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Does God of Judaism permit to pray in any language?
After reading some chapters of Tanakh I had found a relation between Abrahamic Religions (Islam, Judaism, Christianity).
I don't know how many Abrahamic Religions are right there. I have found 4 now.
- Judaism
- Christianity
- Islam
- the Bahá'í Faith
I have studied Islam, Christianity and Judaism. So, I am just talking about them and ignoring another one.
Old Testament:
"You shall have no other gods besides Me" (Exodus 20:3)
New Testament:
"You shall worship the Lord your God. and Him only you shall serve" (Luke 4:8)
The Quran: "You shall know that: "There is no other god beside God" 47:19
Jesus preached love and submission to God. He proclaimed that he has not come to change the law (of the Torah) but to confirm it (Mathew 5:17-18)
Prophet Muhammad did not bring any religion by the name of Islam. It is written in the Qur'an that Islam (Submission to God), is as old as Abraham (22:78)
"Abraham was neither a Jew, nor a Christian; but he was a monotheist submitter. He was not one of the those who set up partners with God." 3:67 ~ Quora
Currently I believe in Abrahamic Religion.
In Quran (Hadith maybe) : You can pray in any Language but, you will get less virtue than you pray in Arabic
Since, I haven't read Bible or Tanakh completely so I don't know if there's similar thing like this. Above I mentioned that I believe in Abrahamic Religion but I didn't mention any Religion name cause, according to my research God exists but, I don't know if he gave a specific Religion. Allah (mentioning Muslim God) allows people to pray in any language. Even, Christians also can pray in any language (according to my study). But, I don't have any idea of Judaism. Even, history of those religions are little bit related so I can simply believe those histories either (I have some other opinion about Christianity but I am not saying anything about that since those words are likely to show disrespect to Christians)
Christians say God sent a person to heaven called Adam later when he said to God that he is alone; he needs someone else. Then God sent a woman to him called Eve. There was a tree of Satan; God told Adam to not take "apple" from that tree but, Eve had gone there and took an apple she shared apple with Adam. Later, God sent them to Earth not to listen to him.
The same thing goes here : https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8167/jewish/Chapter-3.htm
In Quran also, all the differences was available in Islam that is name. The man was called Mohammad Adam (a:) but, the woman was called Hawa (a:).
All above Religions claim that they were prophet. So, there's no difference. So, I can simply believe those Religions altogether.
I would like to pray in my own language since, all those Religion has different languages. My question is,"Does God of Judaism permit to pray in any language?"
1 answer
The general answer to your question is that Hebrew is preferable but you also need to understand what you're saying, so it's permitted to pray in other languages. (Ideally you are working to improve your Hebrew understanding along the way.)
More specifically: the talmud on Sotah 33a (and vicinity) says that the Amidah, the central prayer of the thrice-daily service, may be said in any language. Many rabbis (who I can't precisely cite, but Maimonides, the Rambam, is one of them) teach that intention in prayer is important; just saying words you don't understand does not fulfill the obligation. Whether you understand the Hebrew directly, have studied a translation and so know broadly what you are saying, or pray in a language you do understand, you need to mean the words you're saying.
Another core recitation -- not technically a prayer but a passage of biblical text, said morning and night -- is the Shema. There is some disagreement in the talmud about whether this biblical text must be recited in the biblical language (Hebrew); I don't know if it's settled there, but the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) in Orach Chayim 62:2 says that the Shema can be said in any language so long as you are precise in your pronunciation.
There are other fixed prayers; I would reason that if other languages are permitted for these "core" cases, then surely they must be for other cases too.
Everything I've said so far is about fixed prayers. Most of (modern) Jewish prayer is fixed texts, but people also pray from the heart, free-form prayer, both during the regular service and at other times. There is a discussion in the talmud (ibid.) about this; some say that the ministering angels (who are apparently involved in bringing your prayer to God) don't understand other languages, and others say that some angels do understand other languages and, anyway, God does. As a practical matter, I don't see how you could pour out your heart to God if you don't know the language, and I've never heard that one should abstain from these personal prayers for lack of language fluency. It is better to reach out to God than not.
As noted in a comment by dsr, what I've said here is the law for Jews. According to Judaism, non-Jews have a much smaller set of commandments, the seven Noachide laws, and they do not include a requirement to pray at all, let alone in a particular language. While there are parts of Jewish observance that are "reserved" for Jews (that is, Jewish law says non-Jews are forbidden to do them), prayer is not one of them. So non-Jews are not required to pray, may pray, and if so may pray in any language they understand, since even Jews can pray in any language they understand.
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