Gestures and Melody in Prayer

This chapter describes the gestures and melody used in Hasidic prayer. With reservations here and there, the Hasidim favoured violent movements in prayer, believing these to be an aid to concentration as well as enabling man to put the whole of himself into his worship. In fact, some of the early Hasidim took the notion of physical movement in prayer to absurd extremes. The chapter illustrates that, from the many references to movement and gesture in the early Hasidic writings, the practice was an integral part of Hasidic behaviour from the beginning of Hasidism. And, as an aid to concentration and devekut (‘attachment’) in prayer, the Hasidim resorted to melody.