When Danielle asked if I’d like to participate in the praying and preparation of the shawl, my musings about prayer shawls led me to remember that Jesus might well have used and recommended prayer shawls as an aid to “secret prayer” in Matthew 6.6:
But when you pray, go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to you Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.Here Jesus urges that we enter a private room (other translations call it a “closet,” “a quiet, secluded place,” “chamber,”) to circumvent any ego-driven tendency to ostentatious praying. Some commentaries suggest that Jesus’ word for closet--in the Greek New Testament (τὸ ταμεῖόν, to tameion) is best understood as a reference to the Jewish prayer-shawl, the tallit, traditionally used by observant Jews during prayer. The wearing of the "tallit" (Hebrew: טַלִּית, pronounced tal-eet), also called the "tallis" or "prayer shawl," was commanded by God in Num.15:37-40:
God spoke to Moses: "Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them that from now on they are to make tassels on the corners of their garments and to mark each corner tassel with a blue thread. When you look at these tassels you'll remember and keep all the commandments of God, and not get distracted by everything you feel or see that seduces you into infidelities. The tassels will signal remembrance and observance of all my commandments, to live a holy life to God. I am your God who rescued you from the land of Egypt to be your personal God. Yes, I am God, your God."Lest w
e forget that Jesus was thoroughly Jewish and that he observed that commandment, it may be helpful to picture Jesus as always wearing his tallit or prayer shawl. Indeed, Jim Gerrish is quite right to remind us that we can be assured that he wore one. Marc Chagall's "The Praying Jew" might well give you the image of Jesus that fits what we know about the way Jesus looked when wearing his prayer shawl.Had he not done so, he would have broken the very law that he came to uphold. The law concerning the wearing of such garments is found in Numbers 15:37-49. These garments were certainly still worn in Jesus time, because along with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a tallit was found almost intact. It can be seen on display today at the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.
On one occasion a sick woman came and touched what must have been the fringes (tzitzit) of this garment, and in so doing, she was healed (Mk. 6:53-56). Traditionally the four corners of the tallit are called "the four wings." Perhaps she had in mind that phrase in Malachi 4:2, which speaks of the Messiah as one with "healing in its wings."
The clear implication is that at Matthew 6.6. Jesus is recommending the use of one’s tallit as a closet, inner room, or secret place.
This interpretation is born out when we remember that TALITH contains two Hebrew words; TAL meaning tent and ITH meaning little. Thus, you have LITTLE TENT. Each man had his own little tent. Six million Jews could not fit into the tent of meeting that was set up in the Old Testament. Therefore, what was given to them was their own private sanctuary where they could meet with God. Each man had one! His Prayer Shawl or Talith. They would pull it up over their head, forming a tent, where they would begin to chant and sing their Hebrew songs, and call upon God. It was intimate, private, and set apart from anyone else -- enabling them to totally focus upon God. This was their prayer closet! (The Hope of Israel)As Danielle knits her prayer shawl for her friend, she is encouraging the revival of an ancient prayer tradition—the use of a tallit; and moreover, remembering Jesus’ encouragement of its use for “secret prayer,” Danielle might also be suggesting a prayer shawl is perhaps an apt aid to Centering Prayer, prayer spoken only to God in secret, deeply interior prayer, prayer that forsakes not only public ostentation but also minimizes as much as possible the interruption of private thoughts, images, imaginative speculations, interior story-telling, and pious perceptions, no matter how "holy" they may be.
Surely we enter our closets by simply closing our eyes. Many, however, also find it helpful to pray in a darkened room or at night. If those practices are helpful, surely the use of a prayer shawl might also be beneficial in that it may help us—as Jesus recommends—to physically close the door to distractions and nearby disturbances.
Personally I don’t own or use a prayer shawl, but in Centering Prayer I sometimes pull the hood of my so-called sweat-shirt up so as to bury my head inside something much like a tallit. Now, however, that Danielle has gotten me interested, I may start actually thinking about using one. Methodist women, like Danielle, seem to be leading the renewal of tallits as gifts, prayer closets, and aids to healing. If you’re interested, you might like to visit one or more of the following:
- Prayer Shawls Become Gifts of Love
- Methodist women minister through prayer shawls
- Prayer Shawl Ministry
- Prayer Shawls
May God bless Danielle's knitting and prayers for her friend.
Images: Marc Chagall (Russian-born French painter, 1887-1985), "The Praying Jew" (1923, copy of 1914 work), oil on canvas, 116.8 x 89.4 cm, Art Institute of Chicago; The blessing of shawls made by Methodist women
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