Engaging with Prayer
:m ¤ki¥l£` i ¦Y §r ©n ¨W §e i ¨l ¥` m ¤Y §l ©N ©R §z ¦d §e m ¤Y §k©l£d ©e i ¦]r` m ¤z` ¨x §wE :m ¤k §a ©a §lÎl oÇk §A i ¦p «ªW §x §c ¦z i ¦M m ¤z` ¨v §nE i ¦]r` m ¤Y §W©T ¦aE :dediÎm ª` §p m ¤k¨l i ¦z`«¥v §n¦p §e When you call Me and come and pray to Me, I will hear you. When you seek Me, you will find Me, if you search for Me with all your heart. I shall let you find Me, says God.
Jeremiah 29: 12–14
The central part of the Shabbat and Daily services, beginning with the Sh’ma and its blessings, has a fixed form, the Hebrew term being keva , whereas the earlier parts of the service offer greater flexibility. Being ‘fixed’there is always the risk that the prayers become mechanical recitations. Rabbinic tradition stressed the need both to concentrate on the meaning of the prayers and to keep them fresh, to read them with kavvanah , ‘intention’. To aid in this they introduced private meditations and poems. This section provides materials that may aid engaging with prayer, iyyun tefillah , meditations that may be read privately before the service begins and opening prayers to set the mood for the individual services.
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