Each week, Rabbi Wolkoff shares a prayer lesson with us. You can find them all below.
Prayer Lesson 100 – Love and Fear in Ma Tovu
We begin Shabbat morning on the inspiring note Ma Tovu: “How wonderful are your tents, Jacob, your abodes, Israel.” In [...]
Prayer Lesson 97—The Al hanisim prayer for Yom Haatzmaut
On Israel Independence Day, Yom Haatzmaut, Conservative Jews add a special prayer to the Amidah. It is an Al hanisim [...]
Prayer Lesson 96 —“Service”—the 17th blessing of the weekday Amidah (and the 5th blessing of the Shabbat Amidah)
There is a common fantasy that the secret to our survival as a people has been rigidity. But at least [...]
Prayer lesson 95—The prayer for prayers being heard: Blessing 16 of the weekday Amidah
There is probably no rabbinic phrase better known than Hillel’s comment, “If I am not for myself, who will be [...]
Prayer Lesson 94 – Al Hanisim for Purim Der mentsh trakht un g-t lakht
The holiday of Purim is all about surprises, all about reversals of fortune. As the Yiddish expression goes, “Der mentsh [...]
Prayer Lesson 93—O, Jerusalem. Blessing 14 of the weekday Amidah
When we do the blessing after meals (birkat hamazon) on Shabbat, we begin with a joyous singing of shir hamalot: [...]
Prayer Lesson 92 – Prayer for the righteous (13th blessing of the weekday Amidah)
This blessing begins in a most interesting fashion: “Let Your tender mercies be stirred for the righteous, the pious, [...]
Prayer Lesson 91 – Weekday Amidah blessing 12: “For slanderers may there be no hope….”
Another name for the Amidah is Shemoneh Esrei (= 18), a reference to the 18 blessings of the Amidah. But in typically delightful and maddening Jewish [...]
Prayer Lesson 90 – Justice! The 11th blessing of the weekday Amidah
Here’s a thought experiment. The 10th blessing of the Amidah is the blessing of redemption, the call for freedom in our own land. [...]
Prayer Lesson 89 – “Bring us together from the four corners of the earth” Weekday Amidah blessing 10
This blessing is the purest expression of the millennial yearning of the Jewish people for a return home to Israel. [...]
Prayer Lesson 88 – You should make a good living: Weekday Amidah blessing 9
The 9th blessing of the weekday Amidah asks Hashem to bless the year, and in particular, the yearly produce, by blessing the earth [...]
Prayer Lesson 87 – Heal us: The 8th blessing of the weekday Amidah
The blessing for healing (number 8) follows immediately after the blessing for redemption (number 7). This is not at all [...]
Prayer Lesson 86 – In Search of Redemption
In the weekday Amidah, there are 13 intermediate blessings. They are found between the introductory 3 blessings of praise and [...]
Prayer Lesson 85 – Ten Tal Umatar: The mystery of December 4
In the weekday Amidah, in the prayer for a good year, we add the phrase ten tal umatar, “give dew and [...]
Prayer Lesson 84 – Al Hanissim/Haneyrot Hallalu
During Chanukah, we add a special prayer to the Amidah. It is called Al Hanissim (For the miracles and the deliverance and [...]
Prayer Lesson 83 – Redemption, the 7th blessing of the weekday
I believe it was Dr. Louis Finkelstein who said that the easiest way to trace the rise of new movements [...]
Prayer Lesson 82 – The Sixth Blessing of the Weekday Amidah—Forgiveness
Like the blessing which precedes it, on repentance, the blessing asking for forgiveness repeats the same sequence of divine roles—“Our [...]
Prayer Lesson 81 – The prayer for repentance
In the weekday Amidah, immediately after the prayer for discernment, we read the prayer for repentance. When examined carefully, we [...]
Prayer Lesson 80 – The prayer for wisdom
On weekdays, the middle 13 blessings of the Amidah are blessings of petition. We ask G-d for all sorts of [...]
Prayer Lesson 79 – L’dor va’dor – From Generation to Generation….what?
There is a difference between knowing how to read and knowing how to read. Case in point: In 1920’s Soviet Russia, in [...]
Prayer Lesson 78 – Stop!
The Shabbat Amidah contains a most peculiar phrase. In the middle blessing, which notes the sanctification of Shabbat, we ask G-d to [...]
Prayer Lesson 77 – Matir asurim, “who frees the captives”
“I am not a number. I am a free man.” Number 6, The Prisoner, from the tv-series of the same [...]
Prayer Lesson 76 – The rainbow and its blessing
Virtually everyone knows that there are Jewish blessings for food. Hamotzi and Borei pri hagafen are among the most recognized [...]
Prayer Lesson 75 – For His Name’s Sake (Brooklyn is not expanding!) [Stick with me, you’ll get it]
In the first blessing of the Amidah, we read: “G-d remembers the pious deeds of our ancestors and will send [...]