jewish-stims reblogged
SWAYING. Worshippers can often be seen swaying during the standing part of the service, or while reading aloud from the Torah. Judah ha-Levi, a great medieval poet and philosopher, explained this by saying that because of a shortage of books, scholars had to keep moving around to look over their colleagues' shoulders. Vigorous swaying during prayer may be seen especially in a Hasidic synagogue and is called in Yiddish, shuckling.
-Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, Dr. Ben Isaacson, 1979, p. 156
