I have to admit that I am often disappointed at daily synagogue services and sometimes even on Shabbos and holidays. My disappointment is based on the lack of standards for those who lead the services. To be sure, these standards exist and are codified but are rarely implemented. The only exceptions are in post-high school yeshivas and a few places like Breuer’s. I don’t need or want a cantorial davening, but at the very least the person leading services should know and understand what he is saying. That’s the sticking point.
If the person leading the service on a weekday, Shabbos or holiday understood the words in the siddur or machzor, the service would be very different. One cannot possibly appreciate the text by zipping through the words at breakneck speed. Worse still is the grumbling while the congregation respectfully waits for the rabbi to complete the Shema. Why is davening a race? I often tell the story of the loyal shul-going Jew who ultimately passes away and appears before God. He enters the Divine’s presence and finds himself facing God’s back (as it were). All he hears is a murmur. The murmuring gets louder as God faces this Jew. Finally he addresses God and says, “I cannot understand what You are saying to me.” God responds, “But this is how you have been addressing Me for eight decades!”
Speed davening is bad enough. Mispronouncing words is even worse. This is especially irksome when it is done by a young man who is currently studying in one of our day schools. I am all in favor of encouraging boys to lead services, but they should be able to read without making egregious errors. And why do they feel the need to fly through the words? Why don’t our schools teach students how to daven and what the prayers mean? They lead services in school, they daven twice a day. How much effort would it take to explain the siddur a little each day for 12 years? How impactful would it be to emphasize quality davening over speed?
Our suburban synagogues do not have to be like a beit midrash but there is a happy medium. Interestingly though, beit midrash or yeshivish styles of davening are becoming more popular in some communities. If we truly understand and appreciate that davening is not some rote exercise to be performed on a regular basis, but our attempt to communicate with the Almighty, that realization might just change our prayer service.
The siddur is the Jewish book with which we are most familiar but about which we know the least. I do not understand why it isn’t taught as a subject in our schools. There is enough material on every level to provide sufficient content from grades one through 12. We know that not every day school graduate will become a Talmud scholar. However, we expect that the majority will lead an observant lifestyle which includes davening and perhaps even leading the service. All the more reason to focus on this activity so that it is not an embarrassment to the entire Jewish educational enterprise.
Rabbi Dr. Wallace Greene is an eminent day school educator and consultant.
