Bible Question:
Where can I find info. on the different levels of praise with meanings such as the(Towdah,Tehillah,Towah,ect...) Praise and so on. Thanks |
Bible Answer: Rav T, An interesting and unsusal question. I cannot address all the different types of praise prayer you mentioned but I am familiar with a ongoing application of the todah. In Catholic sacramental theology the connection between the Mass and the Passover celebration is well known. But there is also a connection with the todah which is less well known. Here is a brief exposition on the subject which you may find of interest. "Perhaps the most striking liturgical "ancestor" of the Mass is the todah of ancient Israel. The Hebrew word todah, like the Greek word Eucharist, means "thank offereing" or "thanksgiving." The word denotes a sacrificial meal shared with friends in order to celebrate one's graditude to God. A todah begins by recalling some mortal threat and then celebrates man's divine deliverance from that threat. It is a powerful expression of confidence in God's sovereignty and mercy. Psalm 69 is a good example. An urgent plea for deliverance ("Save me , O God!"), it is at the same time a celebration of that eventual deliverance ("I will praise the name of God with a song... For the Lord hears the needy"). Perhaps the classic example of the todah is Psalm 22, which begins with "My God, my GoD, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus Himself quoted this as He hung on the cross. His listeners would have recognized the reference, and they would have known that this song, which begins with a cry of dereliction, ends on a triumphant note of salavtion. Citing this todah, Jesus demonstrates His own confident hope in deliverance. The similarities between todah and eucharist go beyond their common meaning of thanksgiving. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has written: "Structurally speaking, the whole of Christology, indeed the whole of Eucharistic Christology, is present in the todah spirituality of the Old Testament." Both the todah and the Eucharist present their worship through word and meal. Moreover, the todah, like the Mass, includes an unbloody offering of bread and wine. The ancient rabbis made a significant prediction regarding the todah. "In the coming (Messianic) age, all sacifices will cease except the todah sacrifice. This will never cease in all eternity." (Pesiqta, I, p. 159)." excerped from: The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth by Scott Hahn p 32-33 Doubleday 1999 Emmaus |