Davening — Jewish Communal Prayer
Davening (from Yiddish — to pray) encompasses the entire experience of Jewish communal prayer — a daily structure of three prayer services that scaffold the practitioner's day in divine consciousness.
Davening (Yiddish: to pray — possibly from the Latin 'divinare' or from Slavic roots) refers to the full practice of Jewish liturgical prayer — the three daily prayer services of Shacharit (morning), Mincha (afternoon), and Maariv (evening). These three services correspond to the three Patriarchs who instituted them according to the Talmud: Abraham (morning), Isaac (afternoon), and Jacob (evening); they also correspond to the three daily Temple sacrifices. The practice of davening three times daily creates a temporal structure of the day organized around divine consciousness — the morning prayer sets intention, the afternoon prayer pauses and reorients, the evening prayer closes the day with reflection and praise. The communal dimension — minyan (quorum of 10) for certain prayers — means that the practitioner's individual spiritual life is embedded in community. The Talmud (Ta'anit 2a) roots prayer in the verse 'to serve Him with all your heart' (Deuteronomy 11:13), asking 'What is the service of the heart? This is prayer' — the reason daily davening is called avodah she-balev, the service of the heart.
Three times a day I pray to You, Lord, and You answer me.
A minyan of ten is required for the sanctified parts of the service — Kaddish, Kedushah, Barchu, the Torah reading; the Talmud (Megillah 23b) derives the number from the 'congregation' (edah) of ten in Numbers 14:27. The principle 'b'rov am hadrat melech' (Proverbs 14:28) — 'in a multitude of people is the King's glory' — teaches that prayer offered in community is more fully received.
Tanakh
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- What Judaism says about community
Prayer three times a day, structured to be said alongside others. Parts of the liturgy require a quorum, so the practice cannot be completed in private.