The Talmud teaches that “A person should not pray except in a room which has windows.”
In the book of Daniel, at the risk of losing his life for bowing down and praying to any god or any man but the King, Daniel went up to his room, opened his windows towards Jerusalem and prayed to God three times a day. It is based on this teaching that we have windows in our sanctuaries that face towards Jerusalem. The Zohar adds that there should be twelve windows in the rooms in which we pray (reflecting the twelve tribes of Israel).
During the upcoming High Holy Days, we will spend many hours praying and looking out the windows of our sanctuary.
Our sanctuary has windows so that we can see the beauty of God’s world and be inspired to offer gratitude for the gifts that fill our lives. May we commit in the coming year to be good stewards of earth by doing what we can to protect our most precious natural resources.
Our sanctuary has windows facing East so that Israel will be a part of our prayers and a part of our lives. May our High Holy Day prayers and our acts of support to fellow Jews in the year to come include our brothers and sisters in Israel. May we work to ensure Israel’s peace and security with her neighbors. As we reflect on the Iran nuclear deal, may we share our feelings with those who govern our country. May we strengthen Israel with our words of advocacy as we educate ourselves and those around us. May we strengthen Israel internally – by reaching out to support its economy, to support our friends through social media, to support its institutions that reflect our pluralistic values, and by calling on Israel to live up to its democratic ideals.
As we condemn extremism in those of other faiths, as we welcome a new year and engage in self-reckoning, may we be resolute in condemning extremism among our own fellow Jews. For this past summer saw the tragedy of a 16 year old Israeli teen who died from being stabbed to death at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade by an ultra-Orthodox man and the tragedy of the death of an 18 month old Palestinian toddler along with injury to his family as the homes of two Palestinian families in the West Bank were firebombed by ultra-Orthodox extremists. Rabbanit Hadassah Fromon, the wife of the late rabbi and coexistence advocate Menachem Froman, said, “To merit living in this country we must choose life and see the spark of God in everyone. We must remove the barriers between us and create a bridge, because anything is possible but it depends on us.” May we work to remove barriers that divide both in Israel and here.
We should have windows in our sanctuaries to allow others to see us. In the coming year, let us live with pride in our faith wherever we are – for as a Jewish community we make a difference in Charlotte, in Israel and in the world.
We should have windows in our sanctuaries so that we can recognize that our prayers inside our congregational walls are meant to lead to action outside.
I love our Beth El windows that enable us, in the midst of prayer, to see out to the beauty of nature, up to the expanse of the heavens and that let us know that we are not alone. Our sense of connectedness brings us both comfort and responsibility. May our High Holy Day prayers connect us to God, to Israel, to the Jewish people, to those in need in Charlotte, and to our ideal selves.
L’shanah tovah – may the High Holidays lift your life and may the New Year of 5776 be a good year for all of us.
2 Responses
Connecting with nature by looking through windows at beautiful trees on a landscaped lawn seems much better than looking at white sheet rock walls. If you conflate the belief in a god with nature, it makes sense this would enhance whatever effects praying would have on the prayer. I doubt that praying in one direction versus another would make any difference, except for the placebo effect of expectation being fulfilled.
In looking for the spark of a god in someone, you are likely to find it in some way as a product of confirmation bias. Seeing people as fellow human beings that you can connect and share your life with seems to be a better way of experiencing the wonders of our natural reality and seems to be what religion is really all about. Reciprocity on their part would also be beneficial, but such reciprocity may be just wishful thinking. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every day was filled with joy and laughter. Let us celebrate this one and only life to our very best.
Plenty of room here to talk about Jewish extremism which is rare and understandable after decades of hatred and violence directed by Muslims against Jews, yet nary a word about our enemies’ hatred, extremism and daily acts of violence against Jews. That isn’t politically correct! So Jews must try to be more virtuous and righteous and not hold our enemies’ behavior to account? If we are just more virtuous and righteous our enemies will not hate us anymore, right ?