In previous generations, there were people who reached high levels of religious fervor by reciting words from a prayer book that they did not comprehend.
A person would hear something, give it a meaning–right or wrong–and have from it a holy enthusiasm.
That blend of ignorance and simplicity no longer exists. For better or worse, we have left behind that world of simple faith.
We cannot build any deep connection on words that we do not understand.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From The Thirteen Petalled Rose by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz