הנה מה טוב ומה נעים שבת אחים גם יחד
Hinneh mah tov umah na'im
Shevet achim gam yachad
Translated:
Behold how good and how pleasing it is for us to be together in unity.
Welcome to Prayer/Tefilah 101 - The goals for the class are:
- Understand the purpose of prayer/Jewish prayer
- Make prayer relevant to life
- Develop a closer connection and feeling for Jewish prayer
- Explore the responses to prayer and its potential for personal transformation
What will we need for this class?
1. An open mind
2. An open heart
3. Something to write with
4. Something to write on
Introductions...
Activity #1: Please write 2 to 3 words that come to your mind when you hear the word prayer...
Word Cloud
www.freewordcloudgenerator.com
Let's see if there are trends in how we're thinking about prayer as a group...
Question for all: What would everyone like to know about prayer in general or Jewish prayer in particular?
Prayer, like God, can be an elusive subject -- it is often easier to explain what prayer is not than what it is -- similar to the way some of our ancestors felt it was only possible to say what God is not since if we were to say what God 'is' then we'd be limiting God in our perception...
Still, in the interest of moving off the 'philosophical fence' - let's start with some thoughts on what prayer is - if one or more strikes you as compelling, make a note of it
"Jewish prayer is a means to an end. That end is achieving an altered state of mind and, by doing so, reinforcing ourselves in resisting evil and doing good in our daily lives." (Arnold Rosenberg)
"Through everything you see, become aware of the divine. If you encounter love, remember the love of God, if you experience fear, think god the fear of God..." (Chasidic teaching)
"You prayer every day of your life without knowing it: Every cry of agony from a pained heart is a prayer, Every longing you have had for a better life has been a prayer, Every dream you've ever had for a better world is a prayer, Every time you look for guidance from the still, small Voice within, you are praying, Every time you feel a sense of awe or gratitude, your are worshiping, Every time you celebrate beauty and love you are worshiping, Every time you surrender to the flow of life, you are worshiping, When you realize that you are part of Something greater, that there is an ineffable mystery to existence, then you are worshiping." (Burt Jacobson)
"Prayer is the microcosm of the soul. It is the whole soul in one moment; the quintessence of all our acts, the climax of all our thoughts....To pray...means to bring God back into the world, to establish God's Sovereignty, to let God's glory prevail...God is transcendent but our worship makes God immanent...It is the sense of the ineffable that enables us to pray...
(ineffable = incapable of being expressed in words)
If the rise of the sun is but a daily routine of nature, there is no reason to say: In mercy You give light to the earth and to those who dwell on it...If bread is nothing but flour moistened, kneaded, baked, and then brought forth from the oven, it is meaningless to say Blessed are You...who brings forth bread from the earth.
It is in moments of our being faced with the mystery of living and dying, of knowing and not knowing, of love and the inability to love- that we pray, that we address ourselves to The One who is beyond the mystery.
(AJ Heschel, No Time for Neutrality)
"Prayer is the energy feedback God gets from us, God's creation. Prayer completes the circuit of God's energy and helps to keep it flowing." R. Zalman Schachter Shalomi z"l
There are two elements of prayer study that we're going to focus on:
1. Becoming prayerful people - Just like any activity we do has an impact on who we are, and a great impact when it becomes part of us, a natural flowing party of our lives, our goal is to infuse ourselves with a prayer mindset that is with us always - a sense of the ineffable, a sense of reaching out, a sense of reflectiveness
2. Becoming more skilled and aware of Jewish prayer as an activity and art that expresses our shared values from centuries of Jewish tradition in communities both here and across the world
An exercise in prayerfulness -- Wherever you are taking notes, please write words or a sentence in response to each of 2 different pictures we will look at...
Sharing...
Homework: Notice and appreciate -- Over the course of the week, let's experiment raising our level of awareness and 'appreciation' of the flow of time, phenomena in our lives, people...I put 'appreciation' in quotes since we may notice phenomena that are not 'positive' (illness, loneliness, pain)...How do we react when experiencing these phenomena? What words come to mind? Do any Jewish prayers you're familiar with come to mind in these moments?
Now let's open up to Jewish prayer, focusing on the written prayers of our tradition that we tend to read in the Siddur, the payer book.
Our goal here will be to see the Siddur in a new way, to see the prayer texts not as a passage we must read and complete but rather...
"Treat [the Siddur] as a study guide. It is not a text book. Read a page, think about it, sift the ideas through your consciousness. Let what comes to mind float free, and follow gently. More than what stimulated it, your own production is what counts in spiritual life. This book won't do a thing for you. But your response to it can do everything, with God's grace and the higher mind which is your own." R. Zalman Schachter Shalomi z"l
"The worshiper must direct the heart to each word. The worshiper is like one who walks in a garden collecting rare and precious flowers, plucking them one by one in order to weave a garland. So we move from word to word and from page to page uniting the words into prayers. Every word seizes hold of us and cleaves to us and entreats us not to abandon it and says: "Consider my light, notice my grace. Pay attention as you take hold of me, take care as you pronounce my name."
-R. Nahman of Bratzlav, Likutay Etzot Ha-Shem
Next, we will broaden our awareness to see how our ancestors organized prayers into 'services', meaningful constructions of prayers that move in an emotionally aware and thoughtful progression from consciousness, to feeling, to knowledge, and, at the top of the wave - to communion, and then, back again into the flow of the world, time, and life...
We see this full 'wave' effect primarily in the weekday and Shabbat/holiday morning services
We're going to close tonight by connecting sensory experience with a traditional Jewish prayer in a way that transforms the prayer words from only performance of a daily obligation to, hopefully, a new window into its meaning for us.
The Shema - prayer we say 2x a day, morning and evening, focusing on the first line
שמע ישראל ה׳ אלקינו ה׳ אחד
Shema Yisrael Ado-nai Elo-henu Ado-nai Echad
Hear, Israel, Ado-nai Our God, Ado-nai is One
(Deuteronomy 6:4)
Let's break down the word Shema into three sensory experiences:
Sh = Quiet, listen, meditate, reflect
Mm = Relish the moment, appreciate blessings that surround us
Ah = Feel the wonder, the gratitude, amazement at all of creation and its workings
Let's practice dividing up the word Shema this way, try it for yourself - Shhh, Mmmm, Aaaah...
Then, we'll say the prayer together to close our session.
And next time we'll begin by examining the 6 fundamental words of Jewish blessings Baruch Atah Ado-nai Elo-henu Melech Ha'olam...