When God Closes a Door, a (Zoom) Window Opens

“And so for the first time in my life, during the era of Corona virus, I prayed in a minyan (quorum) three times a day,” writes Malki Rotner, a young Ultra-Orthodox social activist. “For the first time I was participating in the men’s prayer section.”[1] Rotner bemoans the current tendency to make the mechitzot (barriers dividing between male and female worshippers) ever higher and thicker, and the shrinkage of women’s sections, portions of which are given over to the eminent domain of the men. These trends have the effect of driving women out of those synagogues. Paradoxically, the very isolation enforced upon all due to the pandemic has allowed her as a woman to experience prayer fully and inclusively – a virtual minyan on Zoom.

In this short essay I want to provide a preliminary description of some liturgical phenomena which are taking shape before our eyes during the COVID-19 crisis in Israel (with implications elsewhere). It can be expected that the description of a situation still unfolding will lack distance and perspective. That said, it is my assumption that we are at the start of a new era, and that the coming years will see tectonic shifts in the world of Jewish prayer.

Broadening the Experience of Prayer

Rotner is not alone. In the course of these months of isolation and without the possibility of praying in synagogues in the normal way, interesting changes have taken place in the prayer life of many men and women. Several have been exposed to prayer traditions and styles which they had not known previously, without having to attend a synagogue outside their “comfort zone.” All they have to do is to press a button and join any prayer service they choose. The “liturgical repertoire” of many has been thus broadened. Furthermore, many Israelis find it difficult to attend synagogues, because such an act is fraught with ideological and cultural overtones. Alone at home, it has become easier to join in prayer services through technology and to participate in a range of prayer experiences.

Many who are not in the habit of attending synagogue have found that the services offered by a variety of congregations have made Friday night and Havdalah (Saturday evening) ceremonies part of their new weekly ritual. They have experienced Sabbath and Festival prayers on screen at a depth and intensity they would not have imagined in regular circumstances. 

Regularity in Irregular Times

These changes are also impacting those in the habit of praying regularly. It is worth noting in this context ‘Anan K’vodekha (Cloud of Your Glory), a daily traditional egalitarian prayer group. This group has held services every weekday ever since the first day of lockdown in March 2020. From the outset, women were counted in the required quorum of 10 worshippers, and have acted as service leaders, including in those sections of the prayer requiring a full quorum.

On occasion, delays brought about by social restrictions as well as the slowing of the economy have opened up new directions. The Israel Reform Movement had intended to launch its new Prayer Book, T'fillat HaAdam, which I had the privilege of editing along with Rabbi Alona Lisitsa. The Biennial Convention of our Israeli movement was cancelled in May 2020, and it was there that we had intended to launch the new liturgy. Instead, we held a series of 10 weekly Zoom meetings in which rabbis from a variety of congregations prayed from and related to the book. In this way, it became present in the consciousness of many. The meetings, known as “Speaking Prayer,” helped expose the siddur and its contents to our congregations, and to wider circles too. As a co-editor, these meetings were extremely exciting. I saw how our rabbis turned the written liturgy into living prayer and made it their own practice. 

Restrictions as a Prompt to Creativity

Periods of tension and uncertainty can sometimes be a spur to creativity and innovation which in calmer times would take much longer to come to expression. Indeed, during these months alongside creative changes in modes of prayer, in Israel and around the world, dozens of new liturgical texts have been produced. They have been designed with the pandemic in mind; prayers ask for mercy and healing, understanding and skill for the leaders and strength for those protecting the health and welfare of the public. These prayers shed light on the attitudes of those who composed them and reflect their beliefs and opinions.

This is not a new phenomenon. Prayers in the face of disaster and confusion have been composed in the past. In responding to the needs of the hour through which they were living, our ancestors made use of what Professor Joseph Heinemann referred to as “common liturgical property,” namely, expressions and turns of phrase from the traditional prayer book with additions suited to the particular characteristics of the situation. As it was in the past, so it is today.

“The bond between person and person, between person and world”

The prayers and requests for healing and salvation written in the course of this pandemic cut across sectors and movements, and they reflect a broad range of worldviews, theological positions and styles. Without attempting to represent the full range, here are a few examples of prayers composed in Hebrew over recent months.

A.  Rabbi Valerie Cohen of Temple Sinai in Worcester, Massachusetts has written a blessing to be recited when putting on a facemask:

בָּרוּך אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל שְׁמִירַת הַנֶּפֶשׁ.

Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Sovereign of the world, who has sanctified us with commandments, and commanded us to protect life.

This blessing is based on the classical blessing formula, and it reminds us that the uncomfortable task of putting on a face mask is in fact a life-saving measure. The blessing categorizes the act of protecting oneself and others from infection as a religious commandment. 

B.  The prayer composed by Zeev Keinan from the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel asks for healing for all humanity and emphasizes the hope that the pandemic will be stopped in its tracks.

עֲנֵנוּ ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ כִּי בְצָרָה גְּדוֹלָה אֲנַחְנוּ.

רוֹפֵא כׇל בָּשָׂר וּמַפְלִיא לַעֲשׂוֹת, הַרְחֵק מֵעָלֵינוּ כׇּל נֶגַע וּמַחֲלָה וְהַצִּילֵנוּ מִכׇּל צָרָה וְצוּקָה, וְקַיֵּם בָּנוּ "וְלֹא יִהְיֶה בָכֶם נֶגֶף לְמַשְׁחִית [...] וְלֹא יִתֵּן הַמַּשְׁחִית לָבֹא אֶל בָּתֵּיכֶם לִנְגֹּף" (שמות יב, כג).

כַּלֵּה בְחַסְדְּךָ הַגָּדוֹל מַשְׁחִית וּמַגֵּפָה מִכׇּל בָּנֶיךָ וּבְנוֹתֶיךָ, וְתֵן בָּנוּ וּבְכׇל אִישׁ וְאִשָּׁה בָּעוֹלָם מִקְרָא שֶׁכָּתוּב "לֹא-תְאֻנֶּה אֵלֶיךָ רָעָה וְנֶגַע לֹא יִקְרַב בְּאׇהֳלֶךָ" (תהלים צא, י).

תֵּן מִכֹּחֲךָ הַגָּדוֹל, "כִּי אֲנִי ה' רֹפְאֶךָ" (שמות טו, כו), עַל כׇּל יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵּבֵל אַרְצֶךָ וְעַל רוֹפְאֵי הַחוֹלִים בְּכׇל מָקוֹם שֶׁהֵם, שֶׁיַּשְׂכִּילוּ לְרַפְּאוֹת אֶת הַחוֹלִים, לִמְנֹעַ מַחֲלָה מִכׇּל יְצִירֵי כַפֶּיךָ, וְתֵן בָּהֵם בִּינָה וָדַעַת לִמְצֹא חִסּוּן לְנֶגֶף בְּנֵי אֱנוֹשׁ בִּמְהֵרָה בְּיָמֵינוּ.

וּשְׁמֹר צֵאתֵנוּ וּבוֹאֵנוּ לְחַיִּים וּלְשָׁלוֹם מֵעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם, וְיִתְקַיֵּם בָּנוּ בִּמְהֵרָה מִקְרָא שֶׁכָּתוּב "וְהַמַּגֵּפָה נֶעֱצָרָה" (במדבר יז, טו), וְכֵן יְהִי רָצוֹן, אָמֵן.

Answer us, Oh God, for we are in great distress.

Healer of all flesh and author of wondrous deeds, keep all infirmity and sickness far from us and save us from ever woe and misfortune, and fulfill in us your words: “no plague will destroy you… and God will not let the Destroyer enter and destroy your home” (Exodus 12.23).

In your great grace keep the Destroyer and the plague from all your sons and daughters, and grant unto every man and woman in the world that which is embodied in the verse “no plague will befall you, neither shall any plague come near in your tent” (Psalm 91.10).

Give of your great power to all who dwell on your earth and on especially to those who strive to heal in every place, “for I God am your healer” (Exodus 15.26). May they find ways to heal the sick, to prevent disease from all you have created, and may they be granted wisdom to find ways of protecting human beings from infection, speedily and in our days.

Guard our going out and our coming in peace now and force so that the verse “and the plague was stopped” (Numbers 17.15) may be fulfilled in us. May this be Your will. Amen.

The author of this prayer opens with the words found at the start of the liturgy recited on public fast days – “Answer us, Oh God, for we are in great distress.” The rest of the blessing includes other excerpts from and allusions to the traditional liturgy, well known to all regular worshippers. It ends with the expression of a hope for the future alluding to the description of Aaron and the cessation of the plague following the sin of Korah and his associates. Perhaps there is a clue here to the nature of our current plague.

C.  The prayer composed by Bini Talmi of the “Niggun HaLev” congregation in the Jezreel Valley, is quite different in nature. Talmi makes rich if indirect use of the language of traditional sources. Kneading Biblical and liturgical sources, he molds them into a remarkable liturgical text: 

"אשרי יושבי ביתך"

גּוֹלַי גִּילָם שֶׁלֹּא בְּאַשְׁמָתָם
הָאֲסוּרים הַמְּרֻתָּקים אֲשֶׁר גֹּרְשׁוּ מֵעֲבוֹדָתָם
הַמֻּבְטָלִים הַחֲרֵדִים לִמְקוֹר פַּרְנָסָתָם
הָאָבוֹת וְהָאִמָּהוֹת שֶׁעִם יַלְדֵיהֶם בְּבֵיתָם
שֶׁמְּזוֹנָם מַתַּת מִנְחָה עַל סַף דַּלְתָּם
נַפְשָׁם יוֹצֵאת לִבְנֵי מִשְׁפַּחְתָּם
וְאֵין אִישׁ הַבָּא לְבֵיתָם לִהְיוֹת שָׁם אִתָּם
רַק נִפְלְאוֹת הַמַּחְשֵׁב הֵם שְׁאֵרִית נֶחָמָתָם
בְּאֵין לָהֶם קְהִילָּתָם
וְהֵם נוֹשְׂאִים תְּפִלָּה זַכָּה לִבְרִיאוּתָם.

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל וְתַן בְּרָכָה לַעֲיֵיפִים עַל מִשְׁמַרְתָּם
לְצִווְתֵי הַמַּרְפֵּא וְהַבִּיטָּחוֹן הַכּוֹרְעִים בְּעֻלָּהּ שֶׁל חוֹבָתָם
תֵּן בָּנוּ תִּקְוָה שֶׁהָרָעָה תַּחְלֹף וְיָשׁוּבוּ מוֹסְדוֹת אֶרֶץ לִשְׁפִיּוּתָם
יִפָּתְחוּ שׁוּב גְּבוּלוֹת שֶׁל תִּקְוָה בֵּין עַם לְעַם בְּאַרְצֹתָם
יְבַקְּשׁוּ שָׁלוֹם לְאֻומִּים וְיֹאבְדוּ כְּלֵי מִלְחַמְתָּם
רַק אָדָם לְאָדָם וְאָדָם לְעוֹלָמוֹ תִּהְיֶה נֶחָמָתָם
רֵעוּת אַחֶרֶת תִּצְמַח בָּעוֹלָם שֶׁיַּחְלִים מִמּוֹתָם.

כְּלִילֵי הַחֹרֶשׁ מַרְעִיפִים אַךְ טוֹב בִּסְגֻלָּתָם
וְהַנּיִגּוּן הָאֱנוֹשִׁי הַתָּמִים עוֹד לֹא חָלַף, עוֹד לֹא תַּם

אָז יָקוּמוּ אֲנָשִׁים מִשׁכְבַם וְתִיף לָהֶם הַדֶּרֶךְ בְּלֶכְתָּם
קְשִׁישִׁים יְהַלְּכוּ בָּרְחוֹבוֹת רכונים עַל מִשְׁעַנְתָּם
נְעָרִים וּנְעָרוֹת יִשּׁוּבוֹ לְמִשְׁתֵּה נְגִינָתָם
וּכְנֹגַהּ תִּזְרַח צִדְקָתָם.

אֱלֹהֵי הַבּוֹדְדִים וְהַמְּבֻדָּדִים, אָנָּא, שְׁמַע לִתְפִלָּתָם!

“Happy Are Those Who Dwell In Your House”

Exiled from joy through no fault of their own,
Imprisoned, confined, banished from work,
The unemployed, anxious about their source of income
Fathers and mothers at home with their children
Whose every wish for food must be met at home,
They yearn for members of their families
None of whom can come to their home to be with them
Their only comfort is through the wonders of a computer screen
Robbed of community
As they offer a heartfelt prayer for healing.

Hear Oh Israel and bless those who are weary on their watch
The medical and security teams straining beneath the yoke of their duties
Give us hope that this grim time will pass and that the institutions of state will return to sanity
May borders of hope separating people from people within their land be opened
May peace among nations be sought, and may instruments of war disappear
May their comfort be found in the bond between person and person, between person and world
And may a new comradeship grow in the world recovering from the death of many
When the redbud tree yields only good in abundance
For the song of simplicity and humanity has not reached its end
At that time people will rise from their beds and beat a path to the future
The old will walk supported in the streets
The young will return to their celebrations and their songs
And their goodness will shine through

God of the lonely and the isolated, hear their prayer!

“At that time people will rise from their beds and beat a path to the future”

The first part of the prayer describes the plight of the exiled, the imprisoned and the unemployed. The second part is directed at the people (“Hear Oh Israel and bless…”) and it is only in the very last line of the prayer that Talmi turns explicitly to God and asks for the prayers of the lonely and the isolated to be heard.

D. Rabbi Yaya Tobias (Reform) composed a series of prayers in response to the COVID-19 crisis. His approach falls somewhere between a religious and a cultural stance, while the language of his prayers is redolent with references from traditional liturgy. Here is a section from one of them: 

תפילה בשולי זמן קורונה

עזור לנו להשמיע את הקולות שזקוקים להד, שזקוקים להישמע.

ברוך אתה ה', השומע תפילה בכל קול:
כקריאת איאד אל-חאלק ״אני איתה״ שמע קולנו בתפילה ״אנחנו איתך, אנחנו איתך״,
כי באורך נראה אור
כקריאת פלויד ג׳ורג׳ ״אני לא נושם״ שמע קולנו בתפילה ״תן לנו אוויר״
כי באורך נראה אור, אל תקרי באורך אלא באווירך.
כקריאתה של מיכל סלע ״לראות את האור״ שמע קולנו בתפילה שנבדיל בין החושך לאור,
כי באורך נראה אור – אל תקרי באורך אלא באורה
כקריאתה של אורי אנסבכר ״עשי לך שלום בתוכך״ למדנו דרכי שלום זה לזו ולעצמנו כי באורך נראה אור, אל תקרי אור אלא אורי.

כקריאתםן של כל אחינו ואחיותינו בני ובנות האדם המבקשים להישמע תן לנו להיות להם לשופר. "מִן הַמֵּצַר קָרָאתִי יָּהּ עָנָנִי בַמֶּרְחָב יָהּ" (תהלים קיח,ה)

מי יתן שנישא הקול במרחב יה, בחינת מרחב למלא בו צדקה וצדק משפט וחסד, דין בעיתו וחסד בעיתו כי זו העת להודות שאת האמת והשלום אהבנו. [...]
שנדע לברך עצמנו באהבת המקום, בתשומת לב למקומו בנו ובעולם ושנדע לשוב אל המקום גם כשרחקה דרכנו גם כשליבנו רץ ועינינו הוסטה.

ברוך אתה ה׳ המשיב הכל על מקומו בשלום

“Help us articulate the voices in need of resonance, yearning to be heard.”

A Prayer in the Margins of the Corona Time

Help us articulate the voices in need of resonance, yearning to be heard. 

Blessed are you God, Who hears prayer uttered in every voice:

Like the call of Iyad al-Hallaq “I’m with her”, hear our voices in prayer as we say “We are with you, we are with you”, for in your light we will see light.

Like the call of George Floyd “I can’t breathe”, hear our voices in prayer as we say, “Give us air”, for in your light we will see air.

Like the call of Michal Sela “to see the light, hear our voices in prayer that we distinguish between darkness and light, for in your light we find enlightenment

Like the call of Ori Ansbacher “Make peace within yourself”, teach us the ways of peace between us and within us, for in your light we see light, Or, like Ori.

As the calls of all our brothers and sisters, of all people, ask to be heard, let us be their Shofar. “Out of the straits I called on Yah. God answered me with great enlargement.” (Psalm 118.5) 

May we lift up our voices in God’s expanse, an expanse to be filled with righteousness and equity and law and mercy, justice in its time and compassion in its time. For this is the time to declare that we love truth and peace…

May we know how to bless ourselves with love of The Presence, with attentiveness to God’s place within us and within the world, and may we know how to return when we have grown distant, even when the heart is racing and the eye distracted.

Blessed are You, Who returns all to its place in peace.

Rabbi Tobias adopts an explicitly activist stance as he quotes the words of those whose lives were cut short by hate crimes, police violence and domestic terror, molding their words into prayers for the future. Even in this dark time he wants to give voice to those in need of resonance, who need to be heard. The prayer ends by making use of a traditional formula, articulating trust that God will indeed being all to its place in peace.

E. Some of the new prayers are designed to be recited regularly, and others are designed with particular holidays or special occasions in mind. Here is an excerpt of a prayer composed by Rabbi Tamar Elad Appelbaum, founder of Congregation Zion in Jerusalem, intended for recitation as part of the Passover Haggadah:

שפוך רפואתך: כוס של חמלה
תפילה על הרפואה

רבונו של עולם
אל רחום וחנון רופא חולים,
סומך נופלים ומתיר אסורים,
רופא כל בשר ומפליא לעשות.
חננו ה' חננו בימי החשכה האלה
בימי המגפה האלה, בימי הרעדה
והמוני מתים, חולים ומתרפאים בעולמך [...]

וזכנו לחזק אלה את אלה ולרפא את עולמנו בגוף ובנפש
בימים האלה ובימים שיבואו אחריהם
לחוס ולחמול על כל נדכאים, ללוות שבורי לב, אבלים ומתרפאים
לחזק את לבותיהם של כל אחיות ואחים, רופאות ורופאים וכל מצילים
אל נא רפא נא לה, אל נא רפא נא לה, אל נא רפא נא לנו, לכולנו.
כוס ישועות אשא, כוס נחמה ותנחומין אסא, כוס חמלה וחסד
שמע קולנו, כי אתה יוצר כל בשר ומפליא לעשות
רפאנו ה' ונרפא, הושיענו וניוושע,
ברוך אתה שומע תפילה. לשנה הבאה בירושלים הבריאה.

Pour Out Your Healing: The Cup of Compassion
A Prayer for Health

Sovereign of the Universe, merciful and forgiving, healer of the sick,
Supporter of the fallen and liberator of the imprisoned,
Physician of all flesh whose deeds are wondrous.
Be merciful to us, be merciful to us, in these days of darkness,
Days of plague, days of upheaval,
So many dead, so many sick and ailing in your world […]

Ennoble us that we might strengthen each other and heal our world in body and spirit
In these days and the days to follow
That we might show mercy and compassion for all the downtrodden, accompany the heartbroken, the grieving and the recovering

That we might strengthen the hearts of nurses and doctors and all those engaged in the saving of life
Heal her Oh God, heal him Oh God, heal us, all of us.

I will lift up a cup of salvation, a cup of consolation and condolence, a cup of mercy and compassion
Hear our voice, for you have wondrously created all flesh
Heal us Oh God and we will be healed, save us and we will be saved.

Blessed are You Who hears our prayers – next year in a healthy Jerusalem.

Modeled on the medieval text “Pour out Your Wrath,” recited traditionally toward the end of the Passover Seder, this prayer asks for relief for the whole world and ends with the supplication for “healthy Jerusalem.” It is distinguished by being designed for the Seder night, to which it is connected both in terms of subject matter and language.

Periods of crisis and uncertainty are a spur to religious and spiritual creativity. We are witnesses to an outpouring of liturgical responses, both in the ways and forms in which prayer takes place and in the texts of the prayers themselves. Here we have glimpsed at just a few from within a broad range of dozens of Hebrew prayers composed since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. Time will tell how profoundly and in what ways this crisis impacts the ways in which Jews pray, and the words they use in their prayers. 

Precisely when withdrawal and seclusion in separate political and cultural identities are at a peak and we are witnesses to polarization which even threatens to undermine the fabric of life within the Jewish community and within Israel, this liturgical creativity is to be welcomed. It runs counter to this polarizing trend, and blurs the barriers separating groups within Israeli society. Before our eyes, tectonic shifts, quiet yet stubborn, are taking place. Who knows where they may yet lead?!

“Before our eyes, tectonic shifts, quiet yet stubborn, are taking place.”

[1] Her critique appears on the site Kav-400, 31 May 2020.