The Origin of Prayer
It's a Deuteronomy Thing
Today we're going to talk about how liturgical prayer began– at least with regards to the tradition(s) that evolved out of the Hebrew Bible.
The answer is: Deuteronomy, most likely.
But first: our December Zoom Salon is on for House of Study members!
Sunday,December 7, 2-3:30 EST, 11-12:30 PST.
There's been a lot of desecration and devastation this last year, these last years, and knowing how to create holiness, once again, in the wake of so much ruin is essential.
In the season of Hanukah, we'll look at a couple of texts that might be able to show us how to reignite and purify that which seems like it has been entirely lost, whether in our polity or in ourselves.
Come and get the fuel you need. ❤️🔥
You may remember that a major feature of Deuteronomy's, and King Josiah's (ruled 640–609 BCE), agenda involved centralizing the Temple– that is to say, disbanding the local altars all around the country and getting everybody to schlep to Jerusalem three times a year for festivals to deliver their tithes.
This was a very big deal.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
As Moshe Weinfeld, one of the foremost scholars of Deuteronomy, put it,
“the abolition of the scattered holy places created a religious vacuum. This vacuum was filled by liturgy…. Prayer replaced sacrifice."
Does that mean that no people talked to God before then? Of course they did.