Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do about It

by Mike Comins

Overview

Fresh, Useful Perspectives on the Spiritual Dynamics of Prayer

"Better music, better sermons and better prayer books can only go so far. Many innovations have been tried around the world, and no doubt, synagogue leadership will continue to think creatively about improving services. But deep and lasting change will only come when each of us takes ownership and responsibility for what only we can really guide—our inner lives."
—from the Preface

Join over fifty Jewish spiritual leaders from all denominations in a candid conversation about the why and how of prayer: how prayer changes us and how to discern a response from God. In this fascinating forum, they share the challenges of prayer, what it means to pray, how to develop your own personal prayer voice and how to rediscover meaning and God's presence in the traditional Jewish prayer book.

CONTRIBUTORS:
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson • Rabbi Aryeh Ben David • Rabbi Anne Brener, LCSW • Rabbi Sharon Brous • Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum • Rabbi Mike Comins • Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove, PhD • Rabbi Lavey Derby • Cantor Ellen Dreskin • Rabbi Diane Elliot • Reb Mimi Feigelson • Rabbi Tirzah Firestone • Rabbi Nancy Flam • Rabbi Karen Fox, DD • Dr. Tamar Frankiel • Rabbi Ethan Franzel • Rabbi Elyse Frishman • Rabbi Laura Geller • Rabbi Neil Gillman, PhD • Rabbi Shefa Gold • Rabbi Elyse Goldstein • Joel Lurie Grishaver • Rabbi Nadya Gross • Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD • Melila Hellner-Eshed, PhD • Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD • Rabbi David Ingber • Rabbi Zoë Klein • Rabbi Myriam Klotz • Rabbi Jamie Korngold • Rabbi Lawrence Kushner • Rabbi Naomi Levy • Rabbi Richard N. Levy, DD • Rabbi Sheryl Lewart • Jay Michaelson • Rabbi Linda Motzkin • Rabbi Debra Orenstein • Rabbi Nehemia Polen, PhD • Rabbi Marcia Prager • Rabbi Jeff Roth • Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi • Rabbi Rami Shapiro • Rabbi Jonathan P. Slater • Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz • Rabbi Ira Stone • Rabbi Michael Strassfeld • Dr. Linda Thal • Rabbi Abraham Twerski, MD • Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg • Rabbi Zari M. Weiss • Rabbi David J. Wolpe • Rabbi Shawn Zevit

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580234177
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	01/01/2010
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Rabbi Mike Comins, the founder of TorahTrek Spiritual Wilderness Adventures (www.TorahTrek.com) and the Institute for Jewish Wilderness Spirituality (www.ijws-online.org), is the author of A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism and Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do about It (both Jewish Lights). He studied classical Jewish texts at the Pardes Institute, earned his MA in Jewish education from Hebrew Universityand was ordained in the Israeli rabbinical program of Hebrew Union College. He was a founding member and the first director of education at Kehilat Kol Haneshama in Jerusalem. He lives, teaches and writes in Los Angeles, and serves as a scholar-in-residence for schools and synagogues around the world.

Rabbi Mike Comins is available to speak on the following topics:

• Finding God in Nature: Buber, Heschel and the Kabbalah on the Experience of Divinity in the Natural World
• How the Jews Lost Nature and Why We Need to Get Her Back
• Making Prayer Real: Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do about It
• Prayer, Teshuvah and Coping with Loss
• The Spiritual Dynamics of Traditional Prayer

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Preface xi

Introduction: The Problem with Jewish Prayer 1

Part I The Spiritual Dynamics of Prayer 19

1 The Efficacy of Prayer 21

2 What Is Prayer? 39

3 Yearning 48

4 Gratitude 55

5 Kavvanah 59

6 Engaging the Body 66

7 Listening for God: Silence and Meditation 77

8 Discerning Divinity 84

Part II Beginning to Pray 91

9 Advice For Beginners 93

10 The Power of You 99

11 Blessings 104

12 Cultivating a Personal Prayer Voice 108

Part III Growing and Healing through Prayer 113

13 Teshuvah: Personal Change, Communal Responsibility 115

14 Coping with Loss 126

Part IV Embracing Traditional Jewish Prayer 139

15 The Spiritual Dynamics of the Siddur 141

16 Learning the Siddur 155

17 Overcoming the Hebrew Barrier 167

18 Best Practices 173

19 Between Traditional and Personal Prayer 186

20 Advice For Beginners Redux 191

Part V Building a Prayer Practice 201

21 Starting a Daily Practice 203

Practices 209

Yearning 209

Practice 1 Write a Psalm 209

Gratitude 210

Practice 2 Gratitude List 210

Practice 3 Thank-You Walk 211

Body Awareness 211

Practice 4 Soul Breathing 212

Practice 5 25-25-50 Body Awareness 213

Practice 6 Heart Awareness 214

Blessings 215

Practice 7 Blessings Practice 216

Practice 8 Jewish Blessings 218

Practice 9 Learn the Traditional Blessings 219

Practice 10 Blessings Walk 220

Cultivating a Personal Prayer Voice 220

Practice 11 Personal Prayer 221

Practice 12 Talking to God-Rabbi Nachman's Hitbodedut 222

Practice 13 Write a Letter to God 223

Practice 14 God Says 223

Practice 15 Contemplation 224

Coping with Loss 226

Practice 16 Tears 226

Practice 17 Words 227

Practice 18 Meditation 227

Practice 19 Give It to God 227

Teshuvah 228

Engaging the Body in Traditional Prayer 229

Practice 20 Jewish Chant 230

Befriending the Traditional Prayers 233

Practice 21 Improvise with the Chatimah 234

Practice 22 Ask the Siddur a Question 235

Practice 23 Visualization 235

Practice 24 Dialogue a Prayer 236

Conclusion: Letting God In 239

Notes 243

Waiting for You at www.MakingPrayerReal.com 245

Glossary 247

Resources 253

About the Contributors 267

Index of Contributors 279