I’m a realist. I know that many of us in the mainstream community do not pray every day and that most davening takes place over Shabbat. We all have our own personal ways of relating to God and prayer is but one part of that.
The traditions we observe, the commitments we make, the families we nurture and the people we help are all vital aspects of our relationship with God. Nevertheless, tefillah, Jewish prayer, has been practised for centuries and is an essential feature of faith.
All denominations have synagogues and if refurbishments and new builds are anything to go by, their appeal does not seem to be waning. Each one continues to be the epicentre of its community. And for most us, shul makes praying easier. Structured services, good tunes and the promise of kiddush and catching up with friends all help to make weekly attendance an attractive proposition.
But for now, that’s all over. Continued lockdown for all, and the probability of long-term lockdown for the vulnerable, means that the return to regular public services in a synagogue building are some way off.
In the meantime, our community has found other ways to continue. For instance, online cultural activities, social gatherings and learning classes are burgeoning. At LSJS we have welcomed the huge take-up of our online courses, events and tours. Tefillah too has moved to the screen; you can catch daily davening on Facebook and join big events like a Yom Ha’atzmaut service, beamed to you on YouTube.
However, watching prayer online, even when I participate, gives me a feeling of displacement. Virtual togetherness is somewhat comforting, but, to me, prayer is in essence an intimate act. It is the focusing of my mind and mouth. The conscious practice of following words in a siddur, voicing ritualised Hebrew aloud and bowing periodically, have a deliberate physical and emotional effect. Watching a screen diminishes this inner focus.
Joyous, songful and interactive communal services are a key part of prayer, but our own expressions, directed inward, face-to-face with the Almighty, are the beating heart of tefillah. Though Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea, was a national outpouring, most of the prayers in the Torah were the heartfelt voices of lone individuals: Abraham pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah, Rebecca questioning her pregnancy pains, Jacob hoping to survive his exile, Moses requesting forgiveness for the Israelites or to heal his sister.
With shuls shut, I firmly believe that now is the time to work on personal prayer. Cultivating these skills can really help in these difficult times and open up our hearts in meaningful ways. Our tradition has many well-established spiritual practices and meditations, but I just want to offer a few suggestions that might help you along the path of prayer. You don’t have to be a rabbi, chazan, mystic or sage to pray well. The opportunity is there for us all, if we are open to it. So here are eight tips:
1. Fix a daily or weekly ritual: How long you pray is secondary to the regularity with which you do it. Settle on a prayer habit that works for you and stick to it.
2. Find a spot: Comfy sofa, garden recliner or kitchen chair — whatever enables you to concentrate. Sometimes I vary my spot to help refocus. For some, meandering helps.
3. Before you begin, be still: Sit motionless for a whole minute. As you notice your breathing, try to quieten your thoughts and calm your worries.
4. Read slowly, say less: Coverage matters far less than articulation. Rather than trying to rush through every paragraph, concentrate on sentences that embody the theme of the prayer you are reciting.
5. Pray out loud: It slows you down, exercises your senses and makes you much more aware of what you are doing.
6. Pause to reflect: If a word or phrase piques your interest then take a moment to look at the translation or commentary and reflect on it.
7. Use Hebrew and English: What translations lose in accuracy, they gain in advancing comprehension. English will help you understand and Hebrew — our national language — will help you connect to Jews past and present.
8. Pray eastward: We cannot be together in time and place, but we can be united in the direction we face — Israel our homeland and Jerusalem our holy city.
Whether you pray daily, spontaneously or only on Shabbat; whether you plough through everything or select a few prayers that have personal meaning for you; whether you take a few minutes or hours — the most important thing is to be focused and sincere. The more you do that, the more you will gain.
Rabbi Dr Zarum is dean of the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS). He teaches prayer on his online show every Friday. See www.lsjs.ac.uk
