70 Jason Rosenberg

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The compelling force of this moral training does not come about when man is in seclusion, but rather when he joins with his fellow men in communal life. Therefore, the main point and purpose of prayer lies in the coming together of

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men[Italics mine)”

This theme, that it is the creation of a sense of community, and a connection with our fellow Jews , which is the entire point of communal prayer, is also supported by Samson Raphael Hirsch :

The individual found his relationship purified and sublimated as soon as he conceived it as an essential part of the whole, thus regarding himself also as an active member of the community as soon as you regard yourself as a member of a whole, as a member of the community of Jacob, then all egotism, which selfishly knows only itself, is banished you will then feel yourself elevated and sanctified. You will regard your whole being and all the power within it as holy when you consider that you must contribute to the execution of the great and holy mission that was given to the whole House of Jacob at Horeb.”

All of these thinkers are expressing a powerful idea,” that coming together, as a corporate group, has enormous power. That we are transformed, on a deep, spiritual level, by the presence of other people engaged in prayer, as we are.