The Hasidic Prayer Book and Prayer House

This chapter examines the Lurianic Prayer Book, how it differs from the standard prayer book, and why the Hasidim adopted it. It shows how R. Isaac Luria, the famous Safed Kabbalist and originator of a new Kabbalistic system, placed great stress on the doctrine of kavvanot (‘intentions’). Luria adopted the Sephardi Prayer Book for the purpose of the kavvanot. But the Hasidim, who lived in an Ashkenazi milieu, were obliged to adapt the Lurianic forms to the Ashkenazi Prayer Book. Thus it came about that the Hasidic Prayer Book differed from the older Sephardi rite, from the original Lurianic rite, and from the older Ashkenazi Prayer Book. The ideal Hasidic Prayer Book, as the chapter demonstrates, would have been a careful blending of all three elements to suit the purposes of the new movement. But these three elements were never combined in a consistent way.