Often, when a book is placed before us we think we have to read it. But, that is not what we are supposed to do with the prayer-book. We’re supposed to use it to open our hearts to prayer. Rabbi Ruth Sohn shares her personal practice of morning prayer, using the words of the siddur to prompt her own heart to prayer. Join her!
Spiritual life is all encompassing, and there is no dimension of our lived experience that is outside of its concern. In the same way, most spiritual traditions intuit and focus on shared awareness and experience. Cantor Louise Treitman brings together the healing sensation of Reiki, the energy of the Sefirot, and the experience of singing Adon Olam in a powerful morning prayer practice.
How do you start your day? What does it mean to “get out on the wrong side of the bed”? What prepares you to meet the world fully, with the whole of your being? Cantor Bat-Ami Moses offers us a practice of bringing Netzach — energy and determination — and Hod –acceptance and receptivity — into balance in heart, mind, body and soul to begin our day.
So much of our lives can feel scattered. What should I be doing now? Is there somewhere I should be (or not be)? What am I feeling? How is my heart? We pray “Unify our hearts to love and reverence Your Name” — and through this prayer, we may find our own inner wholeness. Chant and pray with Cantor Lizzie Shammash in this moving practice of unification.
We often think of prayer as coming in prescribed times or in specific places. But, often the most profound prayers come at those “in-between” moments, when things can go this way or that, or when we sense those important (but not necessarilly unusual) transitions in our lives. Dasee Berkowitz shares her “in-between” prayers, and invites us to live, pray, and love with her.
“Ayeka”, “where are you?” is the first question in the Bible, address to Adam after he had eaten of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That’s a question every parent probably asks their child — in some form — when the child does something out of bounds. But, do parents ask themselves the same question? Dasee Berkowitz invites us to (re)connect with our own soul while parenting, for the sake of our children, and for our own sake as well.
The transition from sleep to wakefulness can be fraught. For some, it is a time to jump out of bed and get the day going. Others just pull the covers over their heads and hide from the morning light. Rabbi Amy Grossblatt Pessah welcomes her soul back to her body and envisions being wrapped in light to set out on her day. We invite you to join her in this practice!
There are tons of parenting books on the market, most of which are prescriptive and often lead to self-judgment. This week and next, we meet two authors who have reflected on their own experiences as parents and found wisdom to support themselves and others in the complex but delightful and revelatory practice of parenting. This week, Rabbi Amy Grossblatt Pessah shares the insights she gained from the siddur that have supported her in her parenting practice.
Alden Solovy spoke movingly about how poetry and prayer emerged in his life, and have sustained and nurtured him through very difficult circumstances. Now, he shares a key element of his morning prayer practice: sacred journaling. Listening deeply to his own heart, he touches on Awarnesses, Gratitudes, and Intentions to ground his life, and prepare him to pray from the heart.
We begin a series of three interviews with authors in the field of prayer. The first is with Alden Solovy, who writes at tobendlight.com, and who has recently published “This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer”. His project is to offer us all entry into expressing our own prayers, and finding our way into the prayerbook as our own.
Contemplative practice — for instance, meditation — can settle the body and mind and help us to sense the deep Oneness of all beings. But, it can also be lonely. We human beings also need connection and relationship. Rabbi Lavey Dereby shares his personal practice of passionate, heart-felt prayer, of reaching out to the One, as Beloved. [Note: the prayer practice itself is all in Hebrew — so please see the transcript for the words and translation]
We often think of prayer as a practice of reaching out, of shifting our attention toward God “out there”. But, it can also be a matter of turning inward, connecting to the divine — and divine qualities — in our own souls. Rabbi Rachel Gartner introduces us to her practice with the obstacles to shining the light of her soul more brightly into the world, as prayer.
Rabbi Jacob Staub recalls a teaching of his “rebbe” Sylvia Boorstein: whatever is happening, however you feel, whatever you know to be true, no matter how frightening, no matter how painful, no matter how difficut — “Don’t Duck!” But, how? Jacob leans into the arms of God, who lifts all who fall — even him, even you. He invites you to join in this warm-hearted, loving prayer.
When COVID-19 hit, rather than limiting religious life, Hazzan Harold Messinger (and his colleague Rabbi David Ackerman) of Beth Am Israel, created a new Zoom-minyan. Rather than bemoan not singing together, he used music on his end to engage people in their bodies and souls on their end. We invite you to have a taste of his Zoom minyan.
P.S. check out the transcript for links to many of these tunes!
There are many ways to pray, but fundamental to them all is opening awareness to that which is Beyond, to the All, to God. Cantor Josh Breitzer, in this time of pandemic, has turned his walking-commute into a walking-practice, bringing attention to the mundane aspects of the world around him, to wake up in payer.
Is it possible to be fully grateful for our lives the first thing upon waking? How might the first prayer of gratitude, “Modeh Ani”, help us cultivate a life of thanks and awareness. Rabbi Danielle Upbin shares her personal practice of mindfulness and chant.
Many of us know where to sit in our synagogues for prayer, and allow the space to lead us into prayer. But, what do we do when we are on our own, even if joining in Zoom-prayers? Cantor Shayna DeLowe shares her personal experience of creating a sacred space for prayer, so that we might pray with her, as well.
Weaving traditional liturgical melodies and the poetry of Amichai and Cohen, Rabbi Neil Blumofe walks us deep into the heart of love, through the morning/Shacharit service.
“All of Scripture is holy, but the Song of Songs is holy of holies” said Rabbi Akiva — and also Rabbi Shefa Gold. She mines this book as a source of inspiration and personal teaching, through chant and silence. “Here comes my beloved!”
In the early part of the morning service, we meet a passage that carries us through a profound contemplation of our lives. Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell leads us through the prayer, and into it, to find our way to love.
In case you missed it, watch Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie in conversation with Rabbi Josh Feigelson, IJS Executive Director. This live public event sponsored by IJS, took place on Thursday evening, February 12, 2021 with an audience of more than 600 people. Rabbi Amichai shares a unique perspective on Purim and offers new ways to celebrate virtually this year.
Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is the Founding Spiritual Leader of Lab/Shul NYC and the creator of Storahtelling, Inc. An Israeli-born Jewish educator, writer, and performance artist, he received his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2016. Rabbi Amichai has been hailed as “an iconoclastic mystic” by Time Out New York, a “rock star” by the New York Times, and “one of the most interesting thinkers in the Jewish world” by the Jewish Week.
Who doesn’t like to kiss? But, how many extend that to kissing the mezuzah? Aviva Chernickk has — as a practice when she comes home and leaves the house, and as a prompt to cultivate the love invoked in the Shema.
Cantor Audrey Abrams brings her background as a music therapist (and her self-awareness as a “shower davener”) to help us use chant to open the heart, face our truth, and emerge more whole.
Grounding his practice in the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook and Rav Dov Singer, Rabbi Yosef Goldman leads us into a deep engagement with our own lived experience, grounding us in a heart of gratitude.
Newly released! Listen to IJS Executive Director, Rabbi Josh Feigelson, discuss Jewish Spiritual Practice, Parshat Yitro, and much more in the latest episode of Drinking and Drashing: Torah with a Twist.
Available wherever you get your podcasts!
Rabbi Susan Leider invites us to join her as she wakes up, connecting the daily Birkhot Hashachar to each step along the way.
Chanting a niggun is not only an outward expression of yearning. It can also penetrate the heart. Rabbi Hannah Dresner, chanting in her car, leads us in practice from a parched place, to open to the flow available at all times.
Music is so evocative! In just a few notes we can be taken back in time to a far-off place, to a connection with another person. How does that work? What is added through words? Cadence, intonation, emphasis? Join Rabbi Lydia Medwin as she sits with and unpacks her experience of “Change is Gonna Come” with Otis Redding, and find your own prayer through music, too.
Read the episode transcript
Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari starts his morning davening (prayers) with the awareness that prayer is an embodied practice. He connects with sensation, with sound, with memory, and with the words of the Tradition for a personal engagement with the morning liturgy.
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How do we prepare our hearts to pray? What conditions our souls to know what is important? Rabbi Amy Eilberg has used the mindfulness meditation practice of metta, or lovingkindness, for this purpose. The phrases she employs to settle and orient her heart are those of the Priestly blessing (Num. 6:2-26). Join her in this prayer practice for the sake of your own heart, and the good of all others.
Read the episode transcript