Illustration Credit: Rivka Tsinman
Halakhah הֲלָכָה
Prayer in Languages other than Hebrew
Parashat Noah tells us how the world came to be filled with different languages. But can you pray in languages other than Hebrew?
The Talmud (Sotah 33a) says that you can pray in any language if you’re praying בְּצִבּוּר (b’tzibbur, in community). But when praying בְּיָחִיד (b’yahid, as an individual), you can’t pray in Aramaic, because the angels, who help carry our prayers to God, don’t deal with anything said in Aramaic.
The Shulhan Arukh records different opinions about how to apply this gemara:
יָכוֹל לְהִתְפַּלֵּל בְּכָל לָשׁוֹן שֶׁיִּרְצֶה, וְהָנֵי מִלֵּי בְּצִבּוּר, אֲבָל בְּיָחִיד לֹא יִתְפַּלֵּל אֶלָּא בִּלְשׁוֹן הַקֹּדֶשׁ.
וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים דְּהָנֵי מִלֵּי כְּשֶׁשּׁוֹאֵל צְרָכָיו, כְּגוֹן שֶׁהִתְפַּלֵּל עַל חוֹלֶה אוֹ עַל שׁוּם צַעַר שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ בְּבֵיתוֹ, אֲבָל תְּפִלָּה הַקְּבוּעָה לַצִּבּוּר, אֲפִלּוּ יָחִיד יָכוֹל לְאוֹמְרָהּ בְּכָל לָשׁוֹן.
וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים דְּאַף יָחִיד כְּשֶׁשּׁוֹאֵל צְרָכָיו יָכוֹל לִשְׁאוֹל בְּכָל לָשׁוֹן שֶׁיִּרְצֶה, חוּץ מִלְּשׁוֹן אֲרַמִּי.
1) You can pray in any language if you’re praying with others, but you must pray in Hebrew when alone.
2) If you’re making a request for something specific to you, it should be in Hebrew. But any language works if you’re praying something that everyone in the community says, like the Amidah.
3) You can always pray in any language, unless it’s Aramaic, which only works in a community.
According to all the views, it is ok to say the Amidah in shul in any language. The Hatam Sofer thought that praying in a language that’s not Hebrew should only be done as needed, but not as an ideal (Orah Hayyim, 84 and 86).
There are definitely competing values here.
- On one hand, it’s really good to understand what we are saying in tefillah.
- On the other hand, Hebrew is very special and powerful, the Torah is in Hebrew, and the Rabbis used Hebrew for their prayers. So praying in Hebrew has value, even if you don’t understand all the words (Be’ur Halakhah Orah Hayyim 101:4).
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