Note 113 — II. OUR DUTIES. (continued 3)

The minhag is a most important element in Jewish religious life. What one has been accustomed to do for a long time, or even from his earliest youth, is deeply impressed on the heart, and is not readily surrendered. Such customs are sometimes more cherished and more firmly adhered to than express precepts.113 It is the outcome of this respect for custom that in all countries the Jews pray in Hebrew. But nevertheless the general principle remains in force that it is not the language that determines the value of prayer but “the devotion of the heart,” and those who do not understand Hebrew may give expression to “the devotion of their heart” in the language they understand and speak. Women, who as a rule were not expected to be Hebrew scholars, used to read translations of the Hebrew prayers in the vernacular instead of, or in addition to, the original; they had also prayers composed for them in the vernacular (‏תחנות‎). And in more ancient times, when the Jews of Babylon had adopted the Aramean dialect spoken in that country, and retained it also after their return to Palestine, many prayers were composed in the more familiar language, although Hebrew was retained for the principal prayers. Hebrew has a special claim to privilege and distinction among the Jews. It is our national language, which our forefathers once spoke; it is the language in which the Almighty addressed the prophets, and through them the Israelites; the language in which God revealed His Will to the Israelites on Mount Sinai; the language in which the holy Psalmist sang the praises of the Creator, the priests blessed the people, and worshippers prayed in the Temple at Jerusalem. It must be the pride of every Jew to be enabled to pray at home, and especially in the Synagogues, in that same language, and if Hebrew be not the language of his every-day life, he should seek to perfect his knowledge of it to such an extent that he shall be able to understand the prayers and to pray with his whole heart. Those who seek the abolition of Hebrew in our Services aim, consciously or unconsciously, at the destruction of our nationality as the people of the Lord, by breaking asunder one important link which connects us with the wonderful past of our nation.