Letters to Malcom (Letter 3, Part 4)

Lewis returns to a few things towards the end of this letter that we have already discussed. So, the issue I would like to concentrate on here is the question of position during prayer. Lewis, rightfully in my opinion, places value on the position of the body during prayer since the body must pray as well. This the Jewish Sagesthroughout the ages (codified by Rama, Orach Chayyim 48:1) who invoke the psalmist (35:10), "All my bones shall say, God, who is like You?" to suggest that one should wave or shake one's body during the readong of the Torah and during prayer.

However, Lewis notes that there are more important aspects of prayer then kneeling such as concentration and that make sense. After all, the center of prayer is the heart and mind and while the body has a role it is clearly secondary. 

Not surprisingly, Judaism has a much more formalized approach to position during prayer which may take the form of sitting, standing, or leaning. Some prayers can be free form, others have preferneces or requirements (subject to capability). The need to stand might be due to honor or (as with the amidah service) an attempt to mimic angelic prayer. 

In summary, Lewis favors personal preference in time, position, liturgy, place and other aspects of prayer. The main goal is to have concentration on the prayers themselves. This leads to a very personal and (assuming the best of the person praying) meaningful prayer service. Judaism, though much of prayer was originally free-form, has formalized all of these aspects of prayer this has its own positive aspects as we've discussed in the past. Formalization also lends itself to being more apropos for communal prayer. I'll wait for a discussion of this to see if Lewis brings it up any point soon (I haven't read any further than I've written about so let's see where Lewis takes us next).   

RESPONSE: How Hebraic an Inkling?

Hi Everyone! Sorry that I've disappeared for so long - lots of travel over this past month, including a vacation in Israel to see our sons. Thank God, they are both doing well! Now I'm back and, as usual, we have lots to catch up with. 

Let me start by recalling that several months ago R'  Mark Gottlieb published a review article on P. H. Brazier's book A Hebraic Inkling: C.S. Lewis on Judaism and the Jews. At the time I mentioned that I thought a number of issues he raised required further comment. Well, those comments, my response to R' Gottlieb's article, have now been published on Tradition Online. 

I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts, not necessarily on Brazier's book (though I would love to hear those as well), but on what it does, or should, mean to be a Hebraic Christian or how far a Jew can push Chritian beliefs towards his own. 

In first noting R' Gottlieb's article, I said that perhaps it would motivate me to return to my comments on Brazier's book. Unfortunately, I have yet to do so, but hopefully I will soon (though I think I'll need to start again). Of course we are very slowly also trying to review Letters to Malcom so there's plenty to be done.

Finally, I wanted to make clear that I am a big fan of R' Gottlieb and already five years ago we had a discussion about C.S. Lewis which you can find here. Nothing written in my comments should in any way be taken as a lack of respect for him and the intellectual clarity he brings to all of his writings.