The Art of Jewish Prayer (Week 1, Part 2)

So how does a rabbi learn all the stuff he needs to learn? Well, he prays.

I keep mentioning that I need to learn my liturgy. There are so many prayers and tunes to these prayers that I don't know, and this is the year to learn it. But, how? Well, I indeed, will pray.

Every Tuesday morning during the summer ulpan semester various faculty and adminstration leads our class in teffilah, prayer. As we learned the other day, however, we won't always actually have a "service." For example, Rabbi Michael Marmur, Dean of the Rabbinical School, spent a session on examining the prayer Modeh Ani, a prayer that thanks God for allowing us to wake up and having our souls return to us. While sleep is something that I value, our ancestors used to fear sleep because they were afraid that they would die. Nevertheless, this prayer often is sung during morning services. We examined Modeh Ani through the eyes of Abraham Joshua Heschel, a prominent rabbi and philosopher. The lesson to be learned is that our individual prayers are integrally related to those of others, and the intent of our prayers affect if they will be answered.

In addition, beginning this Wednesday, I will participate in Ritual Workshop that will focus on particular rituals in the Jewish tradition. More to come on this.

Finally ... if I don't have enough opportunities to learn liturgy, I am helping lead the Tisha B'Av service this coming Monday, commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temple (and other horrible events that occurred on the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av). I have decided to audition for the High Holy Day Choir as well -I will learn the High Holy Day service, work on my voice, and possibly learn to read basic music. I am joining the Tefillah Committee to help assist in planning student-led services and events. And ... most of the class will participate in the FSU Project (Former Soviet Union), where we will travel to Russia during Pesach (Passover) to lead seders. In preparation for this project, I will learn how to lead the seder (and will learn basic Russian).

Yeah, its a lot of stuff. It will keep me busy, fresh, and ready to learn. So something tells me I might know my liturgy at the end of the year, and by the way ...

Guess what course I am taking come September? You got, it, Liturgy!