According to Dr. Danny
Ben-Gigi, a well known teacher of basic Hebrew in
Messianic Judaism, "The Rabbis tell us that within
the structure of formal prayer, individualized and
personal prayers should be added. The basic
principle behind Jewish prayer is that ... we can
sanctify the secular with prayer."M1 That
is we can make things holy or "set-apart" by prayer.
Dr. Ben-Gigi notes, "Until the Second Temple was
established, there were no fixed prayers and no set
times for prayer. Each person prayed when he or she
wanted, and the content was up to the individual: it
was an impulsive and spiritual response to
experience. Early in the Second Temple era, Ezra the
Scribe and the 120 Men of the Knesset Gdolah (Great
Assembly, circa 485 B.C.E.) first fixed the number
of daily services, created the general outline and
set times for prayer. It is said that the three
daily services reflect the times of day when
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob each prayed."M2
If you ever read through the Bible in a short time,
say a few weeks, you will notice a consistent theme
of prayer. The theme is that prayer is emphasized
two or three times a day.
To the right are some key prayers taken from Jewish
liturgy. The Jewish liturgy is taken from Dr.
Danni Ben-Gigi's book "First
Steps in Hebrew Prayer" which is an excellent
source for learning basic Jewish liturgy.
The links to the prayers are for congregational use.
They can be used for projecting the prayers on a
screen allowing viewers to pray along with the
worship leader in the Hebrew tongue using the
transliterations.
The prayers on this site have been edited replacing
"Hashem" the Holy name "Yahuah." The word,
"Hashem" is the generic way to refer to our Heavenly
Father and is used due to the school of thought that
the Holy name is not to be used. Also Rabbinic
rulings noted in the commentary portions that could
confuse those who are not familiar with the
scriptures are left out. |
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