Prayer

What is Jewish prayer?

Is prayer answered?

And what is Kavvanah?

GOD being Unchangeable, how can we imagine a change in the Divine Will as a result of prayer?

Will not the continuous repetition of the same text become monotonous and stifle the thoughts and emotions of the person who tries to express himself through them in prayer?

Religion without prayer is like music without melody, like dark clouds over the sun-parched earth yielding no rain.

Prayer is not a mere recitation of words. Praying is a deed. The words, in right prayer, are an event. They reflect a process of transformation that is taking place within man. The man who turns to GOD in prayer in sincerity is, as the result of this act, not the same man that he was before he prayed. Praying, he has changed.

Rabbi Eliezer BerkovitsTable of ContentsForword: What is Jewish Prayer? By Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits

First Editor's Introduction

Introductory

Chapter I. How is Prayer Possible?

Chapter II. Prayer and the Needs of Man

Chapter III. Spontaneous Prayer

Chapter IV. The Art of Praying

Chapter V. Individual and Community in Prayer

Chapter VI. Kavvanah

Chapter VII. Influencing GOD?

Chapter VIII. Is Prayer Answered?

Epilogue: The Prayer of the Martyrs

Notes