Before we proceed to describe the details of our [[428]]ritual, we mention one important point in which the present Synagogal Service differs from the ancient Service in the Temple. From what we are told in the Scriptures and in the Talmud, we learn that instrumental music was an essential element in the Service, and that King David and his successors paid great attention to it, whilst, with a few exceptions, it is almost entirely absent from our Synagogues. The principal reason why instrumental music is excluded from the Synagogue is its prohibition on Sabbaths and Holy-days by Rabbinical law (Babyl. T., Erubin 104a). This prohibition, like many other enactments, did not apply to the Temple Service; for the sacrificial laws had to be obeyed, irrespective of the fact that they involved acts which, if performed apart from the Temple Service, would constitute a breach of the Sabbath laws. Apart from the Temple Service the Sabbath laws remained in full force for the priests as well as for the general public.
There were also other considerations that helped to keep instrumental music out of the Synagogue Service. Its absence, though not directly a sign of mourning, served to preserve the memory of the destruction of the Temple, and to strengthen our longing for its restoration. It is also urged that the introduction of instrumental music into the Service would not satisfy any real want of Jewish worshippers, but would merely be a concession to the desire to assimilate our Divine Service to that of our non-Jewish neighbours, contrary to the prohibition of chukkoth haggoyim contained in the words, “Ye shall not walk in their statutes” (Lev. xviii. 3), i.e., in the statutes of the Gentiles. But, on [[429]]the other hand, it has been argued that the feeling once expressed by the nation in the words “This is my God, and I will worship him in a beautiful manner” (Exod. xv. 2), still animates us. It is said that it is our duty to make our Service as beautiful and as attractive as possible. This argument deserves consideration, and might even outweigh some of the above-mentioned arguments against the introduction of music into our Service, if we were sure of the result of such introduction. But this is by no means the case, for the experiment, where tried, has not been successful if judged by the most practical test. The number of worshippers has not been increased, and discontent has not been removed. Whether the devotion of the worshippers has been improved, refined, or intensified by music is a question that cannot be answered with certainty. Even if the answer were satisfactory, it could only apply to the introduction of instrumental music into our Service on week-days, on Friday evening before the commencement of Sabbath, but not on Sabbaths and Holy-days.
The Ritual.
In the Bible there is no indication of a fixed ritual; there are, however, a few instances of forms of prayer prescribed for certain occasions. There is the priests’ blessing (Num. vi. 24–26); the thanksgiving on bringing the first-fruit offering to the Temple (Deut. xxvi. 3–10); prayer on distributing the tithes which accumulated in three years (ibid. 13–15). David (Ps. lv. 18) says, “Evening, and morning, and at [[430]]noonday do I pray;” Daniel “kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime” (Dan. vi. 11); but nothing is said about the form and the contents of these prayers. The Mishnah first speaks of certain fixed forms of prayer: the “Eighteen” (שמונה עשרה), the reading of Shema (קריאת שמע), and Benedictions (ברכות). The composition of the tefillah, “Prayer” par excellence, is attributed to the Men of the Great Synagogue (אנשי כנסת הגדולה), but only in its outlines. The number of the paragraphs, the theme of each paragraph, and the formula by which it is concluded may then have been fixed, the rest being left to be filled up by each supplicant according to his capacity. It was but natural that prayers uttered repeatedly by men eminent for their piety should be eagerly copied by others, and gradually become, to some extent at least, fixed forms of prayer. The tefillah, however, in the time of the Mishnah was by no means identical with the tefillah of the Men of the Great Synagogue. The destruction of the Temple necessitated several changes; e.g., the prayers for the welfare of Jerusalem, for the prosperity of Israel and of the Holy Land, and for the acceptance of the Service in the Temple were altered in accordance with the new state of affairs.
The Mishnah speaks of the tefillah as a well-known existing institution; it seems that it was the regular prayer in the Synagogue Service, and the discussion whether the tefillah should be repeated every day in extenso or in an abbreviated form (Mishnah, Berachoth iv. 3) refers probably to the prayer recited privatim (תפלת יחיד), and not to the Service in the Synagogue. [[431]]The prescribed “Eighteen Blessings” were the framework, into which each man was expected to fit in his peculiar, individual supplications; whilst in the public Service the tefillah remained uniform. In the days of Rabban Gamliel of Jamnia, and with his sanction, an important addition was made by Samuel: a prayer for the discomfiture of those who by slander, denunciation, or other wicked means attempt to undermine the existence of the Jewish religion and community (ברכת הצדוקים or ברכת המינים).[120] In some congregations two other paragraphs (את צמח and ולירושלם) were at the same time combined into one, in order to keep to the traditional “Eighteen Blessings.”[121]
The reading of shema in the evening and in the morning, the three sections constituting the shema, and the order of these sections, are assumed in the Mishnah as fully established by law and usage. Only a few regulations are discussed concerning the time and the mode of the reading. There was this difference between the custom of the Babylonian Jews and that of their brethren in Palestine, that the latter omitted in the evening the passage referring to tsitsith. Later on, however, the Palestine Jews conformed to the Babylonian custom. Suggestions have been made [[432]]to substitute other Biblical passages for shema, but they have been rejected. Several attempts have been made to introduce, as an addition to the three sections of shema, the reading of the Decalogue; the addition was disallowed, lest people should be misled to think that the Ten Commandments alone were to be observed, and that the other laws were not binding (Babyl. T., Berachoth 12a).[122]
The Benedictions which precede and follow the reading of shema were fixed in the time of the Mishnah as regards number, order, and form; but the contents were left unsettled for some time (Mishnah, Berachoth i. 4); in the Gemara their wording is still a subject for discussion. The same can be said with regard to the relative order of shema and tefillah. For the Evening Service the tefillah seems to have generally been considered as optional. As to Benedictions in general, their obligatory character is assumed in the Mishnah as admitted by all, and only their form seems to have been fixed by the regulations mentioned in Berachoth vi.–ix.
The Mishnah (Megillah iii. 4–iv. 10) includes a number of regulations concerning the reading of the Law, the Prophets, and the Book of Esther. Detailed rules were laid down for the reader and the translator (methurgeman), pointing out which passages should be omitted in the translation, and which should be omitted [[433]]even in the original. It seems that there was a regular, consecutive reading, which was interrupted on extraordinary days by the reading of passages referring to these days.
The ritual which was adopted for the priests in the Temple was an abridged form of the ritual then in general use. It was as follows: They commenced with a benediction—the first of those which precede the shema (יוצר אור); then they read the Decalogue, shema (the three paragraphs), and three further benedictions, אמת ויציב, עבודה (corresponding to רצה in our prayer), and the blessing of the priests (Mishnah, Tamid v. 1).
A special ritual is also mentioned in the Talmud (Mishnah, Taanith iv. 2) for the Maamadoth and the Fast-days.[123] There were four Services daily, as on the Day of Atonement. The principal feature in the Service of the Maamadoth was the reading of the first chapter of Genesis.