Prayer

The Passages recited before the blowing of the Shofar

Lamnatzeiach In this powerful chapter of Psalms, the name of God, Elokim, appears seven times. Elokim is the screen that shields the receiver from the infinite overwhelming light of God, expressed in the essential four-letter name, the Tetragrammaton, which is spelled in Hebrew yud-hei-vav-hei, and which we are forbidden to pronounce.

The first day Haftarah: The Story of Chana

The dramatic story of Chana captures the essential nature of prayer on Rosh Hashanah. In fact, according to some opinions, it was on Rosh Hashanah that Chana first prayed for a child. As the story begins, we learn that Chana is bereft of children, and in her agony, she comes to

Opening of the Ark

Before we begin reading the Torah, we open the ark and recite a passage from the Zohar. The Baal Shem Tov once said that when the ark is opened and we recite these words with purity, faith and from the depths of our heart, God will fulfill our requests, whether fully

Sh’ma Koleinu: Voice beyond Language

What do we bring to the table of judgment? Our brains, our power, our art. These are all from God. Even when we decideâ€”and it is our own decisionâ€”to do good and to restrain ourselves from the opposite, we are only playing our part in a cosmic script for which

Ve’Chol Maaminim: Belief

We all believe. "Israel are believers, the sons of believers." Some of us are consciously aware of our innate beliefs; others of us are not because life experiences and negative indoctrination have covered over our essential selves. At times, the very fact of speaking about our beliefs makes our inner

Mizmor Shir: Shabbas & Teshuvah

The Midrash tells us that following the brutal murder of his brother Hevel, Kayin was summoned to the heavenly tribunal for judgment. After a brief deliberation, it was decreed that Kayin would be condemned to a life of wandering: "You shall become a vagrant and wanderer on earth." Acknowledging the

Ose Ha’Shalom: Bringing Peace to the World

Before we conclude the Amidah we take three steps backward, taking the intense energy that was present during our prayers and bringing it down into this worldâ€”into the three levels of creation (beriah), formation (yetzira) and action (asiya). Thus, we integrate and tie up our prayers so that there is

Kaddish: Healing the Broken

In the prayer service, whenever there is a change between prayers, a break or movement, a special prayer called a kaddish ("sanctification" of the name of God) is recited in order to bring unity. Whenever there is a separation in the prayersâ€”or for that matter a "break" in life itselfâ€”we recite

Le’david Hashem Ori: God as Light & Strength

God will extend a hand and assist us in the process of self-transformation and re-unification.

Prayer

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