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Synagogue Survival 101 - My People's Prayer Book
Synagogue Survival 101 – My People’s Prayer Book
“To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments”
Abraham Joshua Heschel
“One cannot worship with his Grandfather’s heart.”
Solomon Schechter
The purpose of this course is to open up the traditional Jewish prayer book as a spiritual resource. The synagogue service is the most familiar aspect of faith for most Jewish people. At the same time, it is often baffling to many worshipers, who have no understanding of the prayer book's history, structure, logic, evolution, and ideas. Instead of providing inspiration, the prayer book is often a barrier to prayer.
This course will present diverse and exciting commentaries to the traditional liturgy, helping the student find new wisdom and guidance in Jewish prayer, and bring the liturgy into their lives. We will use the text, My People’s Prayer Book: Minhag Ami, edited by Laurence Hoffman, which presents the seven major sections of the prayer book each in separate volumes. We begin our studies with the Shemone Esre (Amidah), one of the main sections of our liturgy.
In addition to the Hebrew text and new English prayer translation, My People’s Prayer Book presents 10 commentators from various perspectives of the Jewish world, covering the prayer book's connections to the Bible, history, halachah (traditional Jewish law), Kabbalistic and Hasidic wisdom, feminism, modern developments, and much more.
Synagogue Survival 101 meets weekly on Thursday s from noon to 1pm – class dates TBD after the High Holiday season. Contact the office or Cantor Gale directly if you are interested.
