Forward

Dedicated In Loving Memory of  two dedicated friends, mentors and pillars of our little shul

                                            Rabbi Barry Budoff and Molly Habermann

This site is born of a desire to share what I have learned from others and to continue to learn. L'dor v'dor. My background is Opera and what I have been able to gather of our tradition was learned in the schul as an adult and not at University. Nor is my training by any means complete. So I write here not as an authority but as a student, and I remain in awe and appreciation of our current range of professional cantors as well as those of the past; Moishe Oysher, Robert Merrill, Richard Tucker, Jan Pierce, and Josef "Yossele" Rosenblatt among others as well as the great canting tradition of the Safardim. I hope that you enjoy the pages herein and I welcome your comments, suggestions and corrections.  It is my hope that via this site and others like it, that the Siddur liturgy may given new life in you the reader, that some of you may renew your engagement with it and that others of you may consider canting as a vocation or avocation. 

Please note: the services and canting contained in this blog are not at all necessarily complete, but rather the blog is written in such a way as to bring out or highlight certain aspects of the service liturgy for those who wish to engage with it and to learn more about it.

For more complete services information:

http://kakatuv.com/prayers.html

http://www.onlinesiddur.com/shac/

http://www.chabad.org/library/siddur/default.htm#!/aid:1618653/title:Introduction - סדור

http://www.chailifeline.org/siddur/full/

For those of you who might be interested, the following is great book for understanding the voice and singing. It is a technical book and a companion to vocal coaching and study.

The Structure of Singing, by Richard Miller

http://www.abebooks.com/Structure-Singing-Richard-Miller-Cengage-Learning/

Thanks for reading.

A Little Background on the Liturgical Service

A Little Background

Since the destruction of the second temple in the year 70 CE, Pharisees and later Rabbis have pondered the resulting ramifications of transitioning from Temple Judaism to what we now call Rabbinic Judaism. At least one of these considerations had to do with what to do about sacrifices, priestly duties and atoning for transgressions before Hashem. Furthermore, at least some of what we do now in the daily, Shabbat and Holiday synagogue service is an attempt at resolving these issues. The sages of our people realized from the writings of the prophets that as a people Israel could fulfill its duties to G-d or at least partially please Hashem through sacrifices of repentance (tshuvah), prayer,  worship, (avodah), mitzvot, gemilut chasadim and tikun olam.

Isaiah chapter 1:16 "Wash yourselves clean! Get your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing evil, 17 learn to do good! Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, defend orphans, plead for the widow. 18 "Come now," says ADONAI, "let's talk this over together. Even if your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow; even if they are red as crimson, they will be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land;"  
Micah chapter 6:4-9  4 " I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I redeemed you from a life of slavery. I sent Moshe, Aharon and Miryam to lead you. 5 My people, just remember what Balak the king of Mo'av had planned, what Bil'am the son of B'or answered him, [and what happened] between Sheetim and Gilgal - so that you will understand the saving deeds of ADONAI." 6 "With what can I come before ADONAI to bow down before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings? with calves in their first year? 7 Would ADONAI take delight in thousands of rams with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Could I give my firstborn to pay for my crimes, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 8 Human being, you have already been told what is good, what ADONAI demands of you - no more than to act justly, love grace and walk in purity with your God. 9 The voice of ADONAI! He calls to the city - and it is wisdom to fear your name - "Listen to the rod and to him who commissioned it." 
Hoshea 14:3  "Take with you words, and return unto ADONAI; say unto Him: 'Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips." 
Psalm 51:17-19 " O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall declare Thy praise. 18 For Thou delightest not in sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering. 19 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." Psalm 116: 17-18  "I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. 18 I will pay my vows unto the LORD, yea, in the presence of all His people;"

Hence, the liturgical public prayer serves to carry on, in substitution, the tradition and practice of Temple worship and sacrifice. We can also see from looking at the above texts part of at least one of the major themes that runs through the liturgical service; namely, the retelling of our people's emancipation from slavery in Egypt by the finger of G-d, His mighty miracles, our worship, praise and sacrifice to Him, and the giving of the Torah on mount Sinai through His servant Moshe Rabbenu.   

Another theme worth mentioning here is that of Hashem's role as Creator of the Universe; He is L-rd over the Darkness and Creator of all light. All light includes; Light as the created thing that emanates from HaShem independent of the various sources mentioned next, the celestial bodies, the angelic beings, goodness, life, G-d in us, that the light which we see inside of our brains (truly light inside of darkness), divine revelation via the Prophets and the Torah, truth, and not least of all, The Mashiach.  

As touching upon the Mashiach, there is yet one more theme that I would like to bring out here; the restoration of Israel to primacy as the chief nation among nations,  (a goy gadol), with the Messiah ruling from Jerusalem and all the nations bringing sacrifices to him there. Furthermore, the temple and its function will once again be restored. The world and universe will be set in order by the will of Hashem; as we are informed in the Alenu prayer near the end of the liturgical service by the mystical and prophetic statement: " In that day the L-rd shall be King for ever and ever. " And it is said: " The L-rd shall be King over all the earth; on that day the L-rd shall be One and His name One." Exodus 15:18 and Zechariah 14:9

Finally,  a word about synagogue corporate worship of the Almighty. When we gather for worship, it is not a burden as some would assume; it is a time of rejoicing. Even though there may be sadness, tragedy, or loss in our life, there is also much good to be thankful for; i.e. the freedom to honor our G-d, the light and sustaining life of the universe. We enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise, we say that this is the day that the L-rd has made and we will rejoice because He has made us glad. Once we have begun this process of avodah, the community is no longer a bunch of individuals from differing places and seasons of life, but it becomes a royal priesthood that joins together with all Israel, the Patriarchs and the Heavenly beings in the worship and praise of the Everlasting Father, the King of the Universe, The Eternal our G-d ! Blessed be His name, Chi L'olam Chosdo - His Mercy is everlasting.
Psalm 100, Psalm 118:24

For a more complete history of our worship tradition please see: 

http://www.ijs.org.au/Synagogue-services/default.aspx

and following;

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/jewfaq/liturgy.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_prayer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_prayers_and_blessings

The Shabbat Shacrit Service Begins / Mah Tovu

The Shabbat Shacrit Service Begins / Mah Tovu

The following is taken from Wikipedia as it is clearly not affiliated with any particular synagogue or branch of Judaism and it is easily accessible as well. When possible I will choose text from this source as the Wikipedia people are least likely of all sources to take umbrage with my using their text and I for one am not interested in typing any more than I have to. 

Mah Tovu is the call to worship in many or most synagogues and it is pregnant with meaning. The first line is taken from the words of Balaam, a pagan prophet, who had been hired to curse Israel. But the 
G-d of Israel had other plans. Hashem showed the prophet that it was just as easy to put His words in the mouth of a stubborn Donkey, as it was to put them into the mouth of a stubborn prophet. So, the prophet Balaam could only utter blessings about Israel. Also, it speaks of a familiar theme in scripture and Judaism; the idea of how good it is to dwell in the house of Israel among our people, in the presence of the Eternal our G-d. 

The second line is translated thus on the Mechon-Mamre website and offers a more traditional understanding of the text:  "But as for me, in the abundance of Thy lovingkindness will I come into Thy house; I will bow down toward Thy holy temple in the fear of Thee." We see here that from the beginning of the liturgy the congregation is introduced to the idea of bowing before The Almighty King, The Eternal One in awe, if not in fear. Throughout the synagogue service it is customary in some schuls to bow each time one of the names or titles of Hashem are mentioned in the liturgy.

We come together in synagogue to seek G-d's blessing, to pray and to dwell in his lovingkindness.

Hebrew text

מה טבו אהליך יעקב, משכנותיך ישראל. (1 ^{Numbers 24:5}
ואני ברב חסדך אבוא ביתך אשתחוה אל היכל קדשך ביראתך. (2 ^{Psalms 5:7}
3) .ה׳ אהבתי מעון ביתך, ומקום משכן כבודך ^{Psalms 26:8}
ואני אשתחוה ואכרעה, אברכה לפני ה׳ עשי. (4 ^{Psalms 95:6 (adapted)}
5) .ואני, תפלתי לך ה׳, עת רצון, אלהים ברב חסדך, ענני באמת ישעך ^{Psalms 69:14}

Transliteration

Ma tovu ohalekha Ya'akov, mishk'notekha Yisra'el.
Va'ani b'rov hasd'kha, avo veytekha,
Eshtahaveh el heikhal kodsh'kha b'yir'atekha.
Adonai ahavti m'on beitekha, um-kom mishkan k'vodekha.
Va'ani eshtahave v'ekhra'a.
Evr'kha lifnei Adonai osi.
Va'ani t'filati l'kha Adonai et ratzon.
Elohim b'rov hasdekha aneini b'emet yish'ekha.

English translation

How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!
As for me, O God abounding in grace,
I enter your house to worship with awe in Your sacred place.
I love your house, Eternal One, the dwelling-place of Your glory;
humbly I worship You, humbly I seek blessing from God my Maker.
To You, Eternal One, goes my prayer: may this be a time of your favor.
In Your great love, O God, answer me with Your saving truth.

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