Finding Your Prayer Voice

So I hope that you had a prayerful Rosh Hashana and did not solely measure your davening experience on the time that your service concluded.

One of the big themes that I personally thought about was centered around the shofar and the word "קול" or "voice".  Voice and shofar are often linked in the verses cited in the musaf section and it is pretty obvious to think of voice within the entire concept of prayer.  Even the big there elements that are advised by the liturgy to remove the potential evil decree, "Teshuva, Tefilla, u'Tzedaka - Repentance, Prayer, and Charity", need a voice to enable them.  The Rambam writes that one who repents but has not verbally confessed the sin has done teshuva.   Tefilla is simply a verbal expression of one's inner most desires, whether we move our lips to our silent prayer or sing and scream aloud with the chazan.  Finally, tzedaka - giving charity gives voice to those who are needy and helps balance the burdens within a society.

I think that for parents and educators, our goal is to allow our children to discover their own voice within our value system.  Not to just mimic lessons learned in school or opinions overheard at the dinner table, I want my students to feel an authentic call to daven and know what they need to bring to this moment.  This is a mature goal and I think that a synagogue is a perfect crucible for it.

My diagnosis on why so many young people prefer to hang around outside the shul, on the playground or in the 'groups' is because they do not feel this authentic call to prayer, with or without the traditional liturgy.  It is my prayer for the upcoming year that I can share more resources and successful practices on how to engages this population.  Here's to a great year!

Finding Your Voice in Your Tefilla

Rabbi Kenneth Brander, Dean of the Center for the Jewish Future at YU, gave a class last week on "Tefillah - Preparation, Redemption, and Transformation".  I recommend this twenty minute listen because I think he draws a worthwhile parallel between Shabbat and Tefilla.

For many educators, Shabbat is both the most special time and concept to engage students to their Jewish identity.  R Brander elaborates on several dimensions - pointing to the songs sung on Shabbat and halachot involved in their preparations.  He raises honest points - that "it is hard to connect in Tefilla"  and shares a personal tragedy and how tefilla helped him through such a challenge. Further he stresses the need to make the special connection between prayer and the structure of  Shabbat which "re-calibrates our lives and purpose".  Tefilla, he argues, has a cosmic redemptive moment that is similar to Shabbat - I feel this way but I am not sure that my students do.

Finally, R. Brander ends the shuir speaking about finding one's own voice in tefilla - and I think this is the most powerful part of the lesson.  How can we address the challenge to allow each student to find their own individual voice "within the symphony we create with HaKadosh Baruch Hu".  He warns against imitation but I fear that this is often our standard pedagogical approach.