Any problem in holding concerts in a Shule?
Ask the rabbi.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Rabbi Raymond Apple
Q. I was at a non-denominational service where the Lord’s Prayer was recited. I was not certain what to do. Would it have been an issue had I joined in?
A. As many scholars have pointed out, the prayer derives from Jewish sources, especially the Kaddish and the Amidah.
It does not take deep knowledge to recognise the origin of phrases like “Our Father in heaven”, “hallowed be Your name”, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven” and so on to the final phrase, “Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory” – a quotation from I Chronicles 29:11.
In instructing his disciples to say this prayer in private and in the vernacular, Jesus may have been stressing inward piety in contrast to statutory public worship.
But though he used phraseology based on Jewish sources, he exercised considerable skill, as Joseph Klausner pointed out, in condensing and weaving together his material.
Nonetheless, it is not appropriate for Jews to join in the recital of the prayer, not because of any objection to the language but because of its Christian associations.
CONCERTS IN SHULE
Q. Do you envision any issue with a synagogue being used on weekdays for music concerts?
A. Nothing must ever be allowed in the synagogue which would be a moral or religious embarrassment.
Even though the name “synagogue” and its Hebrew equivalent, “bet k’nesset”, mean “place of assembly” or community centre, there are limits, and it would be wrong to vulgarise, trivialise or secularise the edifice, making it, to echo a phrase used by a former Sydney rabbi, a pagan temple.
As far as playing music in the synagogue is concerned, there are precedents from a number of places. However, the programme must not include items which would be out of place in a Jewish context.
