Jewish Prayers and Beliefs

For those parts of the services which are recited standing, visitors are expected to stand together with the Jewish congregation. However, it is explicit that visitors should not have to undertake other traditional Jewish activities connected with Jewish prayer (for example the wearing of the male prayer shawl) that might be strictly Jewish, against their own religion, or cause them personal embarrassment and discomfort

Judaism does not worship to or permit statues of human or animals. The sanctuary lamp, known by its Hebrew name, ‘ner tamid’ is usually translated as "eternal flame" or "eternal light". It hangs in front of the ark (where the Holy Scrolls are kept) in every synagogue. It signifies the lamp in the Temple in Jerusalem and symbolises the eternal presence of God, so is never extinguished. There is also the parallel between God and fire - or light - which features throughout the book of Exodus, the second of the Five Books of Moses and part of the Old Testament

Mizrah is the Hebrew word for "East" and this is the direction that Jews in the Diaspora (countries outside Israel) face during prayer. The reason that Jewish law prescribes that Jews face this direction during prayer is so as to be facing towards the site of the Temple in Jerusalem

While some of the more important Jewish prayers are recited while standing (in honour of God to whom the blessings would refer directly), there is no actual prayer for sitting down

According to Jewish law, when a Jewish boy reaches 13 years of age, he becomes responsible for his own actions relating to Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics and become a bar mitzvah. A girl becomes bat (female of ‘bar’) mitzvah at the age of 12. Prior to this, the child's actions are the responsibility of their parents. After this age, the boys and girls are able to fully participate independently in all areas of Jewish community life

The Jewish custom is to pray three times a day, although only the most devout will adhere to this. The Bible stated that "Daniel went into his house; his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God." Prayer times, whether in synagogue or in private are usually early morning, afternoon and evening, although in winter, afternoon prayers often segue into evening prayers

Christianity believes in the Trinity, being one substance but three people - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism there is only one

There are formally laid out books of prayer, in Hebrew (with English translation on opposite pages for those who cannot read Hebrew) for the Sabbath and all Jewish festival services, the content of which is thousands of years old. All synagogue prayers are lead by a 'reader' who can also sing the relevant 'high order' passages as required. Jewish people are expected to follow and join the 'vocal' parts of the services when appropriate. The reader will sometimes indicate the relevant page number, as there are several printing houses who have permission to produce Jewish prayer books, and not all keep to the same pagination

The word "amen" is derived from the Hebrew root meaning 'confirm', 'support' or 'establish' and dates back all the way to about the 7th century BC. The sages stated that not only had it even greater merit than he who says the blessing, but that if one said it correctly and with passion, ones days would be prolonged. It is usually only in response to someone else's blessing, not to one's own

Prayer books for the Sabbath and Holy Days are written in Hebrew with English translation and follow a set order of service. Some passages are read out in English, for example, the blessing for the Royal Family (in the UK. It would be the President in, for example, the USA), and the prayer for the 'State' (the country in which the prayers are being recited), but all standard service prayers are in Hebrew