Jerusalem
Why do we face Jerusalem when we pray?
The rock upon which Avraham bound Isaac is the foundation stone of the Temple at the heart of Jerusalem, Israel, and the People.
Synagogues are positioned so that we face Jerusalem during prayer, and have been built that way since the time of King Solomon.
The Gemara (Brachos 30a) reads:
Our Rabbis taught: A blind person and one who cannot determine towards which direction they are standing should intend their heart to their Father in Heaven as it says: (Kings One 8:44) ‘…and they pray to God.’
One standing outside of Israel should direct their heart toward Israel, as is says (ibid 8:48) ‘…and they pray toward their land.’
One standing in Israel should direct their heart toward Jerusalem, as it says: (ibid 8:44) ‘…and they pray toward the city You have chosen.’
One standing in Jerusalem directs his heart towards the Beis HaMikdash as it says: (Chronicles Two 6:32) ‘and they pray towards this House.’
One standing in the Beis HaMikdash directs his heart toward the house of the Holy of Holies, as it says: (Kings One 8:35) ‘…and they pray towards this Place.’
One standing in the House of the Holy of Holies directs his heart toward the Beis HaKapores (house of the Ark Cover).
One standing behind the Beis HaKapores should pretend they are standing in front of the Kapores (the Cover).
Thus we find one standing in the east faces west, in the west we face east, in the south we face north, and the north we face south.
We find therefore all of Israel directing their hearts to one place.
The teaching that we should face Jerusalem expresses an absolutely vital element of Jewish prayer, which in my opinion lies murmuring in every Jewish heart, but to the conscious Jewish mind has been all but forgotten.
The history that unites us and that still echoes within us is that we are one people, regardless of where we live and at some level, even regardless of how we live.
If we could just but do this one thing, I feel certain the Messianic age would be upon us - to pray in our minds for the welfare of every Jew, regardless of their affiliation. The Gemara teaches us that while in our Tefillin it is written "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One," in God's Tefillin it is written "Who is like thee, O Israel, one nation in the Land." And the Maharal explains that it is only fitting that the people who represent God embody this aspect of Godliness. As God is One, so too in reality the Jewish People are one, whether they like it or not.
History has shown this to us time and time again. We do not need to agree politically. But when we allow disunity to breach the essential identity of ourselves as a nation, we doom ourselves to be hated and at times, slaughtered by our enemies.
Jews are bound together at least by our enemies, to suffer the hysteria of the nations over our Book, and we are also bound together spiritually by that same Book, regardless of our reaction to it, because it is almost not possible not to have some reaction to it. Remember, even the wicked son at the Seder is still a Jew, we just warn him that his lifeboat might not weather the storm.
The covenant of Torah, which has given us our identify and sustained our genius as a people for over three thousand years, has succeeded in both missions even though for the last two thousand of those years Jews have risen and fallen like a cork on the waves of history.
We have survived with a vibrant sense of Jewish identity, even though for very long stretches we were kept from our rightful homeland by others who coveted it. Pretty powerful stuff. There are no historical accidents that would allow for the survival of such a people, if their story was not just as the Torah says:
It was not because you had greater numbers than all the other nations that God embraced you and chose you; you are among the smallest of all the nations.
It was because of God's love for you, and because He was keeping the oath that He made to your fathers. God therefore brought you out with a mighty hand, liberating you from the slave house, [and] from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
You must realise that God your Lord is the Supreme Being. He is the faithful God, who keeps in mind [His] covenant and love for a thousand generations when it comes to those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Let’s try and appreciate what the Gemara means by “we find all of Israel directing their heart to one place.” This place, the Temple Mount, is where God chooses to “make His Name rest there.” But this in an interesting notion, for if God is Omnipresent, what can we possibly mean by the Presence of God being in a “place?” If God is not bound by space, and is therefore equally everywhere, then it is meaningless to apply the notion of “place” to Him. In fact it’s absurd. And of course it would be, if the Torah meant that God’s essential Being was in a “place.” But the place of the Shechina, the Divine Presence, only implies that in this dimension this place is where He chooses to reveal Himself to us.
But still we might ask: if God is going to reveal Himself, why choose one spot over any other? In fact, would is not be best for us if we could see God everywhere? After all, God didn’t create the world to hide Himself from us. So we must remember that when Adam and Eve hid from God after the original sin, and pretended that they didn’t sin, from that point on we as a species became “it” in a cosmic game of hide-and-seek.
God came to Adam and Eve and asked if they ate from the tree. He passed it off on her, she passed it off on the snake and God says: “Now you’re all it.” Cursed. Since we refused to face God, He turned away and now we can’t find Him so easily. The only way out of the cursedness is to bring the world back to blessing, which is the vocation of Avraham, Sarah, and their descendants:
All the nations of the world shall be blessed through your descendants - all because you obeyed My voice.
God loved Avraham because he brought up his children to go in the way of God doing tzedek and mishpat, righteousness and law.
The residence of that righteous Law is the Temple in Jerusalem. In the “Holy of Holies” room of the Temple dwelled the Ark of the Covenant (thank you for the visuals, Mr. Speilberg), which held the Ten Commandments (both sets) and the Torah that Moshe himself wrote.
At the entrance to the Temple sat the Sanhedrin, the high court of Torah legislation and adjudication. To this court would come cases that could not be resolved by the lower local or state courts. Today of this great Temple we have but one wall of the compound still standing, even though those who put their Mosque there did so with the intent of usurping our Holy Place, as is their way. And even though we are a sovereign state, we for some reason feel less empowered than the Afghanis who destroyed two ancient Buddas to dismantle their dome and put the Temple back where it belongs.
But perhaps we don’t need to do anything just yet, because we’ve already been doing something with our minds, for the past two millennium, at least. Let’s examine how this Gemara is brought in the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law.
When he stands to pray (the Shemonah Essray), if he was standing outside the Land, he turns his face towards the Land of Israel and intent also towards Jerusalem and the Sanctuary and the House of the Holy of Holies.
If he was standing in Israel, he turns his face towards Jerusalem and intends also to the Sanctuary and the House of the Holy of Holies.
If he was standing in Jerusalem he turns his face to the Sanctuary and intends also to the House of the Holy of Holies. If he was standing after the Kapores, he turns his face toward the Kapores.
The Mishna Brurah points out there that the halacha means to say we use our imagination to see ourselves as if we are standing before the Holy of Holies, ignoring whatever seems to be the reality on the ground. But still it seems as if the law is phrased in some kind of secret code. Why does it repeat so much? If he is standing etc. Just say “imagine you’re standing in front of the Temple” and be done with it. It’s almost as if the closer we are in actuality to the Temple, that we have a different reality to our imaginings. Some say that the third (and final) Temple will come down from the sky, already built. Perhaps even as we’ve been bringing ourselves closer to real sovereignty over Jerusalem these past forty plus years on the ground is because we’ve been building that Third Temple in the sky for the past 2000 years with our minds in tefila. Perhaps perhaps... but who can know the ways of the Almighty?
In any event, this halacha is a great tool to help our kavana. It helps your imagination of course if you’ve seen pictures or models of the Temple, and it helps much more if you learn the Talmudic tractates that describe the Temple and the services therein. But even if all we’ve seen is “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” we can get some sense of the power that is at the heart of Jerusalem.
To sum up: Jerusalem is literally the heart of the Jewish People, as it is where we have together been concentrating our prayers, as one people, for the past 2500 years.
The rock upon which Avraham bound Isaac is the foundation stone of the Temple at the heart of Jerusalem, Israel, and the People.
Synagogues are positioned so that we face Jerusalem during prayer, and have been built that way since the time of King Solomon.
The Gemara (Brachos 30a) reads:
Our Rabbis taught: A blind person and one who cannot determine towards which direction they are standing should intend their heart to their Father in Heaven as it says: (Kings One 8:44) ‘…and they pray to God.’
One standing outside of Israel should direct their heart toward Israel, as is says (ibid 8:48) ‘…and they pray toward their land.’
One standing in Israel should direct their heart toward Jerusalem, as it says: (ibid 8:44) ‘…and they pray toward the city You have chosen.’
One standing in Jerusalem directs his heart towards the Beis HaMikdash as it says: (Chronicles Two 6:32) ‘and they pray towards this House.’
One standing in the Beis HaMikdash directs his heart toward the house of the Holy of Holies, as it says: (Kings One 8:35) ‘…and they pray towards this Place.’
One standing in the House of the Holy of Holies directs his heart toward the Beis HaKapores (house of the Ark Cover).
One standing behind the Beis HaKapores should pretend they are standing in front of the Kapores (the Cover).
Thus we find one standing in the east faces west, in the west we face east, in the south we face north, and the north we face south.
We find therefore all of Israel directing their hearts to one place.
The teaching that we should face Jerusalem expresses an absolutely vital element of Jewish prayer, which in my opinion lies murmuring in every Jewish heart, but to the conscious Jewish mind has been all but forgotten.
The history that unites us and that still echoes within us is that we are one people, regardless of where we live and at some level, even regardless of how we live.
If we could just but do this one thing, I feel certain the Messianic age would be upon us - to pray in our minds for the welfare of every Jew, regardless of their affiliation. The Gemara teaches us that while in our Tefillin it is written "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One," in God's Tefillin it is written "Who is like thee, O Israel, one nation in the Land." And the Maharal explains that it is only fitting that the people who represent God embody this aspect of Godliness. As God is One, so too in reality the Jewish People are one, whether they like it or not.
History has shown this to us time and time again. We do not need to agree politically. But when we allow disunity to breach the essential identity of ourselves as a nation, we doom ourselves to be hated and at times, slaughtered by our enemies.
Jews are bound together at least by our enemies, to suffer the hysteria of the nations over our Book, and we are also bound together spiritually by that same Book, regardless of our reaction to it, because it is almost not possible not to have some reaction to it. Remember, even the wicked son at the Seder is still a Jew, we just warn him that his lifeboat might not weather the storm.
The covenant of Torah, which has given us our identify and sustained our genius as a people for over three thousand years, has succeeded in both missions even though for the last two thousand of those years Jews have risen and fallen like a cork on the waves of history.
We have survived with a vibrant sense of Jewish identity, even though for very long stretches we were kept from our rightful homeland by others who coveted it. Pretty powerful stuff. There are no historical accidents that would allow for the survival of such a people, if their story was not just as the Torah says:
It was not because you had greater numbers than all the other nations that God embraced you and chose you; you are among the smallest of all the nations.
It was because of God's love for you, and because He was keeping the oath that He made to your fathers. God therefore brought you out with a mighty hand, liberating you from the slave house, [and] from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
You must realise that God your Lord is the Supreme Being. He is the faithful God, who keeps in mind [His] covenant and love for a thousand generations when it comes to those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Let’s try and appreciate what the Gemara means by “we find all of Israel directing their heart to one place.” This place, the Temple Mount, is where God chooses to “make His Name rest there.” But this in an interesting notion, for if God is Omnipresent, what can we possibly mean by the Presence of God being in a “place?” If God is not bound by space, and is therefore equally everywhere, then it is meaningless to apply the notion of “place” to Him. In fact it’s absurd. And of course it would be, if the Torah meant that God’s essential Being was in a “place.” But the place of the Shechina, the Divine Presence, only implies that in this dimension this place is where He chooses to reveal Himself to us.
But still we might ask: if God is going to reveal Himself, why choose one spot over any other? In fact, would is not be best for us if we could see God everywhere? After all, God didn’t create the world to hide Himself from us. So we must remember that when Adam and Eve hid from God after the original sin, and pretended that they didn’t sin, from that point on we as a species became “it” in a cosmic game of hide-and-seek.
God came to Adam and Eve and asked if they ate from the tree. He passed it off on her, she passed it off on the snake and God says: “Now you’re all it.” Cursed. Since we refused to face God, He turned away and now we can’t find Him so easily. The only way out of the cursedness is to bring the world back to blessing, which is the vocation of Avraham, Sarah, and their descendants:
All the nations of the world shall be blessed through your descendants - all because you obeyed My voice.
God loved Avraham because he brought up his children to go in the way of God doing tzedek and mishpat, righteousness and law.
The residence of that righteous Law is the Temple in Jerusalem. In the “Holy of Holies” room of the Temple dwelled the Ark of the Covenant (thank you for the visuals, Mr. Speilberg), which held the Ten Commandments (both sets) and the Torah that Moshe himself wrote.
At the entrance to the Temple sat the Sanhedrin, the high court of Torah legislation and adjudication. To this court would come cases that could not be resolved by the lower local or state courts. Today of this great Temple we have but one wall of the compound still standing, even though those who put their Mosque there did so with the intent of usurping our Holy Place, as is their way. And even though we are a sovereign state, we for some reason feel less empowered than the Afghanis who destroyed two ancient Buddas to dismantle their dome and put the Temple back where it belongs.
But perhaps we don’t need to do anything just yet, because we’ve already been doing something with our minds, for the past two millennium, at least. Let’s examine how this Gemara is brought in the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law.
When he stands to pray (the Shemonah Essray), if he was standing outside the Land, he turns his face towards the Land of Israel and intent also towards Jerusalem and the Sanctuary and the House of the Holy of Holies.
If he was standing in Israel, he turns his face towards Jerusalem and intends also to the Sanctuary and the House of the Holy of Holies.
If he was standing in Jerusalem he turns his face to the Sanctuary and intends also to the House of the Holy of Holies. If he was standing after the Kapores, he turns his face toward the Kapores.
The Mishna Brurah points out there that the halacha means to say we use our imagination to see ourselves as if we are standing before the Holy of Holies, ignoring whatever seems to be the reality on the ground. But still it seems as if the law is phrased in some kind of secret code. Why does it repeat so much? If he is standing etc. Just say “imagine you’re standing in front of the Temple” and be done with it. It’s almost as if the closer we are in actuality to the Temple, that we have a different reality to our imaginings. Some say that the third (and final) Temple will come down from the sky, already built. Perhaps even as we’ve been bringing ourselves closer to real sovereignty over Jerusalem these past forty plus years on the ground is because we’ve been building that Third Temple in the sky for the past 2000 years with our minds in tefila. Perhaps perhaps... but who can know the ways of the Almighty?
In any event, this halacha is a great tool to help our kavana. It helps your imagination of course if you’ve seen pictures or models of the Temple, and it helps much more if you learn the Talmudic tractates that describe the Temple and the services therein. But even if all we’ve seen is “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” we can get some sense of the power that is at the heart of Jerusalem.
To sum up: Jerusalem is literally the heart of the Jewish People, as it is where we have together been concentrating our prayers, as one people, for the past 2500 years.