And I thought Groucho Marx was witty.
Essentially, one shouldn’t lie with all of one’s limbs outstretched on any type of floor, or even kneel on a stone floor. If one’s synagogue floor is made of stone, bring a cloth or something similar to cover it before kneeling. Many people have the custom of covering any synagogue floor before kneeling on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, to be super-careful about the issue, although I personally don’t (my synagogue is carpeted).
I’ve heard the whole sit-stand-kneel-stand-cross yourself, etc. referred to as “Catholic calisthenics” before.
Right. I’ve never been to a synagogue where individuals in the congregation did the prostrating themselves, but the chazan certainly did (on a wood floor, without a carpet).
In grad school (Theology) I was taught (though it is fairly obvious) that one traditionally stands as a sign of respect or honor or in celebration, sits to receive a teaching, and kneels in petition or humility. Clearly, more than one posture may be appropriate at a given point in worship. In learning to plan worship, we were taught to balance the appropriateness of the posture with the comfort of the congregation, local tradition, and contemporary mores. Excessive kneeling was discouraged, because it is unfamiliar to most Protestants, uncomfortable for many people, because contemporary people do not generally bow or kneel in daily life, and because few people today see God (or were encouraged at my school to see God) as a being to be groveled before. Having the congregation stand at various points was encouraged because it is a recognized sign of respect in contemporary society, it is less taxing that kneeling (though prolonged standing was discouraged as taxing for some), in receiving Communion it takes less time than sitting or kneeling (and has the mandate of long tradition), and it keeps the congregation from nodding off.
In the church I grew up in (non-denom, somewhat on the fundy side), we stood during all group prayers but if you felt the need to go forward to pray at the railing you would kneel.
Cradle Episcopalian here. This is the general formulation in our church (I would add, “stand to sing”), although there are always exceptions. Just yesterday we had the Palm Sunday reading of the Passion, and everyone sat until the part where Jesus arrived at Golgotha, when they stood. Our service leaflet is always pretty detailed in telling everyone when to sit, stand or kneel, and it’s not necessarily consistent on every occasion or on every Sunday.
And yes, I sometimes rest my butt on the front edge of the pew while I’m kneeling. Forgive me, I beseech thee, O most merciful HazelNutCoffee!
There is also a point in every service that even Reformed Jews bow. We don’t kneel ever, IIRC, but there is a common prayer spoken during which one bows once.
Always struck me as odd.
Cartooniverse
Well, during every day’s Orthodox services, there are two prayers said during each service that involve bowing: the Amida/Shmoneh Esray, which has three bows (two towards the beginning, during the ‘praise God’ section, and one towards the end, during the ‘thank God’ section; there aren’t any during the ‘request stuff from God’ section on weekdays, or the discussion of the Sabbath/holiday section on those days), and Aleinu, which has one, bowing during ‘and we bend and bow and stand before the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He’ passage, where you’re acting out what you’re saying. Both sets of bowing are from the waist, not kneeling, which is what the OP was asking about, so I didn’t mention it above.
Also, Cartooniverse, I never finished our email conversation from years ago, and have always felt guilty for just dropping you like that - I’d just like to apologize.
From the waist can count as a bow.
By the way, what is that thing, a quick bow from the waist, repeated constantly it seems, I see Jews do at the Wailing Wall (on tv)?
Ever curious,
mangeorge
That’s not actually bowing, that’s sort of swaying back and forth in time with the internal musical rhythm of the prayer, called shuckeling. some people go side to side, some go back and forth so that they look sort of like one of those little bird-bobbing toy things that touch their beaks to the water and then bob back up and down. But it’s really just being in a state of one-ness with the prayer, and swaying with the rhythm.
Jews never bow when invoking God, but there is one point of the service where we talk about “bending our knees” in humility, and then do so at that point. Similarly, in the silent devotional prayer, traditional Jews bow at certain points, but are supposed to be standing straight when they say God’s Name (or any of its substitutes)
Of course, if your church is anything like mine*, 90% of the time that one sings and therefore stands, one is also showing respect, honor or celebration, so standing is also appropriate per the guidelines taught to Alan Smithee.
The main time we remain seated to sing, in my experience, seems to be when we do a sung call to prayer type thing, when Alan’s teachings would suggest kneeling in petition or humility, but we’re Protestents who don’t kneel (except at the Altar Rail for Communion or prayer).
*Not guarenteed-- mine is usually United Methodist
Cool! That makes sense, esp to someone who can barely sit still when hearing music.
Shuckeling, huh? I like that term. Jews have a lot of really cool words, such as “schlepp”. Would it be inappropriate to use “shuckeling” to describe moving (not dancing) in time to music? Actually, it is dancing, we just don’t call it that.
Anyway, thanks.
Shuckeling, at least as it’s transitioned into American Jewish English (I am at least two generations removed from Yiddish) has strong religious-context overtones. One might shuckle while praying, or learning Jewish texts, or perhaps during the heartfelt singing of religious songs, but I’ve never heard it refer to something in a totally secular environment. It’s movement because you’re either keeping yourself focused on a spiritual thing, or because you’re totally into the spiritual thing you’re doing. I suppose you could easily shuckel in a non-Jewish context, but I have trouble applying the word to something people might do to electronica.
Okay. Not a problem, I’ll contnue to ditty-bop. As long as you don’t bogart all the cool terms. 
I did not mean to imply real bowing.
GilaB, no worries !! Email any ole time.
