A Meaningful Prayer Experience

I know that I really really really want to get to JTS when a student there is starting a great discussion and I feel 30 miles too far away to really have it, even with the blog and Twitter and Facebook and e-mail stuff. But I'm going to try anyway.

So, my pal who wants to revitalize CJ just like me said something else really interesting: "I'm looking to explore what it is that might block us (as Jews mostly) from meaningful prayer experience. What should we be more open to?...Why are we uncomfortable with these things?"

My dear fellow dreamer, we have to have a long discussion about all this stuff. But here's an answer for now. You start first with language and environment.

Language - Jews should know Hebrew. It is part of the myth that binds us together. (For all of you who haven't read Gillman out there, think of Hebrew as part of the glue that binds Jews together.) Jews need to be able to share a common liturgy in a common language that ties us to our ancestors. For personal prayer, I think using a vernacular is appropriate because it is individual prayer. Using a common liturgy does require a common language to fulfill its binding purpose.

Environment - ah, the tricky one. We'll be discussing this one for a long time. My big theory, especially regarding Conservative communities, is that you have to create passionate prayer communities. This means that you create a makom, or spiritual home, in which the worshiper is so comfortable that he or she easily can have a touching, self-fulfilling experience that lifts his or her spirits and brings him or her closer to religion. When I go to shul, I want to leave feeling good about being a Jew. I want to leave feeling that I had fun at services. Maybe it was because the singing during the repetition of the Amidah pierced the soul, or maybe because the rabbi's d'var made me think excitedly about something.

How do you create these mekomot? That is not so easy to either explain or put into practice. I don't quite know how to answer that question yet. I do have a place to start with: you have to give worshipers a purpose or direction for prayer. Basically, you have to answer the question, "Why do we pray?" We can answer this in many ways; for example, you can answer this theologically or anthropologically, i.e. you pray to God for such and such things, you pray as self-expression, etc. Not every answer will work for every worshiper, so we need to work with them one-on-one and create an environment in which each worshiper can find a meaningful answer and then feel comfortable enough to pray.

Let's start from this point. Why do we pray? Let's make a list (please add to my list in the comments section). Thanks to Rabbi Steven Kane for the inspiration to do this.

1) praise God
2) ask God for things/express our needs and desires
3) rememberance (Yizkor)
4) connect to history (Musaf service)
5) connect to community (at my shul, we form a line to give names to the gabbai for the Mi Sheberach for the sick. It is one of the most beautiful community-building exercises I've ever experienced, especially as a gabbai.)

Any more?

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