Episode 35: Becoming a Soulful Parent: A Path to the Wisdom Within

“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.

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Episode 34: Gratitude and Spiritual Protection Before Getting Out of Bed

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!

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Episode 33: Parenting on a Prayer: Ancient Jewish Secrets for Raising Modern Children

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.

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Episode 32: Spiritual Journaling as Spiritual Listening

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.

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Episode 31: Alden Solovy: “This Precious Life”

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.

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Episode 30: Praying to the Beloved

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]

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Episode 29: “Middot and Meniyot” -or- “Musar My Way”

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.

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Episode 28: “God Lifts All Who Fall”

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.

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Episode 27: Why Worry When You Can Pray

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!

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Episode 26: Morning Walking Practice

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.

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Episode 25: Taking “Modeh Ani” Out of Bed and Into Our Lives

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.

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Episode 24: Creating a Sacred Space to Pray

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.

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Episode 23: A Rabbi, Yehudah Amichai, and Leonard Cohen Daven Together

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.

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Episode 22: Expectancy — not Expectation

“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!”

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Episode 21: What Are We? The Redemptive Power of Prayer

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.

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Episode 20: Kissing the Mezuzah Opening the Door to Prayer

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.

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Episode 19: Chant as the Heart of Prayer

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.

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Episode 18: I am? And You are? Dialogic Personal Prayer

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.

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Episode 17: Waking Up to Blessing

Rabbi Susan Leider invites us to join her as she wakes up, connecting the daily Birkhot Hashachar to each step along the way.

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Episode 16: Chant to Open the Heart

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.

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Episode 15: Music to Evoke Prayer

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.
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Episode 14: Priestly Blessing: Lovingkindness Prayer

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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Episode 13: Priestly Blessing: Lovingkindness Prayer

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.
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Episode 12: Prayer as a Hug

The spring and summer of 2020 have been tumultuous, burdened by isolation and confusion during the pandemic, by fear and anger at systemic racism, uncertainty about the future in the run-up to an election. Hazzan Sabrina Sojourner invites us to rest in the hugs of our ancestors, In God’s embrace, to find strength and hopefulness.
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Episode 11: Etz Hayyim Hi — Praying With A Tree

The biblical book of Proverbs refers to the Torah as a “Tree of Life” and we sing those words when we return the Torah to the Ark after reading from it. But, what does that really mean? Maor Greene asks just this question, and investigates the experience of prayer with a Tree. Go outside with them to see what it’s like!
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Episode 10: Embodied Awakening Prayer

The traditional Jewish morning service begins with blessings acknowledging the workings of the body. But, sometimes we need to wake up more fully even before engaging in liturgical prayer. Rabbi Myriam Klotz leads us through her embodied awakening practice, inviting you to join in as well.
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Episode 9: Embodied Chant to Open the Heart

Many people approach prayer as an intellectual endeavor: I read the prayers and they say something, perhaps even what I mean. Others sense that prayer comes from the heart: when in community the sense of belonging and the invitation to connect with spirit opens the heart. Hazzan Joanna Dulkin reminds us that prayer begins in the body, and is energized by chant and song.
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Episode 8: Turn Your Torah into Tefillah

Rebbe Nachman sought to use every possible methodology available to him to help people connect with their truest selves and to the Divine. One such practice was turning one’s Torah Study into Tefilah (prayer). Rabbi David Jaffe gives us instructions, demonstrates, and leads us in this prayer practice.
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