Tag: prayer

  • Our prayer.

    Our prayer.

    There’s something about our prayer in Judaism – it’s timeless. That’s out of necessity, out of an evergreen survival mode; but some periods of survival are more… necessity than others. I think that’s what fueled the magnet that drew me, compelled me, to shul this past shabbat. I had to be among those communal words,…

  • A season for internal Jewish liberation.

    A season for internal Jewish liberation.

    Here’s a secret. Even as a kid, I enjoyed sitting in synagogue on the high holidays. Even when friends would coax me to join them outside during the ‘boring parts’. (I didn’t really find them boring.) Even when my mom was reading any and all books from the stuffed shelves near the back row. Even…

  • Hear o’ Israel, it’s never too late for an old school prayer.

    Hear o’ Israel, it’s never too late for an old school prayer.

    I hadn’t said the Shema in earnest or even in unearnest in over a decade. Like riding a bicycle or worshipping a childhood god, the words are not forgotten once you start to move your mouth. The מ’s are plentiful; an exercise for the lips. The ך’s, too, are plentiful; an age-old exercise in patience…

  • Once in 28 years.

    I’m the type to get excited by the rare traditions in Judiasm. The kind I never heard about in my two decades of formal Jewish education. So waking up at 5:45  this morning to join a minyan on a Tzur Hadassah roof top didn’t really bother me, even after a late night of cooking and…

  • Download – and learn – Jewish prayers.

    Even though it’s been a while since I’ve (really) prayed, I haven’t forgotten the power of prayer or what it can do for a person – believer or not. This site got me all nostalgic, warm and fuzzy: Siddur Audio. I can’t believe someone was cool enough to post audio recordings of davening along with…

  • All aboard: Morning minyan on Israel Railways.

    New from Israel Railways: Pray for the train to be on time… Late for work or school because of long Morning Prayer? Do you get stuck in traffic because you were held up at shul? Israel Railways presents ‘Synagogue Coach’. Project’s initiators at Union of Synagogues wait for green-light from transportation minister, generous donor to…