But the custom which was in those days general among all men, and the general mode of worship in which the Israelites were brought up, consisted in sacrificing animals in those temples which contained certain images, to bow down to those images, and to burn incense before them; religious and ascetic persons were in those days the persons that were devoted to the service in the temples erected to the stars, as has been explained by us. It was in accordance with the wisdom and plan of God, as displayed in the whole Creation, that He did not command us to give up and to discontinue all these manners of service; for to obey such a commandment it would have been contrary to the nature of man, who generally cleaves to that to which he is used; it would in those days have made the same impression as a prophet would make at present if he called us to the service of God and told us in His name, that we should not pray to Him, not fast, not seek His help in time of trouble; that we should serve Him in thought, and not by any action.
RaMBaM is almost saying in so many words that in his humble opinion meditation is a higher form of worship than prayer and fasting, and that he would be pleased if meditation would replace prayer and fasting as the primary method of worship.
In my own humble opinion, for about the past 250 years he has been slowly getting his wish. I am not an expert on the history of Jewish liturgical music, so the following is just my impression. I welcome correction by an expert. Song has long been a part of Jewish worship, but until the rise of Hassidut the only singer was the Hazzan. Presumably, Zemirot Shabbat were sung, but that was at home, not in the synagogue. Hassidim all sang together at Shabbat and Yom Tov services. (Readers (if there are any) of my blogs know that I don't have a particularly high opinion of Hassidut, but I want to give credit where credit is due.) In the 20th century, congregational singing as part of public worship spread to mainstream synagogues. A long time ago I read that the founders of Young Israel were givn a nickname in the second decade of the 20th century that reflected their desire to establish congregations in which everyone (or at any rate all the men) sang. Unfortunately, I have not succeeded in finding that nickname with Google.
When I was a kid I davened at Young Israel of Flatbush. I don't remember exactly how they did Lekha Dodi but it wasn't as bad as at Talmud Torah of Flatbush, where I was for Kabbalat Shabbat one or two times. At Talmud Torah of Flatbush, each verse was mumbled by the congregation and then sung by the Hazzan. Maybe at Young Israel of Flatbush each verse was sung by the congregation and then by the ba'al tefillah. I remember being rather pleased when in 1964 I was a freshman at Cornell living in the Young Israel House of Cornell and we all sang Lekha Dodi together, each verse once. Thanks in part to the popularity of composers like Shlomo Carlebach, but maybe mores because the times are ready for it, which would explain why Carlebach tunes caught on in davening, congregational singing now is pretty much mainstream.
That's moving towards RaMBaM's desired mode of worship. Instead of praying to God we all sing about God.
