Communities do not. Each river flows in its course (Nahara nahara u’pashtei). When you initially requested permission to daven out loud, I disagreed because, in our custom, davening out loud is not something one plans in advance.
“However, if the cries arise spontaneously during tefillah, it is wonderful, and I am fine with it!”
In light of this story, I was inspired to reflect on the text of Nishmas itself. Initially, we declare: “If our mouths were as full of song as the sea, and our tongues as full of joy as the waves... we still could not thank You enough.” This suggests that we are incapable of offering sufficient praise.
Yet, later, we boldly proclaim: “For every mouth will thank You, every tongue will swear to You, every innermost part will sing Your praise.”
This appears contradictory. How can we, who just acknowledged our inadequacy, suddenly affirm our ability to praise Hashem?
The answer lies in the transformation that occurs during the tefillah. Initially, as we assess our limitations, we admit we cannot adequately bless Hashem. But we cannot hold back once we are immersed in prayer and the soul ignites in fiery enthusiasm. From within arises the uncontainable cry: “For every mouth will thank You, every tongue will swear to You.”
The holy Beis Aharon zt”l (Parashas Tetzaveh) writes of chassidim shotim (foolish chassidim) who seek and await spontaneous enthusiasm in tefillah. This requires careful understanding: is it not desirable to seek such enthusiasm? What, then, is the fault here? This topic demands further elaboration, which I addressed at length elsewhere in my writings.
Nonetheless, we learn from his holy words that one must toil and labor diligently in serving Hashem. Effort must precede inspiration; one must ignite the lamp of Hashem, the soul of man, through persistent and deliberate effort, as the Zohar explains (2:172a and elsewhere). Only then will the flame rise on its own.
This is the meaning of the pasuk (Shemos 27:21) regarding the eternal flame within the Jewish soul, מֵ עֶ רֶ ב וּבָנָיו אַ הֲ רֹן אֹתוֹ יַעֲרֹךְ לְ דֹרֹתָ ם עוֹלָם חֻ קַּ ת ›ה לִ פְ נֵי בֹּ קֶ ר עַד - Aharon and his sons shall arrange it from evening to morning before Hashem, an eternal statute for their generations. Even in dark times (evening), through arduous labor, one perseveres until achieving illumination (morning), when Torah and mitzvos radiate continuously, and the flame ascends on its own.
May we merit to internalize this teaching and prepare ourselves during the sacred days of Elul, striving with all our hearts to serve Hashem with devotion and sincerity.
