Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer
Experience the living taste of prayer in your heart, the deep and gentle glow of prayer in your soul.
"Many who live their lives as Jews, even many who pray every day, live on a wrapped and refrigerated version of prayer. We go to synagogue dutifully enough. We rise when we should rise, sit when we should sit. We read and sing along with the cantor and answer 'Amen' in all the right places. We may even rattle through the prayers with ease. We sacrifice vitality for shelf-life, and the neshomeh, the Jewish soul, can taste the difference."
--from the Introduction
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.
With rare warmth and authenticity, Reb Zalman shows you:
- How prayer can engage not just spirit, but mind, heart and body
- Meditations that open the door to kavanah, the focus or intention with which we pray
- How to understand the underlying "deep structure" of our prayer services
- How to find and feel at home in a synagogue
- How to sing and lead niggunim, the simple, wordless tunes that Jews sing to get closer to God
- and more
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Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi (z"l), the inspiration of the Jewish Renewal movement, is widely recognized as one of the most important Jewish spiritual teachers of our time. Professor at Temple University, he authored many books including Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer, winner of the National Jewish Book Award; First Steps to a New Jewish Spirit: Reb Zalman's Guide to Recapturing the Intimacy & Ecstasy in Your Relationship with God (both Jewish Lights); From Age-ing to Sage-ing and Wrapped in a Holy Flame.
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner is available to speak on the following topics:
- Jewish Mystical Imagination- Rymanover's Silent Aleph: What Really Happened on Sinai- Zohar on Romance and Revelation- What Makes Kabbalah Kabbalah- Sacred Stories of the Ordinary: When God Makes a Surprise Appearance in Everyday LifeClick here to contact the author.
This book is about "Davening," the Yiddish word for prayer.
Even people who insist that prayer is an intellectual process rather than an emotional, spiritual and religious experience, as demonstrated by Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi in this book, will enjoy reading his book. Also, even non-Jews will enjoy and benefit from the rabbi's views. Why?
First, the book is a delight to read. The rabbi tells stories on virtually every page, about himself, Chabad Chasidim and clever and thought provoking parables. Among many other things, the rabbi tells about kavanah, praying with focus, intention and meaning. He shows how to pray from the heart, rather than from the mind. Celebrating the Sabbath or holiday with kavanah, for example, gives the day a richer meaning.
He speaks also about the niggun, the melody, the wordless prayer, tunes Hasidim sing to get closer to God. Some have words and some do not. He tells how he used a niggun to get in the mood for prayer and how once he came so close to God by singing a niggun that he felt no need to continue with the formal prayers.
He tells about the mystical notion of God and how prayer fits into this notion. He gives readers "a traveler's guide" through the prayers, during which he describes many prayers and shows readers their inner meaning. He also tells how people can feel "at home in Shul," what they should do to feel what they are experiencing and how to get the most out of the experience.
--Israel Drazin "The Jewish Eye "
