What role does prayer play in constructing ones social and religious identity?
SARNA: In many ways, prayer creates community. In Judaism, prayer requires a prayer quorum, a minion, ten, historically ten men in liberal movements, ten people. But that suggests the need for community, that people come together, to pray. And while there are individual prayers, people can pray on their own, they hold inferior status, and a community of people that prays together often becomes a community of peers, of social community, a community that, after prayers, may get together to have a meal. So the prayer community very often becomes the primary community, especially for people, who pray on a fairly regular basis. The people who pray together become the people who interact together, and often people who find that they share many other things in common. I think most Americans, are comfortable with petitionary prayers, they are praying for health when they are sick, if they’re very young, they’re praying for a good grade in school. They my be praying, for a particular job or, th
