acts in accord with his word, one who honours commitments and promises”.
, translated as “lovingkindness” refers to the emotions and actions that flow from a covenantal bond, such as between husband and wife, or between parents and children. It means
love translated into deed.
There is no English word for
which means both “justice” and “charity”.
often translated as “righteousness”, means “distributive justice, equity” as opposed to
, which means “legal or retributive justice”.
, which I have translated as “compassion”, derives from the word
rechem, meaning “a womb.” It signifies the unconditional love of a mother for her child.
“grace”, means gratuitous kindness, which flows from the generosity of the giver, not the merits of the recipient.
Holy. In general, this means “separated, set apart, standing outside”. Used of GOD, it means “He who stands outside nature” because He
made nature. Used of the people of Israel (as in “a holy nation”, Exodus 19:6) it means the people who stand outside the normal laws of nations – defined by land, language, race or political structure – because they are the sole nation whose constitutive
raison d'être is to serve GOD as His witnesses to the world. Shabbat is holy time because it stands outside the normal concerns of the week. The Temple is holy space because it is dedicated to the service of GOD.
To stand in the presence of holiness, as in prayer, is to enter GOD’S domain; that is, the place where His will rules, not ours. That is why prayer is like sacrifice, because both involve a psychological-spiritual act of renunciation. We renounce our will, accepting His. The Hebrew word for sacrifice, korban, means “coming, or bringing, close”. Often, in non-Hebraic languages, the word “holy” implies distance and awe. In Judaism, the reverse is also true: Israel encounters holiness as a special closeness to GOD. This is experienced as both love and awe: love, because of our closeness to the Infinite; awe because of the exacting responsibilities this carries with it.
Other key terms
Saying “Amen” is what philosophers call a “performative utterance”. It is a formal act of acceptance and affirmation, meaning: 1. we believe this to be true; or 2. we associate ourselves with what has been said. It functions in the Torah as an assent to an oath (e.g. in Deuteronomy 27:15–26). The root
‘-m-n has a range of senses, including “to believe, to trust, to care, to be faithful”. In general, liturgical responses – such as “Blessed is He and blessed is His name” – form an essential link between the Reader and congregation, turning a prayer
on behalf of the community into one assented to
by the community. Special significance was attached by the Sages to the response during the recital of
Kaddish, “May His great name be blessed for ever and all time”. Indeed for them, the merit of saying
Kaddish is precisely that it evokes this response from the community.
You: The gods of the ancient world were at best indifferent, at worst actively hostile, to human beings. The GOD of the philosophers – abstract, conceptual, the prime mover or necessary being -can be contemplated but not addressed. The difference between the GOD of the prophets and the GoD of the philosophers is that the former knows us, cares about us, listens to us (Judah Halevi,
Kuzari). Without the word “You” there can be meditation, but not prayer. The central section of most forms of the
Amidah begins with the word “You”.
Blessed. When applied to GOD it means: He is the
source of all blessings, not only spiritual but also physical: health, livelihood, safety and security. In prayer we learn to see our material enjoyments as GOD’S blessing, belonging as they do to the world He created and pronounced good. The root
b-r-ch also means: 1. to bow, bend the knee; 2. a pool or reservoir of water. What connects these is
downward movement. A blessing is what, metaphorically, flows down to earth from heaven.
There are several categories of blessings in the Siddur: 1. blessings of acknowledgement, which are forms of praise and thanksgiving; 2. blessings over the performance of commandments, which are formal declarations of intent (kavannah) that the act we are about to perform is done because GOD has commanded us to do so; 3. blessings over enjoyments (food, drink, and so on), which are acts of redemption in the technical sense of buying something back for secular use that would otherwise be holy, and thus is not available for our personal benefit.
Mizmor (“Psalm”) is found 57 times as the heading of a psalm, and is used nowhere else in Tanach. Many believe it refers to a song written to be accompanied by musical instruments.
Tehillah, “song of praise”, is used only once as superscription to a psalm (Psalm 145); despite this, the Book of Psalms as a whole is known to Jewish tradition as
Tehillim, “Songs of Praise”. Some psalms carry the name of the person who wrote it or to whom it was dedicated; others the occasion on which it was sung; yet others are musical directions. The term
la-m’natze’ach means “for the conductor, director of music, choir-master”, and usually signals a choral work.
Selah. A word of unknown meaning. Some hold that it means “for ever”; others understand it as an affirmation, similar to the word “Amen”. Yet others see it as a musical notation, a signalled pause, or an indication of the end of a passage.
Olam. The word
olam means both “universe” and “eternity” – the outermost limits of space and time. It may come from the same root as
ne’elam, “hidden”. This was understood by Jewish mystics, especially of the Lurianic school, as meaning that to create a universe, the Infinite had to contract or limit Himself, otherwise Infinity would leave no space for finitude. GOD is present in the physical universe but in a hidden way. We are, explains Nachmanides, surrounded by miracles. The world is filled with the radiance of GOD but to see it we have to open our eyes. Part of the purpose of prayer is, in this sense, to open our eyes.
Name: How GOD is perceived by human beings. When He is recognised as the supreme Sovereign, this is a “sanctification of the name”. When He is forced to exile His people – and thus seen by the nations as if powerless to protect them -this is a “desecration of the name”. The opening words of
Kaddish, “Magnified and sanctified may His great name be” mean “May the sovereignty of GOD be ever more widely recognised by human beings” The closing words of
Aleinu, “On that day GOD shall be One and His name
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