In The Liturgy
At the formal beginning of the K’riat Sh’ma prayer service, the leader recites the Barchu, “Praise Adonai, the Exalted One.” The Sifre to Deuteronomy 306 connects this practice to Deuteronomy 32:3, where Moses says, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God.”
Moses’ characterization of God as “the Rock” in Deuteronomy 32:4 is reflected in Psalm 95:1, which is in turn the first of the six Psalms recited at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service, as well as in Psalm 92:16, which is recited later in the Kabbalat Shabbat service after the Lekhah Dodi liturgical poem.
Many Jews recite the words, “as an eagle that stirs up her nest, hovers over her young,” from Deuteronomy 32:11 as part of the declaration of intent before donning the tallit.
Read more about this topic: Haazinu
Famous quotes containing the word liturgy:
“You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion.... Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat’s meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)