Reviews for To Pray As a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer Book and the Synagogue Service

The average rating for To Pray As a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer Book and the Synagogue Service based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-06-17 00:00:00 Martin Jungverdorben Judaism plays a major part in most of my novels, and surely in A FLOOD OF EVIL and the sequel I am currently writing. I have reached a point where an understanding of Jewish prayer has become important both for my Jewish character Anna Gorska and for the Catholic character Berthold Becker, as they struggle against the enclosing evil of Hitler's persecution of the Jews. I am going to try to express their pursuit of a connection with God through three of the prayers in the Shemoneh Esrei. Here are extracts from Donin's marvelous book on the Shemoneh Esrai and those three prayers ... ... The Shemoneh Esrei is the heart of every Jewish service … it is recited at each of the three daily prayer services … composed in the 5th c BCE by 120 men of the Great Assembly … Almost every phrase has its source in the Bible ... when saying the Shemoneh Esrei a Jew addresses God directly ... Shemoneh Esrei … 4th prayer - knowledge ... "Thou grantest knowledge to man, and teachest understanding to humans; from thine own self, favor us with knowledge, understanding, and sense. Blessed art Thou, Lord, giver of knowledge." … the sages say: if there is no understanding, how can there be prayer? true piety, the kind not based on superstition, presupposes an understanding of the nature of the world and a knowledge of what God requires of us ... the giving of knowledge and wisdom to man is an act of Divine grace, for by doing so God graciously shares with man one of His own Divine qualities Shemoneh Esrei … 5th prayer - repentance ... "Return us, our Father, to thy Torah, and draw us closer, our King, to Thy worship. And bring us back before Thee in complete repentance. Blessed art Thou, Lord, who desires repentance." … this prayer expresses the Jewish belief that God is not anxious to punish ... Judaism seeks the rehabilitation of those who violate God's law Shemoneh Esrei … 6th prayer - forgiveness ... "Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned. Pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed, for Thou art a pardoner and forgiver. Blessed art Thous, Lord, Gracious One who forgives abundantly … God sets no limit to His pardoning grace. One should therefore never despair about earning Divine forgiveness.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-11-16 00:00:00 Kellyanne Phoenix I don't know if I'll ever be "done" reading this one. I'm going to have to return it to the library and buy my own copy, I think.