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
Table of Content
Foreword by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner ix
Introduction xi
Whisper Language 1
Intention: Davening with Kavanah 5
Niggun! A Soul in Song 28
Davening in the Four Worlds: A Deep Structure of Prayer 58
Following the Map: A Traveler’s Guide 85
At Home in Shul: The Synagogue Experience 136
Who Am I to Give Blessings? 155
Advanced Practice: Prolonged Prayer 162
Notes 189
Acknowledgments 195
Glossary 199
About the author
Lawrence Kushner, author, lecturer and spiritual leader, is regarded as one of the most creative religious thinkers and writers in America. A commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, he has focused us on spiritual renewal with wisdom and humor. Through his books and lectures, people of every faith and background have found inspiration and new strength for spiritual search and growth. It has been said that some spiritual leaders blend religion and psychology to help us walk better on the ground, but Lawrence Kushner draws on the wisdom of the mystics to help us dance better on the ceiling.Kushner’s acclaimed books include I’m God; You’re Not: Observations on Organized Religion & Other Disguises of the Ego; Honey from the Rock: An Easy Introduction to Jewish Mysticism; Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred Stories of the Ordinary; The Book of Letters: A Mystical Hebrew Alphabet; Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction for Christians; and In God’s Hands, an inspiring fable for children, with Gary Schmidt (all Jewish Lights).Kushner served as rabbi at Congregation Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts, for almost thirty years; he is currently the Emanu-El scholar at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, and an adjunct faculty member at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion. He is fascinated by graphic design and computers (designing most of his Jewish Lights books). He enjoys Mozart, hanging around sailboats, and making his granddaughters giggle.More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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