|
Chaverim y'karim ~ dear friends,
PRAYER ALERT
The expression, "there are no atheists in a foxhole" was made true to me many years ago when I met a Jewish man, a temple member of a congregation I was serving then in Ohio. This man's father, whose name I've lost to a failed memory, was a Jewish veteran of World War I. That much I recall and I remember that he was fighting as a Frenchman. He was deep in the famous trench warfare of that horrible war ... the war that was supposed to be "the war to end all wars." Alas, with machine guns firing all around and ordinances flying, he scurried into a foxhole for safety and he came upon a German soldier who was there - alone, unarmed. My temple member's father, the Frenchman, who had his weapon on him, looked into the eyes of the German. The German closed his eyes and began to recite ... the Shema. Indeed, the German assumed this was his last moments alive. And he was a Jew. As he finished that opening line, the two men said together: "Baruch shem k'vod." The two scurried out of the hole - never to see one another again.
In this week's parasha, Joseph is thrown into a pit, alone, by his brothers who sell him into slavery. Joseph's life twists and turns with a host of awful moments but in his darkness, it is to God who he turns. In fact, in many ways, compared to his/our ancestral predecessors, he is one of the most likely of all of our ancestors to invoke God or God's role in our lives.
To understand more of how/where/when/why Joseph prays and invokes God's name, I invite you to turn to a fabulous podcast from the Shalom Hartman Institute (SHI) called "Texting" hosted by one of their scholars, Elana Stein Hain. She has a wonderful discussion with Dani Segal, head of Mabua: Israeli Beit Midrash, "How can Jews believe in God right now?" (note this link will take you to the video presentation but you can find as a podcast on Spotify or Apple as well).
To understand more about how/where/when/why Jews pray, I would like to direct you as well to a podcast from the SHI - this one is called "Thoughts and Prayers" and was launched last month. Our Reform Jewish world has done a great job at "re-forming" Judaism, which I embrace and love the philosophical underpinnings as well as the practical application. HOWEVER. We have, at times thrown out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. And in so doing, one of the 'things' or elements, fundamental to Judaism, that many of have lost is: prayer - both the spontaneous and the fixed.
I will include a few prayers here which give us a sense of the range of Jewish prayers:
Bakasha (request) - Please Protect Us / Shmor Na Eli;
Hoda'ah (gratitude) - Modeh Ani / I am thankful to You;
Bracha (praise) - Adon Olam / Master of the Universe.
I would be only too happy to dig further into any one of those types of prayer or even why I chose those particular prayers and melodies. As always, reach out should you want or need - sending my very best and hope to see you soon!
L'shalom,
Rabbi Mark Cohn
| 
