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An ignorant villager, knowing that it was a mitzvah to feast well before Yom Kippur, drank himself into such a stupor that he missed Kol Nidre services.   When he awoke late at night, he wanted to pray, but he didn't know any of the prayers by heart.   So he began to recite the alphabet over and over again.

"Dear God!" he cried.   "I am giving You all the letters.   You arrange them in the right order!"

The next day he went to the Kotsker Rebbe's shul for services.   As soon as the Neilah was over, the Kotsker summonned him to explain his absence at Kol Nidre the night before.

"Holy master!" he cried.   "So eager was I to welcome the holy day with joy that I overdid it a bit and slept through the service.   When I awoke late last night, I tried to pray, but I did not know the proper words.   For, you see, all I know by heart is the aleph-bet.   So I just recited the letters and asked God to make words out of them. Were my prayers acceptable?"

The Kotsker smiled.   "More acceptable than mine," he said, "for you spoke them with your whole heart."

Following the Service

The Synagogue Survival Kit is an orientation to Jewish synagogue services that can serve as a roadmap for you.   No matter what kind of synagogue you attend, the roadmap is the same.   Less traditional synagogues may read some prayers in English translation rather than the original Hebrew, may replace some traditional prayers with newer versions, and may even omit some prayers; but the service will still touch upon the same topics in the same order for the same reasons.   So if you know the structure of the traditional service, you can readily find your place in any other service.

The converse is not true.   The translations, replacements, and deletions made by one synagogue may be different than those made by another.   Knowing one procedure does not prevent confusion when encountering another, because the underlying structure common to them both might not be obvious.   The Synagogue Survival Kit maps the complete traditional structure, observable in practice at orthodox synagogues, and also points out the differences commonly encountered in other synagogues.   This will be the most useful method for most readers to become comfortable following a service and appreciating its various components, even if they don't ordinarily attend an orthodox synagogue.

To really be comfortable at a service, you'll need to recognize the "signposts" as they pass.   Since the Bible says that the language of the divine revelation at Sinai was Hebrew, Hebrew has been regarded as a holy language in Jewish Tradition.   Therefore, most of the traditional liturgy is in Hebrew.   According to Tradition, when praying in Hebrew, one need not understand every word as long as there is proper intent.   Furthermore, the common use of Hebrew in liturgy and religious discourse has bound Jews together even as we have been dispersed around the globe.

Unfortunately, Hebrew represents a significant obstacle for many.   Although personal prayers can be made in any language, congregational prayer is mostly in Hebrew.   The Synagogue Survival Kit does not presume that the reader knows any Hebrew.   You can borrow a traditional prayerbook from a synagogue and study it using this book.   (Nearly all American synagogues use prayerbooks that include English translation.)   For that purpose, this book has cross-references to page numbers in the most commonly used prayerbooks.   If you do not know the Hebrew alphabet, transliterations of the prayers are available.   Transliteration means that the Hebrew sounds are written using the English alphabet.   This will enable you to follow along with a traditional service. (Click here for a free Transliterated Siddur.)

Once you are comfortable following the structure of the service, you may want to participate.   The liturgy is quite long, and this might make it seem like there is too much to learn.   Don't worry about it.   Pick one or two tunes that you really like, and just enjoy those.

Although it might seem as though a melody constitutes additional information to memorize, it is actually easier to learn prayers with a melody than without.   Some prayers will take many hearings before you can sing the words and melody.   But others are simple because of their responsive and repetitive nature.   They can all be initially approached the way a singer learns any piece of music in a foreign language.

Most of the prayerbooks that you'll find in American synagogues include English translations.   Occasionally, a translation is great in its own right.   But the translations never capture the beautiful rhythms, imagery, ambiguity, compactness of ideas, and rhyme of the original Hebrew.   By experiencing the rhythms of the original language while singing the melodies, one gets a feeling not fully discernable when reading the English.   This is true even if one doesn't understand the Hebrew that one is singing!

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