Prayer-Commentary

A book on prayer any other--refreshing, relevant, exciting, deep, and invigorating. Each down-to-earth page is filled with stimulating that make prayer come alive, that transform it into the most relevant of human activities, that make it what it should and can be--moments of strength and power, the miracle of man's ability to talk the God and know that God is actually listening.

We learn how to daven early on in our spiritual journey. There's nothing more heavenly than listening to a first-grade class reciting the Shema Yisrael. It emanates from their hearts, touches our hearts, and no doubt ascends toward G-d's throne in Heaven.

What happens afterwards? Why is it that when that seven-year-old turns seventeen he no longer has the heartfelt sincerity he had in first grade? What about when he's twenty-seven, thirty-seven, and forty-seven? Does he attend the early ''express minyan'' to get him to the train on time? Does he attend a minyan three times a day? Whatever he does, it is likely that his tefillah doesn't touch him like the Shema Yisrael did in his early years.

Is there anything that can be done to strengthen our tefillah muscles to enhance and enrich our daily encounter with our Creator?

Absolutely! We can advance in our davening skills by doing the following:

Studying the meaning of our prayers

Understanding the order of the services

Noticing the patterns within our prayers

Finding personal inspiration through the medium of our davening

 

Davening Divine helps readers on their journey of enriching their davening experience with inspiring essays on the Shabbat tefillot. With insights from a wide variety of commentaries, this davening companion brings to more meaningful prayer, strengthening the desire for and the commitment to heavenly and heartfelt tefillah.

Chazal in Perek Shirah gathered eighty-five elements of the natural world, each one declaring a certain truth, its own shirah. Minerals, plant life, aquatic life, and animal life all take their place in a glorious shiras ha’briah. What, however, are those truths, cryptically encoded in the shiros? What messages should we meditate on while reciting the words of Perek Shirah?

In Exploring Perek Shirah, each shirah is examined through the lens of Chazal to discover its inner meaning. The origin and purpose of this ancient text are also examined to discover the spiritual foundation of our natural world.

“This work is literally an encyclopaedic compendium on Perek Shirah... I found [it] fascinating, informative, and inspiring.”

Rabbi Zev Leff

“Today there is a worldwide thirst for understanding the meaning of Perek Shirah, and Rebbetzin Tugendhaft has done a remarkable job in making it accessible to the wider public.”

Dayan Y.Y. Lichtenstein

Rebbetzin Shoshana Tugendhaft grew up in a Rabbinic home in London and went on to marry Rabbi Dovid Tugendhaft, Rov of the Beis Hamedrash Nishmas Yisroel, London. She studied at the Michlala in Jerusalem for two years and later achieved an undergraduate degree in History (BA hist. hons). While bringing up her children, she continued to give shiurim to women and to high school girls, both within institutions and on a private basis. These covered a range of topics from Chumash to Pirkei Avos, Halacha and Philosophy. She teaches Kallah classes and Bas Mitzvah classes as part of her communal responsibilities but is known for her passion for teaching Jewish History. To this end she has developed her business of conducting private tours of the British Museum in London, a world renowned museum of civilizations. In her capacity as a tour guide she takes Shul groups, school groups, tourists and families around the museum to learn about their heritage in an exciting and dramatic environment. She uses her research into archaeology to bring her Nach classes to life, both in Beis Yaakov where she teaches and for her adult interest groups. Some of her shiurim can be found on TorahAnytime.com and a tour at the museum can be booked via her website www.tenachtours.com. Rebbetzin Tugendhaft can also be hired to give virtual tours of the museum on Zoom and can be contacted via email at Shoshanatug@gmail.com.

Writing this book has been a labour of love and incredibly rewarding for her. She is very grateful to all the generous people who helped to bring this book to light and looks forward to publishing further with Mosaica in the future, b’Ezras Hashem.

Profoundly rooted in Jewish tradition, Gates of Prayaer has become the standard liturgical work for the Reform Movement.

This is the first English translation of the entire Maharal’s Nesiv HaAvodah. The Hebrew text is vocalized and contains footnotes. The English paragraphs are aligned with the Hebrew text for easy reading and understanding. There are three primary sections to the Maharal’s Nesiv HaAvodah: • Chapters 1–6: The principles and dimensions of tefilla. Chapters 7–12 contain tefilla's various customs, content, and ideas. Chapters 13–20 contain the various forms of Avodah in a Jew’s daily life outside the formal Beit Knesses. At the beginning of each chapter, the Maharal generally defines the theme that he will explore and then proceeds with evidence to support his theme and related topics. For example, chapters 1 and 2 deal with man’s role, and God’s interaction with him. Chapters 7–12 are divided into the practices of tefilla. The most significant section of our tefilla is the Shema, discussed in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 focuses on the practice: of what one does during the recital of the Shema. Chapter 11 deals with the recital of the words of the Kedushah. The few words of the Kedushah express our feeling of the presence of God. Chapter 12 is on limiting the use of words to praise God in tefilla. Chapters 13–20 discuss Avodah that occurs outside the framework of formal tefilla. Chapter 13 begins with a discussion of Tefillas HaDerech, Birkas HaGomel, Shenayim Mikra Ve’echad Targum. The final topic in this chapter is Kiddush HaChodesh. Chapter 17 discusses a fortiori inference (kal vechomer), which the Gemara identifies as the reason we recite the Berachah of HaMotzi before we eat bread. Chapter 18, is the most comprehensive Chapter 19 covers one of the last topics the Maharal addresses: Mayim Acharonim, washing hands before Birkas HaMazon. He addresses the purpose of Mayim Acharonim, its source, and the difference between Mayim Acharonim and Mayim Rishonim. Maharal concludes Nesiv HaAvodah in Chapter 20 with a discussion on the recitation of Keri’at Shema al HaMitah. The Shema represents one’s commitment to one’s faith, and that stays with a person all the times of the day and night when Torah learning is not possible.

On Shabbos morning, as the world is wrapped in a blanket of peace and serenity, we are given a gift, the chance to recite a sacred tefillah. Whenever and wherever it's recited, Nishmas carries the same power and glory, an ode that expresses our deepest emotion, the gratitude and hope and simple joy in being alive. Across the world, the tefillah has become a precious segulah, a shared treasure, belonging to a nation, but also a private heirloom, property of each individual. In this volume, for the first time ever in English, Rabbi Yisroel Besser gives us a whole new understanding of the magnificent words of Nishmas, with a sweeping, fresh and contemporary commentary, chock full of enlightening stories and insights that illustrate the many concepts discussed in Nishmas. With this book, you can join the “Nishmas army, ”Those committed to saying Nishmas regularly, a concept suggested by Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky, who'd received the tradition from her revered father-in-law, the Steipler Gaon. Reciting Nishmas daily or in times of challenge, they have seen wonders, the secrets of prayer itself hidden within the words of this tefillah, thanksgiving and entreaty merging in every line and phrase. And aside from salvation, they have experienced a connection with the Master, itself the greatest gift of all and the reason for existec thanksgiving and entreaty merging in every line and phrase. And aside from salvation, they have experienced a connection with the Master, itself the greatest gift of all and the reason for existec thanksgiving and entreaty merging in every line and phrase. And aside from salvation, they have experienced a connection with the Master, itself the greatest gift of all and the reason for existec

• Unparalleled combination of clarity and depth, authoritatively presented in a down-to-earth manner.
• Extensively researched, utilizing all available commentaries, including many rare ones.
• Phrase-by-phrase translation and explanation which flows with the Tefillah.
• Informative and inspirational footnotes throughout.

Now Rabbi Birnbaum has done it once again with the Pathway to Prayer Weekday Siddur. It will change the way you connect to Hashem on a daily basis.

"Plus: ten suggestions on how to merit a favorable judgement."

Rabbi Meir Birnbaum is a scholar of tefillah and mashgiach of a major yeshivah. In this splendidly useful phrase-by-phrase treatment, he combines his scholarship and experience to shed light on the prayers that matter enormously to most people: the Shemoneh Esrai prayers of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Rabbi Birnbaum combs the major commentators and adds his own knowledge and sensitivity to produce a volume that belongs alongside every machzor. It is slim, but packed with information, inspiration, background - and the ideas and intent that every serious Jew wants to pour into his Yamim Noraim prayers.
It is rare indeed to find an English-language volume that offers such a combination of clarity and depth, authoritatively presented in a down to earth manner. Rabbi Birnbaum is both a thinker and a teacher, and both those qualities are beautifully displayed in this work. Not only does he offer invaluable ideas, he is practiced in presenting them. There is nothing patronizing or condescending in this book; it reads like a good friend baring his own soul, and in the process we are swept along to join him in present our most heartfelt entreaties to Our Father Our King, on the days when He longs for us to approach Him.