Purpose of Prayer

Why do Orthodox Jews pray in synagogue? Jews, like followers of many other religions, use prayer to get in touch with G-d. They believe that prayer allows them to communicate with G-d. Through communicating with G-d, both men and women have the power of healing, can get help solving their problems and become more perfect.

In an Orthodox synagogue, women either sit in a balcony above where men sit or they sit across the aisle from men but cannot see the men praying because there is a curtain dividing the two genders. One reason for the separation between men and women in Orthodox Judaism is that many people say that women are more connected to their feelings than men are. This means that women are more connected to G-d and do not need to attend prayer services as frequently. On the contrary, men need to pray more often to connect with G-d and to know what is going on within themselves. I believe that some women are more connected to their feelings and know what is going on within themselves, but men can also be connected to themselves and their feelings. When I started my research, I did not think that gender affects how much a person knows him/herself; rather I thought it is up to the individual person to be in tune with his/her own feelings. According to Orthodox Jews, however, women are more connected to themselves than men, which explains why women are only required to pray once a day when men have to pray three times each day. After learning this, I now think that women can be more connected to themselves than men. However, the connection to oneself depends on the person and how well that person knows him/herself. If a women does not know herself very well and is not in touch with her inner feelings, it is still acceptable for her to pray only once a day. On the other hand, a man could be in touch with his inner feelings more than a woman, but he would still have to pray three times a day. I think that each individual person should choose how many times a day he/she prays based on how in tune he/she is with his/herself, with some guidelines from Jewish laws.

Sources:
Gureck, Jeffrey S. Orthodox Jews in America. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, IN, 2009.