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The Need for Prayer

 

By Rabbi Rifat Sonsino

Prayer comes out of a personal need to relate to someone infinitely greater than oneself. It gives praying individuals new insights and deeper understanding of themselves, and thus prepares them to face the world with courage and clarity of mind. Every prayer becomes a program of action, motivating them to accomplish their tasks with determination. Healthcare professionals have demonstrated the benefit of using prayer before surgery and while patients are undergoing difficult treatments in order to improve their recovery times. Prayer has been shown to be of value for the overall well-being of stressed men, women, and even children.¹

The need for prayer also emerges because people want to express their gratitude for the wonders they see in the universe. In fact, for the Jewish philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972), this element is the fundamental component of any prayer. He writes, “To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments.”² Similarly, commenting on the biblical text “Let every breath praise the Lord” (Psalms 150:6), one ancient sage taught, “At each and every breath a person takes, he should praise his Creator” (Gen. R. 14:9; Deut. R. 2:37). 

For Tamar Frankiel of the Claremont School of Theology, and Judy Greenfeld, cantor, certified fitness trainer and founder of Homeaerobics, a prayer is a spiritual workout: “Prayer is really our way of singing ourselves into existence before God. The Talmud describes it as an avodah, as labor, service, or work: ‘You shall serve the Lord your God with all your heart’ (Deuteronomy 11:13). ‘How does one serve with the heart? By praying’ (Ta. 2a). But it is a different kind of work from our everyday occupations, since it is work on oneself, a kind of spiritual workout…. Prayer is a time of self-evaluation. Yet, it is above all a healing process, not a lecturing to ourselves. We chant, sing, and sway, using the words of inspired poetry handed down through the ages, in order to cleanse away the old and make way for the new. It is a work of using the mind to look into the heart, placing ourselves in a closer union with God; it is a time to become aware of love, awe, trust, and faith.”³

 


The above excerpt “The Need for Prayer” by Rabbi Rifat Sonsino is from Six Jewish Spiritual Paths: A Rationalist Looks at Spirituality. © Rifat Sonsino. Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, VT 05091; www.jewishlights.com

 

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

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, scholar and rabbi, was ordained at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion. He holds a degree in law and a PhD in Bible and ancient Near Eastern studies. He has served as editor of the Central Conference of American Rabbis Journal and is the co-author of Finding God—Ten Jewish Responses and What Happens after I Die? Jewish Views of Life after Death. He was spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Needham, Massachusetts, until his retirement in 2003.

1. See, among others, Larry Dossey and Larry Vandecreek, eds., Scientific and Pastoral Perspectives on Intercessory Prayer: An Exchange between Larry Dossey, M.D., and Health Care Chaplains (Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth Press, 1998); Reginald B. Cherry, M.D., Healing Prayer: God’s Divine Intervention in Medicine, Faith and Prayer (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 1999); Jessica Cohen, “Healing Is Believing. Conventional Medicine Discovers the Power of Prayer.” Utne Reader (March/April 2000), 20-122.

2. Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man’s Quest for God (New York: Scribner’s, 1954), 5.

3. Tamar Frankiel and Judy Greenfeld, Minding the Temple of the Soul: Balancing Body, Mind and Spirit through Traditional Jewish Prayer, Movement and Meditation (Woodstock, Vt.: Jewish Lights, 1997), 88.





Six Jewish Spiritual Paths: A Rationalist Looks at Spirituality

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On Prayer Archive

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Why Prayer Works Even When It Doesn’t
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The Outcome of Prayer
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Changing Self-Deceit into the Quest for Truth
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Script
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“Hearing” Heschel: Social Action Today
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A Personal Relationship with Impersonal God
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Individual and Community
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What Matters Most
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Past and Future

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In Dialogue with the Divine

By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

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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 z"l

... 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/

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