Dear Lazywebs,

[ewt]

Is there a Jewish equivalent of church bells or the Islamic call to prayer?

A friend doing some inter-faith liturgical planning wants to know. I don't remember anything like that, but might well have missed it on account of a) arriving at synagogue slightly after most services started and b) not really understanding Hebrew.

Comments

[lethargic_man]

Yes. At the start of שַׁחֲרִית and מַעֲרִיב, after the "spiritual warm-up" of פְּסוּקֵי דְזִמְרָא in the former case and וְהוּא רַחוּם in the latter, there is a call to prayer: The chazzan says בָּרְכוּ אֶת־ה׳ הַמְּבוֹרָךְ, the congregation replies
בָּרוּךְ ה׳ הַמְּבוֹרָךְ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד, and the chazzan repeats בָּרוּךְ ה׳ הַמְּבוֹרָךְ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד.