One feature of idolatrous worship is
to call out to the god through yelling and screaming. This form of worship stems from
projecting human characteristics onto god. If god is like man the he might also
be distracted, busy or tending to his needs and not notice you without yelling; he might also be asleep or very far away and need the yelling in order to hear you.
Such an idea brings god down to a very low and needy level. But which appeals to us by making him a being who responds to us like a parent responds to an infant's cry.
The idea that god would need us to
yell is so absurd that Eliyahu used this to mock the prophets of baal.
And it was in the afternoon and
Eliyahu started to mock them saying: “call out in a loud voice, if it is a god,
maybe he is conversing or thinking, or on a trip, maybe he is asleep and will
wake up. (Melachim 1 18:27)
The prophets then took his advice, without
realizing that they are now mocking themselves for having a crazy idea of
divinity:
And they called out in a loud voice
and slashed themselves with swords and spears according to their ritual until
[their] blood fell upon them. (ibid 18:28)
They followed their ritual which
accepted the premise that god needs yelling in order to hear you and responds
to his worshippers causing themselves to suffer and thereby crying out and needing him.
In Judaism we take the exact opposite
approach. Screaming and yelling have no place in tefillah. The halacha is that
tefillah should not be said in a loud voice, and that to raise ones voice is
problematic since it projects physical characteristics onto God.
Unfortunately we have imitated the
idolaters in our form of service in many ways and some people have imported the
manner of screaming into Jewish practice in responding to kaddish. Thinking
that it is meritorious to scream ‘amen yehe shmei rabba…’ and that this will remove evil decrees. Not only is this a
misunderstanding of an important halacha but it is also a fundamentally problematic way of relating to God as a psychological force with physical characteristics who responds to mere words if said loud enough.
This practice comes from a misunderstanding of the Gemara (Shabbat 119b) which says:
Anyone who says ‘amen yehe shmei
rabba…’ with all of his strength, (God’s) judgment against him will be torn up
In general when there is an
authoritative statement which goes against a fundamental principle we must
admit that we are misunderstanding that statement and not act in
contradiction to our conviction in the more basic idea. Rather we must recognize our ignorance and act according to the basic principle while seeking a correct understanding of the new statement. However in this case
the commentators explain the true meaning and do not interpret this to mean yelling at all.
Rashi on the spot explains that ‘with
all of his strength’ means ‘with all of his focus’. Tosafot agree with Rashi that the
meaning is ‘with all of his focus’ but adds that one should say it “b’kol ram”.
This does not mean to yell; but rather to say aloud instead of quietly to
oneself [1]. Unlike yelling, which reflects a distorted view of God and prayer, speaking
aloud can be supportive of focus in certain situations.
Chazal specifically focused our attention on having
superior kavana during this response since it is a statement of accepting the mission of sanctifying God’s name in the world. By focusing on this
idea we recommit to living our lives with this goal in mind and guiding
all of our thoughts and energy towards achieving this goal. It is appropriate for God to uproot the decree against someone who successfully puts all of his energy into this goal, since he has redirected his whole life towards God.
On the other hand if we yell ‘amen
yehe shmei rabba’ without understanding it, not only do we lose out on this benefit but instead it harms us since we are relating to God in an idolatrous
manner.
The Torah's view of proper prayer is also
clearly said daily in Ashrei (Tehilim 145:19), in which we learn that God is close to anyone who calls him truthfully. This is the fundamental principle behind Jewish prayer as it explains that closeness and distance from God is not by being in a special place, or by saying the right words, but rather is exclusively based on the truth of our call and the resulting knowledge of God. Yelling is a denial of this principal making it seem that God is in space and that we affect him by calling out loudly enough. Only through focus can our prayers bring us close to God.
clearly said daily in Ashrei (Tehilim 145:19), in which we learn that God is close to anyone who calls him truthfully. This is the fundamental principle behind Jewish prayer as it explains that closeness and distance from God is not by being in a special place, or by saying the right words, but rather is exclusively based on the truth of our call and the resulting knowledge of God. Yelling is a denial of this principal making it seem that God is in space and that we affect him by calling out loudly enough. Only through focus can our prayers bring us close to God.
[1] for example birkat kohanim is
also said ‘bekol ram’ and is not yelled but rather said in an audible voice
