Why Jews sway and nod while at prayer

People may see it all the time, Jews nodding while at prayer. Buddhist take their shoes off before entering their house of worship, the Buddhist sit on the floor for most of the worship service. Jews of which I am, sit in a pew, stand, nod, bend at the knee, and stand on their toes. Nodding could come from Psalm 35:10 which reads, My whole being will exclaim, “Who is like you O Lord? and or Proverbs 20:27 that the soul of man is God’s candle. Swaying back and forth while praying represents a candle’s flame that flickers back and forth while burning. I can go on if you like.

The idea that body movement can express devotion to God appears in the Book of Psalms: “All my limbs shall say ‘Who is like You, O Lord?’” (35:10) In Midrash Tehillim, an 11th century exegetical text, the rabbis interpret “all my limbs” quite literally:

With my head, I bend my head and bow down in prayer…And I also wear phylacteries [tefillin] on my head. With my neck, I fulfill the precept of wrapping oneself in fringes [tzitzit]. With my mouth, I praise You, as it says: “My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord” (Psalms 145:21)…With my face, I prostrate myself, as it says: “He fell down on his face to the earth” (Genesis 48:12)… With my nose, when I smell spices with it [during the havdalah blessing said] at the outgoing of Shabbat. With my ears, I listen to the singing of the Torah.

In this text, the body is presented as a tool for praising God, mostly in terms of the way ritual objects are used on the body, but also in terms of the body’s own movements. Today, the physical actions listed in this midrash, as well as a number of other body movements, have become an established part of Jewish prayer.

Lyrics

The Avodah Service

He would enter into the place where he had entered

And stand on the place on which he had stood

Wash his hands and his feet

Immerse himself, come up and dry himself

Come from the place from whence he came

And go unto the place to which he went

Strip off his mundane clothes

Put on white garments

And thus he would say

Please, O God, forgive the sins, the wrongdoings and the transgressions

which I have sinned before You, I and my house

And if a man could remember

the flaws, the shortcomings

All the transgressions, all the wrongdoings

Thus he would surely count;

One, one and one, one and two

One and three, one and four, one and five

He would give up right away

Because he wouldn't be able to bear

the bitterness, the sin

The shame, the missed opportunity

The loss

Chorus:

And the priests and the people standing in the courtyard

when they would hear God’s name explicated

coming out of the high priest’s mouth

would bend their knees, bow down and fall on their faces

“Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever!”

He would step unto the place where he had stepped

His face turned to the holiness, his back to the Sanctuary

Sinlessly, his mouth and deeds are at one

He would come from the place from whence he came

And go unto the place to which he went

Strip off white garments

Put on golden garments

And thus he would say

Please, O God, forgive the sins, the wrongdoings and the transgressions

which I have sinned before You, I and my house

And if a man could remember

the graces, the favors

All the mercies, all the salvations

Thus he would surely count;

One, one and one, one and two

One of the thousand thousand, thousands of thousands and myriad myriads

of miracles and wonders

which You have done for us

days and nights

Chorus:

He would come out of the place where he had came out of

And tremble on the place on which he had stood

Strip off golden garments

Put on his own clothes

During the morning K’dushah, we rise up on our tiptoes three times for “kadosh, kadosh, kadosh.” The Kabbalists were the first to suggest that the triple sanctification of God’s name is an indication that one must reach to God with one’s whole body. It is also an imitation of God’s ministering angels. –

In the video below, you will see how some of the congregation stand on their toes as they are saying “kadosh, kadosh, kadosh.”.

Some Orthodox Jews refer to Shekhinah as a physical presence. They believe that God’s presence can be felt at the Western Wall, for this reason, many Jews travel here on a pilgrimage to pray.

From the seventh or eighth century C.E., we find the saying attributed to Rabbi Acha (a fourth-century scholar) that, even after the destruction of the Temple, "the Shekhinah [God's presence in the world] never leaves the Western Wall."

Because Shekhinah is a feminine word in Hebrew, some Jews believe that the term refers to attributes of God that were traditionally thought of as feminine, such as being caring or loving.

G-d is caring and loving, we see it throughout the Tanakh.

Yechezkel - Ezekiel - Chapter 18

20 The soul that sins, it shall die; a son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and a father shall not bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Many people don’t want to believe this, we are seeing it today. Many people do not want to let go of the past, so they pull down statues thinking that the sins of the past will fall with the statue! How naïve!

21 And if the wicked man repent of all his sins that he has committed and keeps all My laws and executes justice and righteousness, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

I take this to mean that we must let go of the past, and let the sins of our forefathers stay in the past, and strive for a righteous today and righteous future.

22 All his transgressions that he has committed shall not be remembered regarding him: through his righteousness that he has done he shall live.

23 Do I desire the death of the wicked? says the Lord God. Is it not rather in his repenting of his ways that he may live?

24 And when the righteous repents of his righteousness and does wrong and does like all the abominations that the wicked man did, shall he live? All his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered; in his treachery that he has perpetrated and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.

To me, this means that those who believe they are righteous loot and burn they forfeit their righteousness and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered; in his treachery that he has perpetrated and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.

Finally, the prophets loudly declared to the Jewish people that the contrite prayer of the penitent sinner replaces the sacrificial system. Therefore, atonement for unintentional sins today is expiated through devotional supplication to God, the Merciful One.

In fact, in the third chapter of Hosea, the prophet foretold with divine exactness that the nation of Israel would not have a sacrificial system during the last segment of Jewish history until the messianic age. Hosea declares,

Hoshea - Hosea - Chapter 3

4 For the children of Israel shall remain for many days, having neither king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor pillar, nor ephod nor teraphim.

5 Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they shall come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness at the end of days.

Who can argue with verse 5?

If the prophet is testifying that the nation of Israel will indeed be without a sacrificial system during their long exile until the messianic age, what are we to use instead? How are the Jewish people to atone for unintentional sin without a blood sacrifice during their bitter exile? What about all the animal sacrifices prescribed in the Book of Leviticus? Can the Jewish people get along without animal offerings? Missionaries claim they cannot.

The Bible disagrees.

For this reason, the teaching highlighted in Hosea 14:2-3 is crucial. In these two verses, Hosea reveals to his nation how they are to replace the sacrificial system during their protracted exile. The prophet declares that the Almighty wants us to “render for bulls the offering of our lips.” Prayer is to replace the sacrificial system. Hosea states,

Hoshea - Hosea - Chapter 14

2 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity

3 Take words with yourselves and return to the Lord. Say, "You shall forgive all iniquity and teach us [the] good [way], and let us render [for] bulls [the offering of] our lips.

The prophets never instruct the Jews to worship any crucified messiah or demigod; nor does Scripture suggest that an innocent man could die as an atonement for the sins of the wicked. Such a message is utterly antithetical to the teachings of the Jewish Scriptures. Rather, it is the prayers of the sinner that would become as bulls of the sin offerings.

King Solomon echoes this sentiment as well.

Melachim I - I Kings - Chapter 8

46 If they sin against You, for (there is) no man who does not sin, and You will be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, and their captors will carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near.

47 And they shall bethink themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captors, saying, 'We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness.'

48 And they shall return to You with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, the city that You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your Name.

49 And you shall hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause.

50 And forgive Your people what they have sinned against You, and all their transgressions that they have transgressed against You, and give mercy before their captors, that they may have mercy on them.