Inner Worlds of Jewish Prayer

Inner Worlds of Jewish Prayer
Author: DovBer Pinson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 504
Release: 2014-03-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780989007221

The instinct to pray is as ancient as instinct itself. Our deepest yearnings coalesce and emerge as prayer. Prayer itself has taken on countless forms, from offerings to song, words to whispers, tearful supplication to sublime silence. And so it continues to merge and emerge, at times as primitive and raw as a cry for help, at times, a formulaic equation intended to effect change, - but always, flowing from a place deep within, and forever with a hope for a better future. While attention is paid to the poetry, history, theology and contextual meaning of the prayer text within these pages, the intention of this work is to provide a guide to finding meaning and effecting transformation through our prayer experience. Explore: What happens when we pray, Entering the mind-state of prayer, Incorporating the body into prayer, Understanding our role in prayer, Techniques to enhance and deepen our prayer and make it a transformative experience. In this empowering and inspiring text, Rav Pinson demonstrates how through proper mindset, preparation and dedication, the experience of prayer can be deeply transformative and ultimately, life-altering.

A Guide to Jewish Prayer

A Guide to Jewish Prayer
Author: Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
Publisher: Schocken
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2002-03-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0805211470

From one of the world's most famous and respected rabbis—"a practical explanation of Jewish worship from a spiritual slant" (Detroit Free Press). For both the novice and for those who have been engaged in prayer for years, here is the one guide needed to practice Jewish prayer and understand the prayer book. From the origins and meaning of worship to a step-by-step explanation of the daily prayers to the reason you're not supposed to chat with your friends during services, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz answers many of the questions likely to arise about Jewish prayer. Here are chapters on daily prayer; Sabbath prayer; prayer services for the holidays; the yearly cycle of synagogue Bible readings; the history and makeup of the synagogue; the different prayer rites for Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Yemenites, and other cultural/geographic groupings; the role of the rabbi and the cantor in the synagogue; and the role of music in the service.

Davening

Davening
Author: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2012
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1580236278

This fresh approach to prayer is for all who wish to appreciate the power of prayer's poetry and song, jump into its ceremonies and rituals and join the age-old conversation that Jews have had with God. Reb Zalman, one of the most important Jewish spiritual teachers in contemporary American Judaism, offers you new ways to pray, new channels for communicating with God and new opportunities to open your heart to God's response.

Illuminated Sound

Illuminated Sound
Author: Dovber Pinson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2021-05-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9781736702611

In the year 1698 a great light was revealed to the world with the descent of the holy soul of the Baal Shem Tov. In time, the Baal Shem Tov became one of the most important and influential teachers of Torah in all of history, and the founder of Chassidus. Amongst the vast repository of profound and revolutionary teachings of the holy Baal Shem Tov, the teachings on the path of Tefilah / Prayer are the most elaborate. The teachings of the Baal Shem Tov on Tefilah include some of his most innovative expressions, or Chidushim. Tefilah is the essential and central tenet from which all other teachings flow. In this masterful and practical text, Rav Pinson revives the awe-inspiring and transformational teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, and illuminates his unique path to Tefilah.

As Light Before Dawn

As Light Before Dawn
Author: Eitan P. Fishbane
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2009-06-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0804774870

As Light Before Dawn explores the mystical thought of Isaac ben Samuel of Akko, a major medieval kabbalist whose work has until now received relatively little attention. Through consideration of an extensive literary corpus, including much that still remains in manuscript, this study examines an array of themes and questions that have great applicability to the comparative study of mysticism and the broader study of religion. These include prayer and the nature of mystical experience; meditative concentration directed to God; and the power of mental intention, authority, creativity, and the transmission of wisdom.

Hours of Devotion

Hours of Devotion
Author: Dinah Berland
Publisher: Schocken
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2008-11-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0307486052

Written in the nineteenth century, rediscovered in the twenty-first, timeless in its wisdom and beauty, Hours of Devotion by Fanny Neuda, (the daughter of a Moravian rabbi), was the first full-length book of Jewish prayers written by a woman for women. In her moving introduction to this volume--the first edition of Neuda’s prayer book to appear in English for more than a century--editor Dinah Berland describes her serendipitous discovery of Hours of Devotion in a Los Angeles used bookstore. She had been estranged from her son for eleven years, and the prayers she found in the book provided immediate comfort, giving her the feeling that someone understood both her pain and her hope. Eventually, these prayers would also lead her back to Jewish study and toward a deeper practice of her Judaism. Originally published in German, Fanny Neuda’s popular prayer book was reprinted more than two dozen times in German and appeared in Yiddish and English editions between 1855 and 1918. Working with a translator, Berland has carefully brought the prayers into modern English and set them into verse to fully realize their poetry. Many of these eighty-eight prayers, as well as Neuda’s own preface and afterword, appear here in English for the first time, opening a window to a Jewish woman’s life in Central Europe during the Enlightenment. Reading “A Daughter’s Prayer for Her Parents,” “On the Approach of Childbirth,” “For a Mother Whose Child Is Abroad,” and the other prayers for both daily and momentous occasions, one cannot help but feel connected to the women who’ve come before. For Berland, Hours of Devotion served as a guide and a testament to the mystery and power of prayer. Fanny Neuda’s remarkable spirit and faith in God, displayed throughout these heartfelt prayers, now offer the same hope of guidance to others.

Ancient Jewish Prayers and Emotions

Ancient Jewish Prayers and Emotions
Author: Stefan C. Reif
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2015-11-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110386089

Given the recent interest in the emotions presupposed in early religious literature, it has been thought useful to examine in this volume how the Jews and early Christians expressed their feelings within the prayers recorded in some of their literature. Specialists in their fields from academic institutions around the world have analysed important texts relating to this overall theme and to what is revealed with regard to such diverse topics as relations with God, exegesis, education, prophecy, linguistic expression, feminism, happiness, grief, cult, suicide, non-Jews, Hellenism, Qumran and Jerusalem. The texts discussed are in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic and are important for a scientific understanding of how Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity developed their approaches to worship, to the construction of their theology and to the feelings that lay behind their religious ideas and practices. The articles contribute significantly to an historical understanding of how Jews maintained their earlier traditions but also came to terms with the ideology of the dominant Hellenistic culture that surrounded them.

Jewish Men Pray

Jewish Men Pray
Author: Stuart M. Matlins
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2013-04-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1580237517

A celebration of Jewish men's voices in prayer—to strengthen, to heal, to comfort, to inspire from the ancient world up to our own day. "An extraordinary gathering of men—diverse in their ages, their lives, their convictions—have convened in this collection to offer contemporary, compelling and personal prayers. The words published here are not the recitation of established liturgies, but the direct address of today's Jewish men to ha-Shomea Tefilla, the Ancient One who has always heard, and who remains eager to receive, the prayers of our hearts." —from the Foreword by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, DHL This collection of prayers celebrates the variety of ways Jewish men engage in personal dialogue with God—with words of praise, petition, joy, gratitude, wonder and even anger—from the ancient world up to our own day. Drawn from mystical, traditional, biblical, Talmudic, Hasidic and modern sources, these prayers will help you deepen your relationship with God and help guide your journey of self-discovery, healing and spiritual awareness. Together they provide a powerful and creative expression of Jewish men’s inner lives, and the always revealing, sometimes painful, sometimes joyous—and often even practical—practice that prayer can be. Jewish Men Pray will challenge your preconceived ideas about prayer. It will inspire you to explore new ways of prayerful expression, new paths for finding the sacred in the ordinary and new possibilities for understanding the Jewish relationship with the Divine. This is a book to treasure and to share.

Making Prayer Real

Making Prayer Real
Author: Mike Comins
Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1580234178

Join over fifty Jewish spiritual leaders from all denominations in a candid conversation about the why and how of prayer: how prayer changes us and how to discern a response from God. In this fascinating forum, they share the challenges of prayer, what it means to pray, how to develop your own personal prayer voice, and how to rediscover meaning and God's presence in the traditional Jewish prayer book. Book jacket.