Perceptions change over time. Things that are obvious to one generation may be obscured, or missed entirely, by a later generation. Consider birds. When we think of birds, we think of small flocks concentrated in a few trees, occasionally loud but rarely disruptive (with the exception of honking Canadian Geese, that can be loud enough to overwhelm a human conversation). For our colonial ancestors, though, the flocks we have today are virtually nothing. The bird population back then was probably two or three times larger than today, and at least that much louder. Constantly. Deafening. Bird flocks were so huge that they were often described in mythological terms, blotting out the sun like an eclipse, a never ending “river in the sky.”

As with birds, so with words. In like fashion, there is a difference between the way that we perceive sacred text and the way our ancestors did. When we read our prayers, they speak only for themselves. When our ancestors read our prayers, they echoed with all sorts of resonances from other sacred texts. They spoke “louder” to them than they do to us. Such resonances deepened the meaning of their prayers, and connected them more vividly to their (our) ancestors.

A good case in point is to be found in the 11th blessing of the weekday Amidah, a call for justice. This blessing is part of the redemptive programme which forms the middle of the weekday Amidah. There, after calling for the restoration of the leadership of our judges and counselors, we pray that G-d will “remove from us sorrow and groaning.” A pious wish, to be sure, under any circumstances. But it speaks (or, better, sings) much louder and with greater depth when we realize where this phrase comes from. Isaiah 35:10: “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with shouting to Zion, crowned with joy everlasting. They shall attain joy and gladness, while sorrow and groaning flee.” So this prayer was not merely a hope that “things will get better for the Jews.” It was an echo of the divine prophetic promise that Jewish exiles would be restored to our land.

Once again, the proto-Zionism of the siddur shines through.