Prayer Lessons

The 2nd blessing before (and immediately preceding) the Sh’ma sings the praises of Torah, and expresses the hope that Torah permeate our [...]

There is one thing missing from the siddur that we would certainly expect to find there: the Ten Commandments. This [...]

In the Amidah, right before we prayer that we may witness G-d’s return to Israel, we read this intriguing [...]

In Ps. 146, which we read as a part of Pesukei D’Zimra, we find the following: G-d “brings justice to [...]

Just before we recite the Song of the Sea, we recite a short summary of Jewish history taken from the [...]

Ever since the Middle Ages, the Song of the Sea has been incorporated into the shacharit service. This is hardly [...]

The high point of pesukei d’zimra, virtually the last thing we do before we begin the core of the [...]

As we have previously noted, the core of the morning service is the Shema, which is surrounded by prayers which [...]

Last Shabbat, Dr. Arthur Cederbaum asked a really interesting question. There are two versions of the Mi Kamocha prayer, morning [...]

The Book of Esther which we read on Purim is a literary masterpiece. The author utilizes dozens of literary techniques: [...]

We might title this essay “On the virtue of telling the truth in prayer.” Recently, the Friends of the Israel [...]

The blessing right before the Sh’ma centers on G-d’s revelation of Torah. An interesting fact, though, is that the [...]

The Song of the Sea, Az yashir, begins with the words “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song…” [...]

Imagine you were rewriting the prayer book. What would you include? The Sh’ma certainly. Kaddish, definitely. The Amidah? Sure. Aleynu, [...]

Who’s “us”? At the end of every Amidah, there is a silent and personal meditation, “Elokai n’tzor,” where we ask [...]

During the inaugural prayer service, newly installed President Trump was confronted by the Right Reverend Mariann Budde, Episcopal Bishop. She [...]

As we return the Torah to the ark, we recite the verse from Proverbs, “It is a tree of [...]

During Chanukah, we add the prayer “al hanisim” to the Amidah. “We thank You for the miraculous deliverance, for the [...]

The first blessing before the morning Sh’ma references the creation of the world, in particular the creation of light. It begins with [...]

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 [...]