Jewish Lights Publishing
For People of All Faiths, All Backgrounds • Words for the Soul--Made in Vermont		  
Advanced Search
Lifelights
Authors
On Prayer
Speakers Bureau
Shop by Category

NEW BOOKS

Bar / Bat Mitzvah

Bible Study / Torah /
  Talmud

Children’s Books

Congregation &
  Professional Resources

Ecology / Environment

Gift Books

Graphic Novels /
  Graphic History

Grief / Healing

Hasidic Wisdom /
  Rebbe Nachman

Holidays and Shabbat

Inspiration

Interfaith Relations

Interfaith Relations /
  Judaism for Christians

Kabbalah / Mysticism /
  Enneagram

Lifecycle

Meditation

Men’s Interest

Peoplehood—Israel

Prayer

Ritual / Sacred Practice

Science Fiction / Mystery &
  Detective Fiction

Social Justice

Spiritual Practice

Spirituality

Teens / Young Adult

Theology / Philosophy

12 Steps

Women’s Interest
Book Club Picks
Sign Up for Email Updates-- Get info on new books, sales and more!
People Don't Think Prayer Is Answered

By Rabbi Mike Comins

The greatest stumbling block to prayer is the difficulty people have with the most basic question: What use is prayer? Indirect answers (to fulfill my obligation, to identify with the community, to sing, to say Kaddish for a loved one, to see my friends, to hear the rabbi’s sermon, to enjoy the cantor’s artistry) are good and true, but not enough for most to become regulars at synagogue services. We want to know. Does God answer prayer? How can you tell the difference between God’s communication and your own imagination?

All kinds of strategies are employed to avoid giving a straight answer. My favorite: It’s a mystery. We can’t know the physics of prayer; to describe it actually cheapens the whole thing. Talk about what the prayers mean, but stay away from the how and the why.

This argument makes sense to a lot of people. But frankly, it has never worked for me, and from what I can tell, it does not work for most Jews. For me, faith requires some real-world plausibility, if not outright evidence. I do not need the kind of proof that a physicist would verify, but I have to have some idea of why this activity is worthwhile and some criterion to judge if it is working. Otherwise, I have other things to do with my time.

The most convincing and oft-repeated justification for attending services that I heard in my youth was some version of this: The act of prayer itself is the answer to our prayers.

Today I have real respect for this statement, now that I think God is real and the act of praying itself actually changes the world. But this is not how it was explained to me growing up, where explicit talk of God was studiously avoided. The statement was purely psychological, as prayer does not affect anything outside of us. (It was a popular approach because it did not depend on a God whom most believed did not exist.) So when I prayed for the health of a sick friend, for instance, the purpose of the prayer was to make me aware that I should pay a visit to that friend.

While the psychological effect of prayer is certainly valuable and true, it was not enough to motivate me to pray regularly. Did I really need a prayer to know that I should visit a sick friend?

Prayer is intended to be a conversation with God. If we take this proposition seriously, then theology, in the form of down-to-earth, straight talk about how God acts in the world, needs to be on the agenda.

The above excerpt, “People Don’t Think Prayer Is Answered,” by Rabbi Mike Comins, is from Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do about It © 2010 by Mike Comins. Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, VT 05091; www.jewishlights.com.

*********************

Rabbi Mike Comins is the author of A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism and Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do about It (both Jewish Lights). He is the founder of TorahTrek Spiritual Wilderness Adventures (www.TorahTrek.org) and the Institute for Jewish Wilderness Spirituality. He lives, teaches and writes in Los Angeles, and serves as a scholar-in-residence for schools and synagogues around the world.

Rabbi Mike Comins is available to speak on the following topics:

  • Finding God in Nature: Buber, Heschel and the Kabbalah on the Experience of Divinity in the Natural World
  • How the Jews Lost Nature and Why We Need to Get Her Back
  • Making Prayer Real: Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do about It
  • Prayer, Teshuvah and Coping with Loss
  • The Spiritual Dynamics of Traditional Prayer

Click here to contact the author.





Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do about It

Quantity in Basket: 0



A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism

Quantity in Basket: 0

On Prayer Archive

Two Faces of God, One Choice
By Rabbi Edwin Goldberg, DHL

The "I-Thou" Relationship with God
By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky and Stuart M. Matlins

Praying God's Prayers
By Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

The Sound of Prayer
By Rabbi Anne Brener, LCSW

Avodat Halev: The Service of the Heart
By Rabbi Ralph D. Mecklenburger

Laugh
By Rabbi Avraham Weiss

The Sea of Ending and Beginning
By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow and Rabbi Phyllis O. Berman

The Night of Vigil
By Dr. Ron Wolfson with Joel Lurie Grishaver

Hitlahavut
By Arthur Green, PhD

My Favorite Prayer
By Rabbi Rami Shapiro

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Tefilah?
By Dr. Erica Brown

Balancing Silence and Sound
By Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

After the Newtown Shooting: Comfort from Prayer
By Rabbi Dennis S. Ross

Prayer and Meditation: Combining the Two Practices
By Nan Fink Gefen, PhD

The Outcome of Prayer
By Rabbi Rifat Sonsino

People Don't Think Prayer Is Answered
By Rabbi Mike Comins

The First Kaddish
By Rabbi Anne Brener, LCSW

Prayer as Transformation
By Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi with Joel Segel

Sharing the Spiritual Search
By Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MAJCS, BCC

With All My Being
By Karyn D. Kedar

Resurrection
By Rabbi Lawrence Kushner and Nehemia Polen

A Great Miracle Happened Here
By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky
Edited by Joel Lurie Grishaver

Haneirot Hallalu
By Dr. Ron Wolfson
Edited by Joel Lurie Grishaver

Prayer and Pregnancy
By Sandy Falk, MD, and Rabbi Daniel Judson with Steven A. Rapp

Directing the Heart
By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

Why Praying Can Help Even If You’ve Never Done It Before
By Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler

A Niggun Is a Wordless Prayer
By Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi with Joel Segel

Have an Ongoing Dialogue with God
By Rabbi Levi Meier, PhD

Prayer Is Not Just for "Believers"
By Rabbi Anne Brener, LCSW

Siddur
By Arthur Green, PhD

Rites of Passage: Continuity and Change
By Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MAJCS, BCC

Does Prayer Work?
By Rabbi Aryeh Ben David

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov Taught ...

The Night of Forgiveness, the Day of Atonement
By Dr. Ron Wolfson

God as the Ultimate Writer
By Dr. Erica Brown

Are All Responsible?
By Rabbi Goldie Milgram

Have a Heart
By Rabbi Lori Forman–Jacobi

God Desires Heart
By Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins

Please Throw Me a Rope
By Rabbi Alan Lew z”l and Sherril Jaffe

The Essence of Prayer in Jewish Tradition
By Rabbi Rifat Sonsino

Healing Body and Spirit
By Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, MD

Tefilat Halev: Prayer of the Heart
By Rabbi David Lyon

Kaddish: Continuing Your Communication with the Deceased
By Rabbi Anne Brener, LCSW

Women in Prayer—Some History
By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD

Kavvanah—Direction of the Heart
By Arthur Green, PhD

Prayer as Art
By Rabbi Ralph D. Mecklenburger

Saying No to Tebowing:
On Sports and Prayer
By Rabbi Dennis S. Ross

Silent Prayer
By Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

Miracles Surround Us
By Rabbi Levi Meier, PhD

One Hundred Blessings a Day
By Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman

Spiritual Goose Bumps
By Ron Wolfson

Choosing Life:
Prayer and Healing
By Rabbi Anne Brener

Changing Self-Deceit into the Quest for Truth
By Abraham J. Twerski, MD

The Importance of Shabbat
By Rabbi David Lyon

Peace of Mind
By Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler


Speed Davening:
Empowerment as a Kid
By Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

The Sea of Ending and Beginning
By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

The Medium Is the Message
By David Arnow, PhD

Connecting Ritual with Action
By Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Count Your Blessings
By Dr. Ron Wolfson

The Motzi
By Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold

Helping Ourselves
By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

Walking with God in Israel
By Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler

May Our Prayers Never End
By Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

Script
By Lawrence Kushner

A Return to Fruitfulness
By Ellen Bernstein

With God as My Companion
By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

“Hearing” Heschel: Social Action Today
By Rabbi Rami Shapiro

A Personal Relationship with Impersonal God
By Rabbi Mike Comins

Individual and Community
in Prayer
By Dr. David Hartman

Blessing: Bringing Possibility into Reality
By Lawrence Kushner

All the World Is a Place for Prayer
By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD

An OK Jew
By Peter Yarrow

A Most Interesting “Amen”
Edited by Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins

Restoring Balance through Personal Prayer
By Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin

Avoiding Complacency
By Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MAJCS, BCC

Blessings after Eating
By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky and Rabbi Daniel Judson

Spiritual Greed
By Lawrence Kushner

What Matters Most
By Rabbi David B. Rosen

Neshamah Meditation—Experiencing Your Soul Within
By Nan Fink Gefen, PhD

Bedtime Prayers
By Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler

Amen: Saying “Yes”
By Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

P’sukei d’Zimrah: The Poetics of Praise
By Rabbi Mike Comins

Moving toward the Light of God
By Rabbi Alan Lew, z”l

The Surprising Appeal of
Kol Nidre
By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD

At the Edge of the Abyss
By Rabbi Sharon Brous

Past and Future
By Dr. Louis E. Newman

In Dialogue with the Divine
By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

How to Become a Blessing
By Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz

The Need for Prayer
By Rabbi Rifat Sonsino

Love & Prayer
By Rabbi Avraham Weiss

Lullaby of a Restless Soul
By Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

The Power of Presence
By Rabbi Edward Feld

Does God Hear Our Prayers?
By Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold

Finding the Purpose of Our Impediments
By Rabbi Levi Meier, PhD, z”l

The Forgiveness of Sin
By Rabbi Jack Riemer

Prayer as a Spiritual Path
By Rabbi Ted Falcon, PhD

Spiritual Deficiency Syndrome

By Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, MD

God as the Source of All Things

By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

A Prayer for Zion and Jerusalem

By Ari L. Goldman

The Amidah: A Prayer for Doubters

By Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

Silent Prayer

By Daniel C. Matt, PhD

Meditation Coupled with Prayer

By Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz

Breaking the Stumbling Blocks to Prayer

By Rabbi David Lyon

Praying by Imitation

By Rabbi Nancy Flam

Hitbodedut: Alone with God

By Rabbi Arthur Green, PhD

Mi-sheberach Blessings: Connecting to Our Experiences and Our Community

By Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MAJCS, BCC

The Haggadah’s Last Word: A World of Eternal Life

By David Arnow, PhD

The Bread of Oppression or the Bread of Freedom

By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

It Would Have Been Enough

By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

Avodah: The Path of Prayer

By Rabbi Michael Strassfeld

The Power of Prayer and Action

By Rabbi Jill Jacobs

On Mindfulness

By Sylvia Boorstein

Making Room for Prayer in Our Synagogues

By Rabbi Marc D. Angel

Navigating the Heavens

By Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

Prayer of the (Broken) Heart

By Rabbi Anne Brener, LCSW

Why Prayer Works Even When It Doesn't

By Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler

C'mon Jews, Let Go!

By Rabbi Elyse Goldstein

Open My Lips

By Lawrence Kushner

Prayer: An Eternal Experience

By Rabbi Chaim Kramer

The God Who Is Listening

By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD

A Morning Practice

By Nan Fink Gefen, PhD

Prayer—Fact or Feeling?

By Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi

... Who Has Made Me a Jew

By Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin

The Breath of Life and Prayer

By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

How to Be Hanukkah Holy

By Dr. Ron Wolfson

Blessings New and Ancient—A Living Link to God

By Rabbi Marcia Prager

“Out There,” “In Here”—What's the Problem?

By Rabbi Perry Netter

Learning to Pray from My Bubbe

By Dr. Ron Wolfson

Chilean Miner Rescue Gives New Meaning to Old Prayers

By Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

A Prayer Before I Pray

By Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis

With God as My Companion

By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

Finding the Prayer of Your Heart

By Rabbi Goldie Milgram

I Don't Pray

By Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Prayer, Habituation, and Holy Insecurity

By Dr. Erica Brown

The High Holy Days Conundrum

By Rabbi Mike Comins

Who by Fire, Who by Water

By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman

Repentance: A Lost Art?

By Dr. Louis E. Newman

Other Prayer Resources

A Song Every Day
By Virginia Spatz
http://songeveryday.wordpress.com/

Making Prayer Real
By Rabbi Mike Comins
http://makingprayerreal.com/

Home

About Us

Contact Us

Advertising

Join Our Mail List

View/Download Catalog

Get E-mail Updates

Press Room

Contact an Author

Related Links

Permissions

Manuscript Submission

Desk and Examination Copy Policy

Employment

Savings & Discounts

Shipping Information

Distributors

Privacy Policy

BOOKSELLER
INFORMATION
Visit our sister imprint at www.skylightpaths.com.