Breathe New Life into Your Prayer with the
Wisdom of Kabbalah and the Hasidic Masters
Jewish mystics teach that every word a
person utters in prayer should radiate light. Even the letters
of the words of prayer carry sparks of the Divine that yearn to
join together in holiness.
In this inspiring spiritual companion,
Reform rabbi Lawrence Kushner and Orthodox rabbi Nehemia Polen
join together to provide a window into the liturgy for people
of all backgrounds by offering fresh insights and meditations
that bring the traditional prayerbook to life. Drawing from the
Torah, Zohar, and ancient and contemporary Hasidic
masters, Kushner and Polen reflect on the joy, gratitude,
compassion, mystery, and awe embedded in traditional prayers
and blessings, and show how you can imbue these familiar sacred
words with your own sense of holiness.
Insightful, fresh, and wise, Filling Words
with Light will enrich your understanding of the prayer book
and guide you on how to put more of yourself into the holy
words of the Jewish tradition.
“A wonderful collection of insights
into prayer, collected and reworked by a team of contemporary
masters. Will add depth and insight to your prayer
life!”
—Rabbi
Arthur Green, author of Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow
and These Are the
Words: A Vocabulary of Jewish Spiritual Life
“Kushner and Polen are unparalleled
in their ability to translate the most arcane and difficult
insights of Hasidic masters into terms that are stunningly
applicable to the human condition. Each and every page is
testimony to their affection for the sages they cite and their
regard for the prayers those sages address. For a spiritual
commentary on the prayer book, this is the book to
own.”
—Rabbi
Lawrence A. Hoffman, editor of the My People’s Prayer Book:
Traditional
Prayers, Modern Commentaries series
“This book will surely open the
heart of anyone opening a prayer book. The inspiring gems of
insight by two great scholars seem to literally sparkle right
off the pages. So much wisdom, made so accessible.”
—Rabbi
Elyse Goldstein, editor of The Women’s Torah Commentary and
The
Women’s Haftarah Commentary
Rabbi Nehemia Polen is professor of Jewish thought and director of the
Hasidic Text Institute at Hebrew College, Boston. He is the
author of The Holy Fire: The
Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Shapira, The Rebbe of the Warsaw
Ghetto, as well as many
academic and popular articles on Hasidism and Jewish
spirituality.
