As a child I remember standing in services looking forward to the chance to bend my knees and bow. It was this exciting change of pace, a time for me to do what the adults were doing. As a teen, I remember seeing how some people bowed and others didn’t and I wondered what was going on — so I went to the rabbi with my question, “What’s all this bowing about?” Maybe you have wondered the same thing. Perhaps you’ve been standing in prayer and suddenly you notice people are bowing and so, you too bow! But you’ve always wondered, why do I bow here and not there? Sometimes it may even look like people are bowing more than others, so who’s doing it “right”? This question of “doing it right,” is an interesting one in prayer, especially in Reform Judaism, where we tend to focus much more on how it makes us feel and less on “is this exactly how we were prescribed and commanded to do it.” As has been codified in our law codes (like the Shulchan Aruch), there are in fact specific moments … [Read more...]