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Torah GNS TEFILLA DIGEST: A Weekly Discussion about the Fundamentals of Jewish Prayer
Artscroll, 798 By Rabbi Brahm Weinberg – Rabbinic Intern
Hertz, 623 This inspiring article about Rabbi Soloveitchik explains the most basic human awareness
Haftorah tefillah is sponsored by that prayer is an outgrowth of a of a need. The more developed
Artscroll, 1184 Diane and David Rein in person’s basic need awareness form of prayer comes once a
Hertz, 635 memory of Diane’s mother, and a means for us to sharpen person is ready to gain greater
Bar Mitzvah Helene M. Fink z”l. our understanding of those need awareness, analyzing what
Samuel Berk Issue # 46 – Philosophy of needs. his or her need is and why it is
Prayer (Part III) Someone who is unaware of meaningful for him or her.
Mevorchim Chodesh
Tamuz
As part of the last few their basic needs in life will not For Rabbi Soloveitchik, prayer is
Rosh Chodesh call out in prayer; that person the natural outgrowth of an
Monday & Tuesday issues of the Tefilla Digest,
Molad is Monday evening I would like to present will not pray because he or she existential tension that we feel
8:35:4 pm some of the main points of experiences none of the when our needs are unfulfilled.
Rabbi Soloveitchik’s existential suffering that stems At the very same time prayer can
Times Philosophy of prayer from the awareness of a serve not only as the vehicle for
gleaned from his various disparity between where he or the expression of that need
Candle lighting 8:11 pm
writings on the topic. I she is in life and where he or awareness, but also as the means
Mincha 7:00 pm she would like to be. A slave to better understand the need.
think that his approach to
Hashkama 8:00 am prayer can be very may cry out in physical pain, Prayer allows us to clarify our
Minyan meaningful and relevant for but he takes his enslavement self-image, our needs, our vision
many of us. and torture for granted. The of ourselves and the disparity
Parsha Shiur 8:30 am slave is unaware of his need for between them.
Youth 8:30 am We, of course, are still freedom and liberty. Once the
starting out with the Rabbi Soloveitchik’s view of
slave becomes aware that prayer as a means to changing
Main Minyan 9:00 am essential question laid out freedom is a real possibility, heoneself is not unprecedented in
Beit Midrash 9:15 am in the last few articles of will feel the need for freedom
how to make prayer a the history of Jewish thought. In
and cry out in a primordial fact, there is a school of thought
Gemorah Shiur 7:00 pm personal and meaningful prayer called tzaaka. amongst the medieval Jewish
Mincha 8:00 pm experience when it seems to
be an experience that is the Rabbi Yehuda Amital has philosophers that also claims
Shabbat Ends 9:19 pm argued that the reason why the prayer transforms the self. Both
same for everyone and
Sunday 7:30 am stifling to our personal mishna in Bava Kama refers to Rabbenu Bahya Ibn Pakuda in
8:30 am autonomy and man as mav’eh, from the root numerous places throughout his
individualism. By ba’y – to pray, is because Chovat Halevavot and Rabbi
Mon., Tues., 6:35 am
understanding the nature of human nature is such that a Yosef Albo in his Sefer Ha-
&Thurs.,
prayer according to Rabbi person always feels like he is Ikkarim explain that prayer is not
Wed., & Fri., 6:45 am lacking something and, thus, he meant to change G-d, but to
Soloveitchik we will come
Second Shacharit to understand just how naturally calls out in prayer. change the individual. Albo
Minyan (Daily) 7:45 am personal it can be. Primordial prayer, or Tzaaka, is explains in great detail how
prayer is meant to change the
Mincha (week of 8:10 pm
June 21)
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June 20 9:09/10:25 am
In honor of the
June 27 9:11/10:27 am
Bar Mitzvah
Next Shabbat - Korach
Candle lighting 8:12 pm
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Mincha 7:00 pm Samuel
26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 Shabbat Announcements Parshat Shelach, 5769
individual almost in to a new being that is more prepared to tend towards personal growth. When a person has an
receive G-d’s bountiful blessing, shefa, that He tries to inaccurate picture of their own self and they pushe towards the
shower upon man (Albo, IV:18). actualization of that perceived self while their true inner self
It is the discovery and analysis of one’s needs that pushes in a different direction it causes frustration and
can make Rabbi Soloveitchik’s philosophy of prayer neurosis: What Rabbi Soloveitchik might call The Crisis of
particularly meaningful to us. Boredom. When making choices in life, we often include
Rabbi Soloveitchik explains that modern man information in the decision-making process that doesn’t
naturally seeks a life of change, a life of the quick fix and belong, or exclude information that does belong because of
the satisfaction of here and now. We often seek a life of past experiences, fears, or learned responses. This yields
limitless experiences that we can change at will because we untrustworthy choices and behaviors.
want to ensure that we will constantly have a new fix, Put more simply by Rabbi Abraham J. Twersky notes,
something different that will appeal to us once our old people “are so bombarded by the many stresses of everyday
experiences can no longer fulfill our needs. needs and activities that they lose sight of what their life is or
The problem with this approach is that we often do should be all about” (Twersky, 2001, p. 19).
not pause to scrutinize why our experiences have not The solution, according to psychologist Carl Rogers is
fulfilled our needs or to think about exactly what to gain an undisturbed awareness of who you are and what you
experience to seek in order to fulfill that need. Instead, we are experiencing in the world without distorting it because of
just look for the most superficially exciting choice that will the way that you think that you are.
give us a temporal high until we find something new and
Stay tuned for next week’s article where we will
more exciting. The drive to constantly move on to new
discover how prayer, according to the philosophy of Rabbi
things, to change life’s experiences at will is unrealistic
Soloveitchik, can help us to understand who we really are.
because life is naturally cyclical and repetitive. The result
is that people often become bored with life; the multiplicity
Thought to Ponder
of options that they make available to themselves
eventually runs out and people find themselves bored and
Have you ever gained clarity about something that
unfulfilled. Modern man attempts to escape boredom in the
you needed or thought you needed by having some quiet time
wrong way seeking superficial excitement and
to reflect upon it? Think about how prayer can afford you that
entertainment rather than meaning in the repetitiveness of
opportunity.
life.
The person who has the ability to autonomously
choose those quick fixes that seem superficially exciting
may seem to be self reflective constantly evaluating what GREEN TIP OF THE WEEK
gives him or her pleasure. That person may think he or she Article 31, THE RIGHT TO WATER:
is autonomous and self- serving, but in reality he or she is Everyone has the right to clean and accessible water, adequate
not because that person has not gained enough distance for the health and well-being of the individual and family, and
from his or her own self to judge, objectively, what that self no one shall be deprived of such access or quality of water due
to individual economic circumstance.
needs.
There is a growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh
That person may be guided by false perceptions water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution,
and lack of understanding of their own being and thus human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world
cannot possibly understand what their deeper needs really water cartel subsidized by huge corporations funding the
bottled water industry. These private water labels are taking
are. In order to engage in real self-reflection a person our fresh water supply for FREE and selling it in a$400 billion
needs to disengage from themselves so that they can industry.
objectively gaze upon their “self” almost from the outside. Over a billion people across the planet lack access to clean and
potable water and that millions die each year as a result, it is
Psychologists have found that humans naturally imperative to add one more UN article, the Right to Water.
Call upon the United Nations to add a 31st article to the
Great Neck Synagogue Universal Declaration of Human Rights, establishing access to
Shabbat Activities Program clean and potable water as a fundamental human right. IN
addition, avoid buying water bottles. Instead purchase a
stainless steel reusable bottle and fill with filtered tap water.
Dale Polakoff, Rabbi
The world will be a better place when the Right To Water is
Shalom Axelrod, Assistant Rabbi acknowledged by all nations as a fundamental human right,
Brahm Weinberg, Rabbinic Intern and that this addition to the Universal Declaration of Human
Dr. Ephraim Wolf ,z”l, Rabbi Emeritus Rights represents a major step toward the goal of water for all.
Zeev Kron, Cantor
Please sign the petition to adopt Article 31:
Eleazer Schulman, z”l, Cantor Emeritus Water is a right, not a privilege.
Mark Twersky, Executive Director http://article31.org/
Howard Silberstein, President
Harold Domnitch, Chairman of the Board
SUMMER LEARNING PROGRAM
Dear Friends,
Each year our Summer Learning Program is run through the generosity of sponsors. It is to the credit of our
sponsors that the voice of Torah is strengthened each summer.
Sponsorship is one hundred dollars. Please call the office to be included in this noble effort.
We will once again be including a sponsor’s list in the Shabbat Announcements. If you would like to sponsor
a “Day of Learning” at an additional cost, in honor or in memory of someone, please call Mark Twersky and let
him know.
July 8, 2009
Rabbi Baruch Simon