Prayer Lessons

As soon as we finish praying that G-d grant us wisdom (in the 4th Amidah blessing) we apply that wisdom in a [...]

The prayer we recite as we return the Torah to the ark is a triumphant march in which G-d is [...]

In the weekday Amidah, in the prayer for a good year, we add the phrase ten tal umatar, “give dew and [...]

Brother David Stendl-Rast, a Benedictine monk, is one of the world’s foremost authorities on gratitude. His comments on Thanksgiving deserve to [...]

For the uninitiated, our siddur sounds like this: “Blah blah blah blah G-d. Blah blah G-d. G-d is good. Blah [...]

I have often been approached by people who are unhappy with the current leadership of the United States. Republicans or [...]

Near the end of pesukei d’zimrah we recite the Song of the Sea, the triumphant poem celebrating our rescue from Egypt and [...]

“Does anybody really know what time it is?” the great song by Chicago, is a protest against the hectic pace [...]

We could be forgiven for thinking that prayer is essentially “blah blah blah blah G-d. Blah blah G-d blah blah…” [...]

So here’s a question: why don’t we recite Hallel on Rosh Hashanah? Hallel is a collection of psalms praising Hashem [...]

As our Rosh Hashanah service draws to a close, we sing a lively song entitled “Hayom,” which means “today.” The [...]

The period of the High Holy Days is a dramatic time in Jewish life. We imagine that G-d shifts His [...]

From the beginning of the month of Elul through the holiday of Sukkot, we add a prayer to every morning [...]

All Amidah prayers (“amidot’) begin with the same three blessings, and end with the same three blessings. What happens in the middle [...]

Before and after we recite the Sh’ma, we reflect on the three greatest manifestations of G-d’s power: creation, revelation, and [...]

What do we think of when we hear the word “cosmos”? For people of my generation, we cannot help but [...]

I once took a class on how to explain our services to novices. The class began by the teacher, without [...]

The blessing right after the Shma, and right before the morning Amidah is a plea for redemption. It concludes with [...]

The opening line of this blessing is a variant on a passage from the prophet Jeremiah. As is often the [...]

The 13th blessing of the Amidah begins this way: “Let Your tender mercies be stirred for the righteous, the pious, [...]

When I first began davening in earnest, in my late teen years, I was puzzled by the fact that we [...]

In the ancient world, our ancestors would routinely take a small part of their dough, called the “challah,” and [...]

Just before the Shema, we recite Ahavat Olam, a blessing which celebrates the gift of revelation to our people. As part [...]

You have loved us with a great love. You have shown enormous and boundless compassion toward us….” These are the [...]