Prayer
How We Pray
We each enter and experience prayer differently.
We may find the liturgy most compelling, savoring every word, lingering as meaning unfurls, getting lost in the rhythm of the poetry and being found in its ancient resonance.
We may respond most powerfully to the music. Putting the prayerbook aside, we allow the music to take us on a spiritual/emotional journey, pouring out our hearts in song.
We may prefer to sit in silence — attuning ourselves to a larger oneness, discovering or rediscovering parts of ourselves we’ve lost touch with or perhaps never knew, quieting our inner monologue and opening ourselves to listening.
We may not know how to pray - what to do, what to feel. Prayer is the simplest thing in the world and also really hard. It’s simultaneously joyful, uncomfortable, rewarding, frustrating, and uplifting.
A relief. A grace. A mystery.
Why We Pray
Some of us pray to God.
Some of us pray to find God.
Some of us pray while not believing in God.
Some of us aren’t sure.
For some of us, prayer is about being a link in a sacred chain of tradition.
For some of us, prayer is about being fully present in the moment.
For some of us, prayer is about envisioning an aspirational future.
We pray to connect deep within.
We pray to connect up and out.
We pray to sensitize our souls.
We pray to soften our hearts.
We pray to refine our character.
We pray to transform our world.
from Rabbi Uhrbach:
If prayer is something you struggle with, we’re here to help. You’re in good company; I don’t know anyone with a vibrant prayer life who doesn’t sometimes struggle with it. That’s one reason I regularly teach about prayer — frequently on Shabbat, and during our Thursday class on summer afternoons. And I’m always happy to meet privately and talk about your own prayer life.
It may also help to do some preparation for prayer on your own. One easy way is to buy a copy of the prayerbook, read the introduction, and then dip around in the commentaries and the liturgy at your leisure. You might even want to pencil in your responses (yes, it’s permissible to write in a prayerbook!).
If you’re up for a little more reading, I recommend Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Quest for God. It’s one of the best books ever written on the nature and experience of prayer. It’s a poetic, lyrical exploration of why we pray, what makes it possible and what gets in the way. This book had an enormous influence on me, and on the way we approach prayer at The Bridge Shul. Read it in small doses and just sit with it.
For an overview of the structure and components of Jewish liturgy, I’d go with Reuven Hammer’s, Entering Jewish Prayer: A Guide to Personal Devotion and the Worship Service. It’s well written and well organized, and will take you through the service step by step.
If you’re hungry for more, My People’s Prayerbook is a multi-volume series edited by Lawrence Hoffman, with running commentaries on the liturgy by scholars from different perspectives. You can pick a piece of the service and explore its Biblical roots, Talmudic origins, mystical interpretations, contemporary feminist approaches, theological implications, etc.
Most important, the best way to nurture a prayer life — or to learn to pray — is just to do it.
It may take a while to find your bridge to prayer, and to muster the courage to cross it. It’s worth it.
— Rabbi Jan Uhrbach
“To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain the sense of the mystery that animates all beings… Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.
— Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
Our Prayerbook
We use the highly acclaimed Siddur Lev Shalem for Shabbat and Festivals, the Conservative movement’s newest prayerbook, on which our own Rabbi Uhrbach was Associate Editor.
Designed to offer deeper, more meaningful access to everyone, regardless of knowledge of Hebrew and liturgy, the prayerbook has something for everyone.
Traditional and Inclusive Liturgy. The siddur contains the Hebrew liturgy from the Ashkenazic tradition used in most American Conservative synagogues. It also includes many classical prayers from non-Ashkenazic Jewish traditions — from Sephardic Jewry, the land of Israel, Italy, Yemen, and others. The liturgy is also more inclusive and sensitive in terms of gender, family configurations, people of other faiths, and the wide variety of life experiences.
Translation. The English translation is completely new, and written to be inspiring and pray-able on its own, while enabling the Hebrew learner to match the English to familiar Hebrew vocabulary. It also retains the complexity of the liturgy. Challenging or uncomfortable theological concepts are translated in (and addressed in the commentary), rather than smoothed over in translation, enabling both the Hebrew and English reader to wrestle deeply with God.
Transliteration. Everything chanted or read aloud is fully transliterated on the page, enabling everyone to raise our voices together in song.
Commentary. Each page contains two different types of commentary. In the right hand margin, you’ll find notes on the origin and history of the liturgy, the meaning of specific Hebrew terms, and explanations of some of the concepts expressed. In the left hand margin, you’ll find inspirational readings, interpretive translations, and supplemental poetry.
