Why fixed prayers? To learn what we should value, what we
should pray for. To be at one with our people, the household of Israel. To
ensure that the ideals painfully learned and purified, and for which many have
lived and died, shall not perish from the community and shall have a saving
influence upon the individual.
Rabbi
Chaim Stern
Periodically I get asked: “Why come to services when I can
pray/meditate/think better when I’m alone in nature?” It is a serious question
that deserves a serious answer.
As much as Judaism is about ethics, learning, prayer, and
God (however you do or do not believe), Judaism is about community. Each week
as I look around the chapel or sanctuary, while some are there to find a
spiritual, prayerful space, everyone is there to be a part of our Congregation
Albert and/or a Jewish community. That sense of being part of a living, growing
community is often missing from our lives. We may have 1000 Facebook friends or
followers of our Twitter feed, but to be fully human we need to be in the
presence of others to truly feel community.
I am an introvert by nature. At an oneg or a party my
preference is to be with 1 or 2 people and avoid the crowd. At a service my
preference is to sit alone or with Michele to pray. Yet, I still feel that
sense of being part of a community that is larger than me and it brings me
comfort and strength. As I look around the congregation at each service I see
people like me who may only talk to 1 or 2 people or no one.
Then there are the extroverts who revel in being an active
part of the community, talking to everyone, needing a sense of closeness to
others. Communal prayer and the oneg/Kiddush afterward provides that for them.
It grows their spirituality and sense of safety and comfort. As I look around
the congregation at each service I see these people too.
How do you meet your need to be a part of a community? Each
person at services is fulfilling her/his need to be part of a community in
her/his own way. Come join us and see.
