JEWISH PRAYER: Why Do Jews Repeat the Same Prayers Three Times A Day? with Rabbi Yisroel Blumenthal

Duration: 7:20 1098 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

The video explores the common perception that prayer is primarily an outpouring of personal emotions such as gratitude, helplessness, or joy, suggesting that sincerity is measured by the intensity of these feelings. However, Rabbi Yisroel Blumenthal challenges this view by explaining that the Jewish practice of reciting the same set of words three times a day serves a different purpose. The core reason for this repetition is that Jews relate to God on two distinct levels: as individuals and as a nation. While personal prayers allow for individual emotional expression, the three daily prayers function as national expressions of submission to God. In this context, the goal is not to express fleeting personal emotions but to embody the collective emotions of the Jewish people throughout history, praying the same words that one's ancestors recited and ensuring future generations will continue to do so. The Rabbi illustrates this concept with an anecdote about a non-Orthodox observer who found the repetitive nature of the daily prayers to be mechanical and lacking sincerity. The Rabbi counters this by arguing that true prayer begins with the fundamental acknowledgment that God is the King and the individual is merely a servant. If a person pours out only their own emotions without recognizing God's sovereignty, they risk reversing the relationship, effectively making themselves the king and God the subject. Therefore, following the established liturgy ensures that the worshiper connects with the primary truth of prayer—that God is in charge—regardless of whether intense emotional outbursts occur. The structure of the prayers guarantees that the essential message of submission is conveyed, even if personal feelings are not fully articulated at that moment. For those seeking a deeper, meditative connection to the divine, the repetition of fixed words serves as a powerful tool rather than a hindrance. The Rabbi explains that emotions and specific word choices are not the deepest parts of a person's being; instead, there is a quiet, still core within the soul that connects most profoundly with God. By using the same words repeatedly, individuals can align their thoughts and feelings until they reach a state of stillness. This alignment allows their energy to flow directly toward God without the distraction of searching for new phrases or managing volatile emotions. Thus, the recitation of identical prayers acts as a vehicle that facilitates a deep, sincere, and true connection with the divine on a spiritual level, proving that consistency in worship is not contradictory to genuine devotion.

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[music] >> We tend to think of prayer as an outpouring of emotion, perhaps an emotion of thanks, an emotion of feeling helpless before God, joy, pain, bringing out my emotion in words before God. That's what we think about prayer. And the more emotion I'm able to pour into the prayer, the more sincere my prayer is, the more real it is. So, what's this business that in Judaism we have reciting the same set of words three times a day, every day, day in day out. We have three daily prayers that we say the same words, the morning, the afternoon, the evening, that tomorrow, the next day, we do the same thing, and the day after we do the same thing. Where's the emotion? Where's the sincerity? Where's the the truth in that prayer? I will give the primary answer first. The primary answer to this question is simply because as Jews we relate to God on two different levels. On the one hand, we each one of us has an individual personal relationship with God. That's one aspect of our relationship with God. On the other hand, there's another aspect of our relationship with God, and that is as a nation before God. We interact with God and we pray to God and we serve God as not as individuals, but as members of a nation. We do both at the same time. So, the three daily prayers are not our individual expression of subservient or submis- subservience or submission to God, rather it's the national subservience to God. And when you're talking about the national subservience to God, the national submission to God, you have to bring out not your personal emotions, but the emotions of the nation. You have to pray the same prayer that your father prayed before you, that your grandfather prayed before you, and that your grandchildren will be praying after you. You have to pray the same prayer that all the Jews around the world are praying at the same time, because this is the nation's prayer. And our job and our work, when we pray those three prayers, is to identify with those emotions and make those emotions part of ourself. And that's the primary reason that we have these three prayers, because they are national expressions of submission to God. They're not your individual expressions of submission to God. And indeed, we are encouraged to pray our own personal prayers in which we pour out our own emotion to God at our own time. That's not the three daily prayers. That's not the function of the three daily prayers. There are two other answers to this question, two other points that I would like to bring out. I had a actually a a situation where I was having a conversation with a fellow who doesn't belong to the Orthodox Jewish community. In fact, he doesn't belong to the Jewish community altogether. He comes from a different religious background. And in his background, in his religious background, prayer is all about spontaneous emotion. And he came together with me and we were having a talk. And in the place we're having a talk, a afternoon prayer session was taking place. And he watched how the men were praying. This was not a place which is uh very intense religiosity. It was a simple prayer of of maybe 15 people coming together at a quiet Amidah, a quiet meditative prayer. And then the leader of the congregation s- said the prayer out loud, and there were the responses. And he told me after he watched this, he said, "This looks very mechanical to me. This doesn't look sincere. Where's the truth? Where's the outpouring of emotion?" So, I told him like this. I told him, "You know, it's beautiful when you have an outpouring of an emotion and sincerity and crying and and just feeling overflowing. That's beautiful. But if a person goes into such a prayer session, and he didn't come into contact with the idea, he didn't come face-to-face with the idea that God is the king, he's the boss, and I am a servant, then he didn't pray. No matter how much emotion there was and how much crying there was, that's not prayer. The first foundation of prayer is the acknowledgement that God is the boss. So, someone comes to a synagogue, a place of worship, and he follows the rules, he he does what is considered appropriate in this place in reverence towards the God of this place, then he got the message. He got the message, maybe he didn't do the other aspects of prayer, the the feeling and emotion, and yes, he should have. It should have been part of it, but at least he came into contact with the primary idea of prayer, which is God is the king, I am his subject. And if a person comes to a place, and all he does is pour out his own emotions, and he didn't come into contact with the idea that God is the king and I'm a subject, then he missed the boat. Because it could end up being that God is the subject and you're the king. God Prayer to some people is all about getting God to do what I want. That's missing the boat on prayer. That's the second thought when we look at the three daily prayers. And the third thought is relevant to people who are more meditative and want to get to the core and the heart of prayer. The truth is the heart of prayer is even the emotional prayer, forget about even the even your personal relationship with God, is a deep connection to God on a soul level, on a level of your spirit, the deepest part inside of you. If you're going to be spending your energy focusing on what words to say, emotions Emotions are not the deepest part of yourself. There's a deeper part of yourself that's quiet, that's still. If everything is lined up, all the emotions are lined up, and all the words are lined up, then your energy can be focused on the still, silent part of yourself, and that can flow towards God. So, as a meditative exercise, having the same words again and again is not a contradiction to connecting to God on the deepest level. On the contrary, it's actually a vehicle. It's It's a method of connecting to God on a deep and sincere and true level. >> [music] [music]