Prayer Beads in Religion

The Question:

"In many religions prayer beads are used. Why is Judaism unique in that it does not make use of this item?"

The Responses:

bs"d

Hi Ben:

Actually, prayer beads are not used in many religions. As far as I know, they were never part of Jewish prayer practice. We have our own unique prayer practices, and this never became one of them. Why that is so is hard to speculate on.

With blessings,
--
Rabbi Michael Skobac
Director of  Education and Counseling
Jews for Judaism

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Dear Ben

Thank you for your enquiry.

I am afraid that there is no clear answer other than that Judaism simply does not include this practice - there is no reason.

It is possible, and this is pure conjecture, that as Christianity and Judaism developed in parallel in the early Middle Ages, they sought ways to set themselves apart - therefore the fact that Christianity developed the idea of prayer beads was enough of a reason for this practice to develop in Judaism.

One could also argue that the Jewish practice of wearing a Tallit with its four knotted tassles, is equivalent in intention to using prayer beads.  The knots on the tassles are carefully counted and represent different concepts and there are (albeit obscure) customs of counting off the knots during certain prayers.

I do hope this answer is helpful and also recommend you to the following article that makes some other suggestions about the topic:

http://yajcenter.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/prayer-beads-in-judaism.html

Thanks and regards,

Rabbi Anna Gerrard

Outreach Director, Liberal Judaism
Community Rabbi, Gloucestershire Liberal Jewish Community

The Montagu Centre
21 Maple Street London W1T 4BE
E: a.gerrard@liberaljudaism.org
Visit our website: www.liberaljudaism.org

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Dear Ben,

What a fascinating question! I think that perhaps the reason is because the origins of prayer beads seems to be very much attached to idol worship. That would explain why they have never been a part of Jewish Prayer.   

Best regards from Jerusalem,

Rabbi Reuven Lauffer
ohr@ohr.edu
www.ohr.edu 

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There are many items that is being used by other religion but has no significance in Judaism
Only things that either g-d or rabbis have decided to be of significant are used by Jews
Thanks and tizku lemivot

-torahohr@gmail.com

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Hi Ben,

As far as I understand, prayer beads are used in order to count the prayers, and are meant to be an easy way to keep track of how many prayers are said. In other words, there is no inherent value or holiness in the beads themselves, and they are merely a matter of convenience.

I don't really see how they might be used in Jewish prayers. The Jewish prayers are read from a prayerbook, and one following along inside the book cannot get lost or confused during the prayers. It is hard for me to compare because I do not know much about the prayer rituals of other religions, so I don't really know why they might be necessary for their prayers.

Please let me know if I have the wrong picture of these prayer beads, and if there is any use you might be able to think of for them in the Jewish prayers.

All the best,

Shaul Wolf


What can we do for our brothers and sisters in Israel? Check out this link for some ideas: http://www.chabad.org/2040082


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Thank you for your question. Prayer beads are typically used to count something - the Rosary in Catholicism, the Tasbih of Fatimah in Islam, etc. In Jewish prayer, there's nothing that requires such counting.

Sincerely yours,

Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
OU Torah Content Editor
facebook.com/outorah
twitter.com/ou_torah

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Hello Ben,

Thank you for your interesting question. I don't think we really need an explanation why we don't use them. It seems they were simply never part of Jewish worship. In fact, there is a general rule in Judaism that we do not adopt non-Jewish practices of unknown origins - since they may have been used in idolatrous practices. It is based on Leviticus 18:3: "Do not follow in their practices."

With blessings,

Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld
Aish.com

 

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More responses expected shortly