Services and Prayer at The Beis Medrash

The Chasidic View of Prayer

A wholesome and relevant prayer experience is crucial for us as Jews and as a Jewish people, and yet prayer has become either unfashionable or a lost art.

Prayer, termed “Service of the Heart”, at once both intimate or personal, and yet public and communal, has always been a key pillar of the Chasidic world.

As with the role and focus of the Rabbi versus that of The Rebbe, and the differences between a regular synagogue and a Rebbe’s Beis Medrash, so too there are also significant differences between the traditional and the Chasidic view of prayer and services.

One time the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples chanced upon an abandoned synagogue as the time for Minchah prayer arrived, and they decided to pray there. The disciples opened the door and stood aside to allow their master to be the first to enter.

The holy Baal Shem Tov was about to step into the shul when he stopped and would not cross the threshold. The perplexed chasidim summoned up the courage to ask why, and the Baal Shem Tov replied “I can’t go in because there is no room for us – it is too crowded.”

Seeing their astonishment, since the shul was of course empty, he explained: “A prayer, when uttered sincerely and wholeheartedly, sprouts wings and soars upwards to the Throne of Glory. But those who once prayed here had no kavonoh, their prayers had no wings and thus collapsed and fell upon one another. The shul is now densely packed with dead, wingless prayers.”

The Elements of Prayer

In the modern world it is a rare individual who can free his or her soul in prayer, as we have largely lost the capacity to pray. The essence of prayer is a ladder which leads from earth to heaven, standing in G-d’s presence and in direct communication with the Almighty. Chasidic services take a very thoughtful approach to prayer, emphasizing saying the words with great kavvonoh (focus or intent), praying with fervor and enthusiasm, concentration and mystical absorption in the prayer, ecstacy and joy, movement, and dveikus, the blissful experience of transcendental union with G-d.

The Baal Shem Tov taught that the value of prayer is not contained just in the literal meaning of the words, but also in the secret, hidden meanings and kavonos encoded in every single word. Indeed, according to Kabbalah, the primary element of the prayers is these esoteric formulas, or kavonos, and the secrets that the person praying must think of, each at his or her own level.

Chasidim also recognize that one cannot simply walk into a synagogue and immediately pray, any more than a painter can take out his brushes and paint without thought or preparation. One must focus, concentrate, and “get into the mood and spirit.” For this reason, and so as not to disturb the nature and flow of the prayers and service, Chasidic services do not interrupt for announcements or sermons, much less for conversation.

Chasidic philosophy also opposes the static nature of services, where prayers become routine or monotonous, and are seen as repetitive and burdensome. By focusing on kavvonah and deveikus, paying attention to the words (whether or not one understands their full meaning and kavvonos) and yet rising above them to keep in mind what and before whom one is praying, the Chasidic service becomes a vibrant and renewing experience.

The Niggun

Indeed, that is one reason why there is such an appreciation for losing oneself in the traditional nigun. Nigunim, worldless chants or melodies, are an inseparable part of Chasidic prayer. Many of the nigunim used at the Beis Medrash date back hundreds of years and have been passed down to the Rebbe through the generations from his ancestors, the Baal Shem Tov, R’ Aharon (HaGodol) of Karlin, R’ Boruch’l (HaKodosh) of Mezbuz, R’ Yichel Michel of Zlotschov, and others.

The nigun also allows anyone and everyone to participate together – from the tzadik or Rebbe, to the child (or even the adult) who does not even know how to read, but can nevertheless join in singing, that is praying, a tune or nigun with holy antecedents.

Indeed, historically the Rebbes would lead prayers on Shabbos and Yom Tov, and expecially on Rosh Hashonoh and Yom Kippur, not just because the congregation wished to have as their emissary before G-d the purest or holiest spokesman, but also because the Rebbe’s prayer was often emotional and moving, and allowed the congregation the emotional gratification of more closely joining with their Rebbe and their fellow Jews in song and prayer.

The Chasidic approach to the institution of prayer liberates the spiritual life rather than confining it to a frozen rote structure, and Chasidic philosophy believes that prayer can actually change the very course of nature

Unlike the standard synagogue, where the rabbi and cantor risk becoming performers for a congregational audience, traditional Chasidic services attempt to unite everyone together to pray as active participants.

Attending services is not praying. Instead of simply watching or reading, active verbal participation, vigorously answering Amen, and even physical involvement through swaying back and forth, clapping, singing, and even dancing (simply linking hands in a circle around the table or Bimah), is encouraged.

Like a person playing a musical instrument very beautifully, which inspired people to dance in joy, those at a distance who cannot hear it simply see enthusiastic people making fools of themselves and cannot understand what is going on, until they come closer and are drawn into the music, the joy, the nigunim and dancing, and the prayer, themselves.

The Siddur and Pronunciation Services at the Beis Medrash use the traditional age-old Ashkenazic pronunciation, and strongly resist using the Sephardic pronunciation of conversational Hebrew language. Not only does this distinguish between the everyday use of Ivrit or Hebrew as a common language on the one hand, versus Loshon Kodosh or “the Holy Language” in which we pray on the other hand, but it is also in keeping with halachic rulings of our sages that one should scrupulously maintain and follow the customs and traditions of our Ashkenazic ancestors.

The Beis Medrash siddur itself is also of Ashkenazic origin, modified to Nusach Sfard -- not Sfard, which is for Sephardic Jews, but Nusach Sfard, which is Ashkenazic but incorporates parts of all the different versions (nuschaos) of the Jewish prayer service in order to make it universal and inclusive of all Jews.

R’ Boruch’l of Mezbuz, the Baal Shem Tov’s grandson and progenitor of the Mezbuz Beis Medrash, explained that there were thirteen gates in the Beis Hamikdosh (Temple) both on earth and in Heaven – twelve gates corresponding to a gate for each tribe, and a thirteenth for those who did not know their tribe. The prayers of each Jew enters into Heaven through each of these respective gates. For those who did not know their tribe or particular prayer nusach, a siddur was compiled combining each nusach, and thus in these times, where the tribes are unknown, this nusach, and this Siddur, is appropriate for every person.

The traditions of pronunciation, nusach, and nigunim are zealously guarded at the Beis Medrash to maintain the authenticity and efficacy of the prayers and the service. It is for these reasons that a casual first-time guest or visitor is usually not called upon to act as Sholiach Tzibur leading the congregation in prayer, until he has at least a passing familiarity with the traditional Chasidic nusach and nigunim, if not the specific customs and nigunim of The Zvhil - Mezbuz Beis Medrash.

Shabbos at The Beis Medrash

Shabbos morning at the Beis Medrash traditionally concludes with a more relaxed and social gathering upstairs, where, following the rousing Mezbuz nigun, The Rebbe says Kiddush, the mezonos blessing, distributes cake, and then gives a brief D’var Torah.

This “middle” of the three Shabbos services is surrounded by the more solemn and holy Friday evening service greeting the holiness of Shabbos, and, following Minchah, the holiest mystical final Sholosh Seudos (third meal) at sundown on Saturday as Shabbos departs.

Friday evening services conclude with the singing of Sholom Aleichem (welcoming the angels) as The Rebbe makes one circuit around the shul wordlessly greeting each person. Sholosh Seudos, which is eaten in silence as The Rebbe focuses on kavvonos and meticulously following the 200-year-old mystical procedures passed down to him from his ancestor The Baal Shem Tov, concludes with the holy Zlotschover nigun, originally sung at the deathbed of the Baal Shem Tov.