Why do [most] synagogues around the world position the Torah ark so that the congregants face in the direction of Jerusalem? What is the source for the spiritual concept that prayers do not ascend directly to heaven but rather go first to the Jerusalem Temple and from there upwards [if this is the concept]?
The idea of prayer going via Jerusalem - Temple Mount and from there to the Heavenly Temple begins with Jacob's Ladder at Beit El (Genesis 28), is followed by I Kings 8, 48-49, then formulated in the Talmud and Midrash, codified in halacha and explicated in Kabbalistic/Hasidic commentaries. It not only reflects the centrality of Jerusalem for Jewish practice and belief but also underscores the spiritual implications of a "mystical prayer trajectory".
1. Jacob dreams of a ladder reaching up into the heavens with angels ascending and descending. Upon awakening, he declares, "this is the House of the Lord and the Gate of Heaven" (Genesis 28,12-19). Although archaeologists have suggested locating the actual site near today's modern settlement of Beit El, in Rabbinic literature the dream location was interpreted as referring to the landmark of the Temple Mount and reflecting the direct route to the Supernal Temple (Genesis Rabbah 39,7; Talmud Pesachim 88a). This is explicitly understood in Midrash Pirkei R. Eliezer, ch. 35 (82b), that prayer in this Holy site is directly before the Throne of Glory because the Gate of Heaven is there, open to hear prayer. Thus Rashi (1040-1105) explains Genesis 28,17 as the place where prayer ascends upwards, adding that the Midrash identifies the Supernal Temple as positioned directly above the Earthly Temple.
2. When King Solomon dedicates the first Temple in the new capital city of Jerusalem, he proclaims: From all over the world, people should turn towards Jerusalem to the Temple and then "You will hear their supplications in Your Dwelling Place Above" (I Kings 8,49, II Chronicles 6,32-40).
3. The proof text for the halachic injunction of praying with the windows open towards Jerusalem (Shulkhan Arukh, Orach Hayyim 90,4) is from Daniel 6,11 where Daniel prayed three times a day with his windows opened towards Jerusalem. Excavations of ancient synagogues show that the earliest houses of worship had their entrances facing Jerusalem, and the portals indicated the sacred direction.
4. The concept of a Heavenly Dwelling Place directly above the earthly Temple Mount is expounded upon in midrashic sources such as the Mechilta on Beshalach 10 (pp. 149-150) in an exegetical play of words. A Place for Your Dwelling ("machon leshivtecha") in Exodus 15,17 is understood as "mechuvan", namely that the Earthly Temple is focused directly towards the Heavenly Throne. Similarly, in the Jerusalem Talmud,Berakhot, ch. 4, mishnah 5 (8b-c), it is advised to pray with a focus of one's heart towards the Temple Inner Sanctuary (Holiest of Holies) which is poised directly towards the Supernal Holy of Holies.
5. This brings us to the key passage that answers your question. It is found in Tosefta Berakhot 3,16 (and Talmud Berakhot 30a). It proscribes the direction of prayer (referring to the Standing Prayer, the Amidah): If one is standing outside of the Land of Israel, one should direct one's heart towards Israel. In the Land, one should focus towards Jerusalem; in Jerusalem, the focus is towards the Temple; in the Temple it is to the Holy of Holies. The proof text is 1 Kings 8 (as noted above). The conclusion is that in this way all of Israel will focus their hearts in the same direction no matter where their physical location may be.
6. This directive is then integrated into the authoritative Halachic compilations in the Middle Ages. Maimonides (1138-1204), Laws of Prayer, 5, 3 quotes this passage with a slight but significant change – Not only should one focus one's heart towards the Temple in the Amidah prayer, but one should alsoturn one's face towards the Temple. The Tur(R. Jacob ben Asher, 1269–1343), Orach Hayyim 94, defines the direction as East (= Mizrach) for those in the Western Diaspora (in Europe), however, he notes other customs such as turning towards the South (for wisdom) and the North (for abundance). This reflects the concept that the Temple Candelabrum representing wisdom was facing South and the Altar symbolizing riches was in the North of the Temple. However, R. Yoseph Caro (1488–1575), Shulkhan Arukh, Orach Hayyim 94,1 stipulates turning one's face in the direction of the Jerusalem Temple. The halachic commentators ad. loc. such as the Magen Avraham (R. Abraham Gombiner, 1635–1682), note that this is the reason that the ark is usually placed facing Jerusalem, however, if for any reason the ark is not in that direction one should nonetheless face Jerusalem while reciting the Amidah.
7. R. Isaiah Horowitz, (1565–1630), the Shelah, in his introduction to the siddur, explains, that when Jacob proclaims "This is the Gate of Heaven", it literally means that here is the gate through which prayers ascend. Wherever a Jew may be located, his prayers need to go up through this gate. Similarly, R. YaakovEmden (1697-1776), in his introduction to his prayer book Beit Yaakov, "Ladder of Beit El", explains that although the Shekhinah, Divine Presence, is Omnipresent, prayer from the Diaspora does not go straight up to Heaven, but rather needs to travel via the Land of Israel – to Jerusalem – to the site of the Holy Sanctuary and only from there ascend to Heaven.
8. Finally, just as I was concluding my research to answer your question, I discovered http://www.koshercompass.com. In 2005, a "Jerusalem Compass" was invented with a magnetic needle always pointing towards Jerusalem (rather than to the North). It is marketed as a way to "know the direction of Jerusalem for prayer" and "to feel connected to Jerusalem, anywhere and anytime".
Why do [most] synagogues around the world position the Torah ark so that the congregants face in the direction of Jerusalem? What is the source for the spiritual concept that prayers do not ascend directly to heaven but rather go first to the Jerusalem Temple and from there upwards [if this is the concept]?
Jews have long focused on Jerusalem during worship. The reason is that Jerusalem has long been our national religious center. One way that Jews have maintained their focus on Jerusalem while praying is to face the city, and the practice of doing so is extremely old. The prophet Daniel, who was a Judean exile living in Babylonia at the end of the seventh century BCE, faced Jerusalem when he prayed:
Now Daniel … went to his house, in whose upper chamber he had had windows made facing Jerusalem, and three times a day he knelt down, prayed, and made confession to his God, as he had always done.
(Daniel 6:11)
Focusing on Jerusalem also took place during the days of the Second Temple (516 BCE to 70 CE). Groups of Jewish worshippers would synchronize their daily prayers with the Temple’s public worship. (See M. Ta’anit IV).
Following the destruction of the Second Temple, the rabbis sought to maintain this focus. In order that Jews not forget the immense national loss represented by the destruction of the Temple, they determined that the three prescribed daily worship services (Shaharit, Minchah, and Ma’ariv) should take place at the same times that daily activities had once taken place in the Temple. (B. Berakhot 26b) Similarly, they insisted that Jews focus their attention on Jerusalem by, if at all possible, facing the city (more precisely, the site of the Temple) while praying:
If one is standing outside the Land of Israel, he should direct his heart toward the Land of Israel. … If one is standing in the Land of Israel, he should direct his heart toward the Temple. … If he is standing in the Temple, he should direct his heart toward the Holy of Holies. ...
Therefore, if one is in the east, he should turn his face to the west; if in the west he should turn his face to the east; if in the south he should turn his face to the north; if in the north he should turn his face to the south. In this way the entire Jewish People are directing their hearts to one place. (B. Berakhot 30a)
Nonetheless, facing Jerusalem was never a prerequisite for efficacious worship:
Our rabbis taught: A blind person or someone who cannot orient him/herself should direct his/her heart toward his Parent in Heaven. (B. B’rakhot 30a)
Indeed, in general, they taught, “When a person prays he/she should direct his heart to Heaven.” (B. B’rakhot 31a)
Clearly, then, one prays toward, but not to Jerusalem. One isn’t sending one’s prayers to Jerusalem in order for them then to ascend to heaven; one is facing the Holy City of Jerusalem to allow it – i.e., the image of Jerusalem in one’s brain and heart -- to help focus one’s prayers.
I myself don’t imagine that my prayers are going through Jerusalem on their way to some celestial destination, but I do find much value in facing Jerusalem nonetheless. To me, facing Jerusalem is a powerful reminder that, as a Jew, prayer is a collective as well as a personal experience. When I stand before God, I stand as an individual. But I also stand as a member of the Jewish people. My individual concerns are important -- but so too are those of my people. Jerusalem reminds me of those communal concerns.
In a sense, then, I would say that the traditional Jewish practice of facing Jerusalem during worship helps me “channel” my prayers in a Jewish direction.
The origin of the synagogue is shrouded in history. It may have formed as a place of communal gathering in the wake of the Babylonian Exile (586 BCE). It is known that synagogues existed alongside the Holy Temple in Jerusalem before its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. Nonetheless it is not until after the Destruction that the synagogue becomes the central institution of Jewish communal activity and the stand-in for the Holy Temple.
Numerous passages support the idea that prayer is effective wherever it is recited, regardless of direction. Based on the verse in Nehemia 9:6 that “You alone are the Lord who made the heavens, the highest heavens,” Rabbi Oshaia teaches “that the Presence of God is in every place” (B. Baba Batra 25a). Similarly, based on the verse from Exodus (20:21), “In every place where I cause my name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you,” the Talmud teaches that “even one who sits and engages with the Torah, the Shekhina (God's Presence) is with him.” (Berachot 6a) Again, Mishna Berachot 4:5 teaches that if one is in a place where it is not possible to distinguish direction, such as in a desert or at sea, one should direct their heart toward the Holy of Holies. These passages teach that prayer and Divine service are not dependent on the direction one faces.
The tradition that synagogues should face east is based on the Rabbinic understanding of two key passages: Daniel 6: 11 and I Kings 8:48.
The Jerusalem Talmud (Berachot Ch. 4, Halakha 1, Daf 29b) builds on a conversation between King Darius and Daniel. When the King says to Daniel 6:17), “May your God, whom you serve, deliver you,” the Talmud wonders if there was such service in Babylonian and affirms that effective prayer did take place in that foreign land. The Talmud then wonders about the details and asks, May one pray facing any direction he wishes? Scripture teaches, Daniel (6:11) “went to his house, where he had windows made facing Jerusalem, and three times a day he knelt down, prayed and made confession to his God, as he had always done.” From this passage the Sages learn that prayer can take place outside of the Land of Israel, that the prayers should be recited facing Jerusalem, and that a synagogue should have windows.
Solomon's prayer upon the completion of the Mikdash , the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, states that when the people are carried off to foreign lands, “they will pray to You in the direction of their land which You gave to their fathers, of the city You have chosen, and of the House which I have built to Your name.” (I Kings 8:48)
Tosefta Berachot 3:15 builds on this passage:
A blind person and one who cannot discern direction should direct their heart toward the Place [a name of God] and pray, as I Kings 8:48 says, “they shall pray to God.” If they were outside the Land of Israel, they should direct their hear toward the Land, as I Kings says, “they shall pray to God in the direction of their land,” And if in the Land, they should direct their hear toward Jerusalem, as our same passage says, “they shall prayer toward this city.” Those in Jerusalem pray toward the Bet HaMikdash [the Temple], “they shall pray to this House.” Those in the Bet HaMikdash direct their heart toward the Holy of Holies, “they shall pray to this place.” So those on the north faced south, those on the south faced north, those to the east faced west and those to the west faced east. All Israel prayed toward one place.
The implication may be that there is an ever increasing intensity as one moves closer to the site of the Holy of Holies, as one can sharpen the focus of their prayers.
When these passages suggest that one “directs their heart” toward a given place, does that mean that the prayers are traveling that path, or is it a meditative exercise to focus our minds toward God? Perhaps the effect is to place the Holy of Holies in our heart, not in a physical Jerusalem. Perhaps the goal is to get all of Israel praying toward one place, as the Tosefta teaches, with the effect that our global communal prayer multiplies the power of each individual prayer.
I would personally agree more with Rabbi Oshaia who taught that God who created the Highest Heavens is accessible from any place one prays. I believe that God hear my prayer directly, without either a human or a geographical intermediary.
Copyright 2020 all rights reserved. Jewish Values Online
N O T I C E
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN ANSWERS PROVIDED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE INDIVIDUAL JVO PANEL MEMBERS, AND DO NOT
NECESSARILY REFLECT OR REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE ORTHODOX, CONSERVATIVE OR REFORM MOVEMENTS, RESPECTIVELY.
