Prayer Lessons

At the end of Shabbat, as we transition back to our weekday patterns, we recite the Havdalah (“separation”) prayer, distinguishing, [...]

Every day, during pesukei d’zimrah, and on erev shabbat, during kabbalat shabbat, we read the following in Siddur Sim Shalom: “Exalt the Lord [...]

The Maariv (evening) service begins with this phrase: “G-d is merciful, forgives iniquity, does not destroy, is quick to turn [...]

The second blessing of every Amidah talks about G-d’s power. G-d “sustains the living with kindness….supports the falling, heals the [...]

As is well known, the Ashrei is an alphabetic acrostic—the first line begins with an aleph, the second with bet, [...]

For more than two years, we have been reciting this prayer: “Our brethren, the whole House of Israel, who are [...]

Frank Lloyd Wright, my favorite architect, once said, “Nature is all the body of G-d we mortals will ever see.” [...]

At the beginning of Shabbat, we go to “meet the bride,” the bride which is Shabbat herself. And we are [...]

Writing this on the cusp of a new secular year, when the entire world celebrates a Jewish kid’s bris 2,026 [...]

It should not surprise us that there is a blessing in the Amidah that asks Hashem to fight evil. After [...]

During Chanukah, we add the Al Hanissim prayer to the Amidah and to Birkat Hamazon. We thank G-d “for the [...]

One of my favorite psalms, Psalm 100, begins with the words: “Call out to the Lord, all the earth!” The [...]

Why do we sometimes do what we know is wrong? This is a question that stretches from the Garden of [...]

The Truman Show, with Jim Carrie, is rated one of the top films of the 1990’s. In the film, Carrie’s [...]

At the very beginning of our Shabbat morning services, our prayers turn in an unexpected direction: “Ma tovu—How goodly are [...]

The prayer Adon Olam is remarkable for many reasons. One is the contrast between its radical theological depth and its popular reduction [...]

There is no end to the list of the things that make Judaism remarkable. Near the top of the list, [...]

Pesukei d’zimra, “passages of song” constitute the “warm up” for the core of the service (the Sh’ma and the Amidah, specifically). Most of [...]

Hebrew prose is often very wordy, because it uses repetition far more than English does. Phrases like, “[the angels] are [...]

One of the most remarkable aspects of the High Holy Day liturgy is the degree to which the Cantor shares [...]

V’chol ma’aminim “We all believe…” If an award were ever given out for the most counterintuitive prayer in the entire Jewish [...]

One of the most recognizable and oft-repeated passages in the High Holy Day liturgy is the passage describing the “Thirteen [...]

Who will live and who will die? The prayer Unetaneh Tokef (“We ascribe holiness to this day”) is the high point of [...]

One of the most recognizable High Holy Day prayers is Avinu Malkeynu, “Our Father, our King.” Recognizable and remarkable. First, note [...]