is pure."(872)

8. Every prayer, teach the sages, should begin with the praise of God's
greatness, wisdom, and goodness, in order that man should learn submission
and implicit confidence before he proffers his requests.(873) While
looking up to the divine Ideal of holiness and perfection, he will strive
to emulate Him, and seek to grow ever nearer to the holy and the perfect.
But only when he prays with and for others, that is, in public worship,
will he realize that he is a member of a greater whole, for then he prays
only for that which advances the welfare of all. "He who prays with the
community," say the rabbis, "will have his prayer granted."(874)

Another saying of theirs is that he who prays should have his face
directed to the sanctuary, and when he stands on its sacred precincts, he
should turn his face toward the Holy of Holies.(875) By this they meant
that the attitude of the suppliant should ever be toward the highest,
making the soul soar up to the Highest and Holiest in reverent awe and
adoration, transforming the worshiper into a new character, pure from all
dross.

9. Therefore prayer offered with the community upon the sanctified ground
of the house of God exerts a specially powerful influence upon the
individual. In the silent chamber the oppressed spirit may find calm and
composure in prayer; but the pure atmosphere of heavenly freedom and bliss
is attained with overwhelming might only by the united worship of hundreds
of devout adorers, which rings out like the roaring of majestic billows:
"The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before
Him."(876) The familiar strains from days of yore touch the deep,
long-silent chords of the heart, and awaken dormant sentiments and
repressed thoughts, endowing the soul with new wings, to lift itself up
toward God, the Father, from whom it had felt itself alienated. In the
ardor of communal worship the traditional words of the prayer-book obtain
invigorating power; the heart is newly strengthened; the covenant with
heaven sealed anew. To such communal prayer, which springs from the heart,
the rabbis refer the Biblical words, "to serve Him with the whole
heart."(877) The synagogal worship exerts an ennobling influence upon the
spirit of the individual as well as that of the community. For after all
the main object is that the soul which aspires toward God may learn to
find God. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found; call ye upon Him while