One of the fundamental problems we post-Enlightenment, post-Holocaust, American Jews have with prayer is not theological in nature; it is that our attention is elsewhere.
We think about prayer much too narrowly. Most Jews reflexively assume that “prayer” means what we do (or, quite likely, don’t do) within the communal, liturgical context—and any devotional experience that lands outside it is not recognized as prayer.
A few years ago I invited eight students to join me in a prayer experiment. I divided the students into groups of four. They met for 75 minutes, once a week, for four weeks. There was just one assignment: to engage in prayer every day (including some kind of prayer “in relation to the Jewish liturgy” at least once a week). I did not define prayer. I did not suggest that folks attend services. I did not ask them to read any articles, rabbinic commentaries or inspirational literature about prayer. I just wanted them to do it, whatever the “it” might be (and however “it” might change form, content and duration from day to day). When we got together, I led a brief, contemplative Minha service, after which each person was asked to reflect aloud for up to 15 minutes upon one simple question: This week, what did you notice?
In general, what they noticed is that they prayed more than they realized, and that their prayer took many forms. One woman noted that before she went into a difficult meeting she did what she always does at the threshold to a meeting room: “I connected up. I asked for help to be as wise as I could be. Only later did I realize I was praying.” She also reported her habit of taking a particular route to a weekly appointment because she passed a beautiful field bathed in late afternoon sunlight, and the sight uplifted her. “I noticed the beauty and was grateful for it, as usual. Then I was grateful for eyes that could see, a heart that could understand, the happenstance of this incarnation … My noticing was a prayer and a feeling of prayer within a sense of oneness.“ Toward the end of the four weeks she said, “I’m in a river of prayer most of the day and I didn’t know it!”
Rav AbrahamAbraham is the first patriarch and the father of the Jewish people. He is the husband of Sarah and the father of Isaac and Ishmael. God's covenant - that we will be a great people and inherit the land of Israel - begins with Abraham and is marked by his circumcision, the first in Jewish history. His Hebrew name is Avraham. IsaacAbraham and Sarah's much-longed-for son and the second Jewish patriarch. Isaac is nearly sacrificed by his father at God's command (Genesis 22). He is married to Rebecca and is the father of Esau and Jacob. His Hebrew name is Yitzchak. Kook (1865–1935), the first AshkenaziJew of Eastern European descent. The term also refers to the practices and customs associated with this community, often in contrast to Sephardic (Southern European) traditions. chief rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine, taught that the soul is always praying:
We can only pray the way prayer is supposed to be when we recognize that in fact the soul is always praying. Without stop, the soul soars and yearns for its Beloved. It is at the time of outward prayer [i.e. in words and expression], that the perpetual prayer of the soul reveals itself in the realm of action. (Olat Re’iyah vol. I, p.11)
One of the fundamental problems we post-Enlightenment, post-Holocaust, American Jews have with prayer is not theological in nature; it is that our attention is elsewhere. We do not notice what is already happening. We have failed to cultivate the skill of observation to perceive our inner lives distinctly and with sensitivity.
Certainly, the soul can “reveal itself in the world of action” through the words and fellowship of traditional, communal, liturgical prayer, but there are many other ways for the soul to make its prayerful expression, too.
Have you noticed?
Rabbi Nancy Flam co-founded the Jewish Healing Center, RuachLit. Spirit. Some new versions of blessings call God "Spirit of the World" (Ruakh Ha’olam), rather than "King of the World" (Melekh Ha'olam). Ami: Bay Area Jewish Healing Center and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She teaches and writes about Judaism, spirituality, prayer and righteous living, and currently serves as the Co-Director of Programs at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. For more on prayer, visit http://www.jewishspirituality.org/
