Open My Heart: Living Jewish Prayer

Rabbi Jonathan Slater

Welcome to “Open My Heart: Living Jewish Prayer” from the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Each weekday people associated with the Institute will offer a short prayer-practice, inviting you to join them. From one day to the next, the practice, the content, the words, and the voices will be different. No one presenter, and no one prayer, will necessarily work for everyone. But, our hope (and expectation) is that over time, joining in these prayers will lead you to find your own authentic and meaningful prayer practice at this time. Our hope is that these prayers will open your heart to prayer. Look for us wherever you find your podcasts. read less

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Welcome to Open My Heart: Living Jewish Prayer

Welcome to Open My Heart: Living Jewish Prayer

Episode description not available.

Episodes

In the course of seven months, we've offered 55 podcasts featuring a variety of prayer practices. These programs have been downloaded nearly 30,000 times. It is time to celebrate, and to take time to envision what might come next.

This week we get to visit with Elana Arian, whose "Ken Yehi Ratzon" has closed our podcast. She shares her background, how she came to write Jewish music, her work as guest-artist in congregations and how that shapes her work, and how she came to write our closing tune.

Meet the Composer of "Open"

Meet the Composer of "Open"

Each week we have been blessed to hear the first moments of the composition "Open" by Judith Silver. This week we meet her, and learn about how she came to write Jewish music, and how "Open" came to be. A true blessing!

Practicing with Psalm 27

Practicing with Psalm 27

We are blessed to be invited into the personal process of listening deeply to the words of Psalm 27 to open our hearts with Rabbi Debra Robbins. Her book and its practices are so rich, it is helpful to have it modeled for us, so that we can engage with the Psalm ourselves, beginning on 1 Elul (August 8, 2021), to open our own hearts along the way.

Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27

Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27

The period of time from the start of Elul to the end of Sukkot is about the same length of time from Passover to Shavuot. The former period is given focus through the recitation of Psalm 27 (and the chanting/recitation of selichot, or penitential prayers). Rabbi Debra Robbins provides us with tools to make the practice of reciting Psalm 27 a richer, deeper, and more sustained experience in her book.

The Nighttime Shema

The Nighttime Shema

Prayer does not have to be complex, and we don't have to go looking for it up in the heavens or over the sea. Sometimes it is just in our mouths and our hearts, in simplicity and directness. Rabbi Denise Eger shares her lifelong practice of reciting the Shema at night, when going to sleep.

Mishkan Ga'avah: Where Pride Dwells

Mishkan Ga'avah: Where Pride Dwells

There are so many ways to open up prayer. The most effective, and most important, is to connect deeply to one's own life, one's own heart, and to see oneself. From that clear seeing -- or the desire to do so -- we can express our deepest desires, most overwhelming fears, greatest joys, and significant commitments. That has inspired the flourishing of prayer in the LGBTQ+ community, which does not often see itself in traditional Jewish prayers. Rabbi Denise Eger introduces us to the richness of this prayer tradition in Mishkan Ga'avah: Where Pride Dwells, A Celebration of LGBTQ Jewish Life and Ritual.

25-25-50 Meditation

25-25-50 Meditation

Do you think you could have an "I-Thou" connection to a tree? Well, not sitting in your house you can't! And, likely just walking up to a tree and saying "HI" won't work either. Rabbi Mike Comins offers us a practice to help us cultivate our capacity to be outdoors and really BE there, perhaps ultimately to meet it as a "Thou".

Prayer as Poetry: Making Space for our Lives

Prayer as Poetry: Making Space for our Lives

The Rabbis speak of the letters of Torah as being black fire on white fire. Rabbi David Stern understands this as the events of our life, and our ability to find space and spaciousness around them, to make meaning, and to find peace. He invites us into three meditation-based, poetry-infused prayers.

A Morning Practice

A Morning Practice

A spiritual practice requires "makom": a place, God (called HaMakom by the rabbis of the Talmud), and kiyyum, our own personal presence. Rabbi Karyn Kedar brings us through her personal practice of Makom, her personal evening and morning prayer practice.

Amen: Seeking Presence with Prayer, Poetry, and Mindfulness Practice

Amen: Seeking Presence with Prayer, Poetry, and Mindfulness Practice

Is prayer poetry? Is poetry prayer? What is the orientation of mind and heart that one needs to bring to be able to do one, the other, or both? Rabbi Karyn Kedar -- author, poet, spiritual director, and IJS alumna -- invites us into her investigation of these questions through her recent book.

PrayerFull Guide to Prayer Practice - Part 2

PrayerFull Guide to Prayer Practice - Part 2

We welcome back Rabbanit Leah and Rabba Dina to reap the benefits of their work together. In this episode, we will hear their most recent PrayerFull podcast on Great Love.

PrayerFull Guide to Prayer Practice - Part 1

PrayerFull Guide to Prayer Practice - Part 1

Just as there are varied prayer traditions in different communities, so there are many ways to enter into prayer. Rabba Dina Brawer and Rabbanit Leah Sarna, Orthodox rabbis, have created a podcast of curated, thematic offerings for personal, contemplative prayer. We have a wide-ranging conversation about prayer, to prepare us to listen to one of their episodes in our next episode.

Thank You, Shekhinah, for Blessing This Day

Thank You, Shekhinah, for Blessing This Day

Rabbi Jill Hammer is the co-founder of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, which is a training program in earth based embodied feminist Jewish leadership and spiritual life. She invites us to join in a davvening practice rooted in the Kohenet community, and which she would engage in herself, sitting in Central Park, or at home on Shabbat.

Opening, through Song and Chant, to My Body and Soul

Opening, through Song and Chant, to My Body and Soul

Particularly in the West, body and soul exist in two different domains. This is true for classical Judaism, as well. But, they are not separate, they live in one, intimate unity. It takes work to awaken to that truth. Prayer -- particularly through breath in song and chant -- can be a means toward inner and outer unification. Rabbi Margot Stein invites us into her practice for that purpose.

The Words of the Siddur: Evocative Poetry of the Soul

The Words of the Siddur: Evocative Poetry of the Soul

Often, when a book is placed before us we think we have to read it. But, that is not what we are supposed to do with the prayer-book. We're supposed to use it to open our hearts to prayer. Rabbi Ruth Sohn shares her personal practice of morning prayer, using the words of the siddur to prompt her own heart to prayer. Join her!

Bringing God Into Our Bodies through Reiki, the Sefirot, and Adon Olam

Bringing God Into Our Bodies through Reiki, the Sefirot, and Adon Olam

Spiritual life is all encompassing, and there is no dimension of our lived experience that is outside of its concern. In the same way, most spiritual traditions intuit and focus on shared awareness and experience. Cantor Louise Treitman brings together the healing sensation of Reiki, the energy of the Sefirot, and the experience of singing Adon Olam in a powerful morning prayer practice.

Finding Balance Each Morning

Finding Balance Each Morning

How do you start your day? What does it mean to "get out on the wrong side of the bed"? What prepares you to meet the world fully, with the whole of your being? Cantor Bat-Ami Moses offers us a practice of bringing Netzach -- energy and determination -- and Hod --acceptance and receptivity -- into balance in heart, mind, body and soul to begin our day.

Unify Our Hearts -- in Love

Unify Our Hearts -- in Love

So much of our lives can feel scattered. What should I be doing now? Is there somewhere I should be (or not be)? What am I feeling? How is my heart? We pray "Unify our hearts to love and reverence Your Name" -- and through this prayer, we may find our own inner wholeness. Chant and pray with Cantor Lizzie Shammash in this moving practice of unification.

Praying in the "In-Between"

Praying in the "In-Between"

We often think of prayer as coming in prescribed times or in specific places. But, often the most profound prayers come at those "in-between" moments, when things can go this way or that, or when we sense those important (but not necessarilly unusual) transitions in our lives. Dasee Berkowitz shares her "in-between" prayers, and invites us to live, pray, and love with her.