There are places in the siddur where one feels that the actions and stage directions instructed once encoded greater drama than we can currently muster. An example is the climax of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayers on Friday evening when we sing the great liturgical poem Lecha Dodi by the 16th-century kabbalist, Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz.
The final stanza welcomes the Shabbat, which is compared to a bride: "Come forward in peace, crown of her husband." Singing this section, we stand up and turn to the west, the direction of the sunset, as though the bride had just swept into synagogue from there. At the closing words, we bow and greet the Shabbat Bride. Can we feel the thrill of excitement and anticipation at her arrival that those who instituted the custom apparently experienced?