Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading There are several common examples that come to mind, of passages that begin with a word that is followed by a comma - meaning that one is supposed to pause before continuing. These commas are often ignored; no pause is taken, and the result is a distortion or confusion for the meaning of the words. The morning bracha for spiritual well-being begins with ELOKAI, my G-d. We are speaking to G-d and saying, My G-d: (pause) the soul that You gave me... Remember to pause between ELOKAI and N'SHAMA. (If this is obvious to you and already part of the way you daven, just know that some people might not have noticed this.) So too at the end of the Amida. ELOKAI (pause) N'TZOR L'SHONI... My G-d (pause), please hold my tongue from evil... Similarly, at the beginning of the Amida, we say the pasuk from T'hilim (51:17) - HaShem (comma, pause) open my lips... One more, but different. With the first of Elul, we began saying Psalm 27 twice a day. The first word, L'DAVID, stands on its own. It is the short way of saying that this chapter of T'hilim is a Psalm of David. So we don't say L'David HaShem Ori V'Yish'i in one continuous burst, but rather L'David. Period, comma, colon. Your choice. Then the statement that G-d is my Light and Salvation. HaShem Ori V'Yish'i. These are four examples of a pause helping us better understand what we are saying. It is quite common for people to ignore commas when davening. The result is a mumble of words which don't let themselves be understood. You should also be aware of the fact that some Siddurim (especially older ones) have commas in the wrong place, that not only don't help our davening but can confuse the correct reading. So beware. And get a good Siddur. [The Parshat Sho-f'tim Homepage]
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