Are you ready? You don’t need much, just a heart.
Our new course, A Work of Heart: Between Me and G-d, opens a whole unknown world that has been percolating just beneath the surface of the Jewish prayers for millennia. Some folks hear the term "prayer" and imagine clouds of Hebrew texts or endlessly turning pages, or a synagogue visit. But that’s the wrapping.
The heart of prayer is all about enjoying a personal relationship, meeting and hugging G-d within your own heart and experiencing the reciprocation.
Lesson 1
A Work of Soul
Monday, November 11, 2024 7:00 PM
Prayer is a personal experience. Yet, as the story of the Alter Rebbe demonstrates, there is a lot we can learn about it to help us deepen our own prayer experience. To get us started, we use an exercise to gauge where students stand in regard to prayer.
Lesson 2
A Work of Pleas
Monday, December 16, 2024 7:00 PM
Asking G-d for our needs is a fundamental part of Jewish prayer, but this raises many questions. Hasn’t G-d already decided my fate? Doesn’t He already know what I want? We have so much without prayer, and sometimes prayers are not answered. So, what’s the point?
Lesson 3
A Work of Ascent
Monday, January 20, 2025 7:00 PM
Just like all other relationships, connecting with G-d is a complex, gradual process. That is why it is compared to a ladder. We begin prayer at the bottom, feeling distant from G-d, and we slowly climb closer to Him. Every day, we begin this climb anew. The prayer book guides us up the rungs of the prayer ladder. In order for it to be effective, we need to identify with the themes it expresses. This explains why we begin the prayer book anew every day
Lesson 4
A Work of Praise
Monday February 17, 2025 7:00 PM
Praising G-d helps us become aware of and inspired by His greatness. In the Verses of Song, we observe the complexity, vastness, and multitude of the world around us, and we marvel at its Creator. This makes us want to become closer to G-d.
Lesson 5
A Work of Transcendance
Monday, March 17, 2025 7:00 PM
To appreciate the message of the Shema prayer, we need to understand the context in which it appears in our prayers: a section of the prayers known as "Shema and its blessings." The first primary theme in this part of the prayers is the Heavenly angels and their dramatic praise of G-d. Due to the angels’ great degree of spiritual consciousness, they are able to sense the transcendent element of G-d and are inspired to seek it. Reading about this serves to inspire us to seek that element of G-d, too. The second theme in this section of the prayers is G-d’s great love for us. Despite the transcendence of G-dâ€"as demonstrated by the angels’ praise of Himâ€"and despite our poor state of spiritual consciousness, G-d takes great care of our world. It is the apple of His eye. This is extremely inspiring.
Lesson 6
A Work of Synthesis
Monday, April 7, 2025 7:00 PM
The Amidah is the highest rung on the ladder of prayer, and it represents total surrender to G-d. During the Amidah, our souls experience a level of submission similar to what people felt in times past, when they stood before a king. Although we don’t experience the Amidah in our conscious minds as our souls experience it, the objective of prayer is to visualize and tap into this experience. When standing before G-d, our souls feel unable to speak. We therefore begin by asking G-d for the strength to speak. In addition, our sages ordained that we stand upright, pray silently, and bow at certain points of the Amidah to generate an aura and simulate a feeling of standing before a king.
Lesson 7
A Work of Alliance
Monday, May 12, 2024 7:00 PM
In previous lessons, we explored the personal experience of prayer. Yet, traditionally, attending services with the rest of the community at the synagogue is a significant part of Jewish life. Is prayer meant to be individual, or in the company of others? Although prayer is always encouraged, G-d is less accessible through individual prayer than through communal prayer. However, when the community prays together, G-d is always accessible and hears their prayers.
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