At P'nai Or we enjoy a creative blend of traditional and innovative prayer leadership styles. Along with our rabbi, P'nai or members lead services, chant Torah and teach in a variety of ways. Our monthly Davvenen Leadership Feedback and Support Group offers our our servce leaders a forum to learn, share and grow in a supportive environment that makes our community a living laboratory for the exploration of Jewish prayer. For more information about becomming a davvenen leader contact Susan Brooks seamcrazy@verizon.net Read more about our P'nai Or approach to creating spiritually alive, dynamic, and personally transformative communal prayer: P'nai Or Davvenen: A Four Worlds Model Our P'nai Or SiddurRabbi Marcia's P'nai Or Siddur for Shabbat Morning and P'nai Or Siddur for Erev Shabbat offer a user-friendly layout with clear easy-to-read Hebrew, accessible transliterations, and translations that bring out the inner sparkle of the Hebrew prayer poetry.From the Introduction: The P’nai Or Shabbat Morning Siddur Second Edition  “Prayer can be electric and alive! Prayer can touch the soul, burst forth a creative celebration of the spirit and open deep wells of gratitude, longing and praise. Prayer can connect us to our Living Source and to each other, enfolding us in love and praise, wonder and gratitude, awe and thankfulness. Jewish prayer in its essence is soul dialogue and calls us into relationship within and beyond. Through the power of words and melodies both ancient and new, we venture into realms of deep emotion and find longing, sorrow, joy, hope, wholeness, connection and peace. When guided by skilled leaders of prayer and ritual, our complacency is challenged. We break through outworn assumptions about God and ourselves, and emerge refreshed and inspired to meet the challenges our lives offer.” (-from the DLTI brochure, by Rabbis Marcia Prager and Shawn Israel Zevit) This Siddur was created as a vehicle to explore how traditional and novel approaches to Jewish prayer can blend, so that the experience of Jewish prayer can be renewed, revitalized and deepened. It is an ongoing experiment in the spirit of Rav Kook, who wrote, “The old shall be renewed and the new shall be made holy (Letters, Vol I).” Rabbi Marcia Prager The new siddurim represent something new in the sphere of Jewish liturgy - - truly user-friendly layout - easy-to-read clear Hebrew - poetic English, in a contemporary idiom, that can be davvened alongside the Hebrew - an appendix of songs and prayers that can augment and inform the traditional flow of prayer and be woven into diverse locations in the siddur. - a highly spiritual approach to Jewish prayer as a journey of consciousness, informed by the approach to Jewish prayer articulated by the Jewish mystical tradition, as explained in the preface: Davvenen’ through the Worlds: A Flow-Chart for the Shabbat Morning Service The Jewish mystical tradition views the unfolding of creation as the emanation of four “worlds,” or levels, of spiritual energy. Kabbalah teaches that these four worlds of energy emanated from the Divine Source in a dynamic process, as the forces of creation flowed into the unfolding cosmos. These worlds are called Assiyah, Action; Yetzirah, Formation; Briyah, Creation; and Atzilut – the blazing Emanation of pure Divinity. Kabbalah teaches that human beings, as living vessels of consciousness, are capable of experiencing these energies. We can use our capacity for heightened awareness to travel in these worlds, connecting with our source in the Divine. We can also use our capacity to tap these energies so that they flow freely in our lives. The English word “services,” that refers to organized prayer, derives from the Hebrew “avodah,” meaning serving by doing sacred work. Davvenen’, the unique Jewish prayer practice which combines modal chanting of sacred text, meditation and movement, is one form of the spiritual work we do to restore our souls’ living link with God. The service takes us on a journey through the Four Worlds, from the most basic physical plane of Assiyah up through the peak of Atzilut and then gently back down. Hassidic teaching calls this progression “the ladder,” referring to Yaakov’s famous night-vision of “a ladder set in the earth whose top reached into the heavens.” This ladder, said our teachers, is the ladder of the prayers. Each rung of the ladder offers its spiritual gift and challenge. The goal is not to rush overly swiftly to the top, but rather to savor the fullness of the journey. This is a pilgrimage of consciousness. Sample pages are shown at http://www.rabbimarciaprager.homestead.com/siddur.html. Individuals can purchase copies of our siddur by sending your check for $18 each to: Rabbi Marcia Prager 228 West Hortter St. Philadelphia PA 19119. Specify whether you are ordering the Shabbat Morning Siddur or the Friday night Erev Shabbat Siddur, or both! A cd of our Kabbalat Shabbat melodies is available for $15. A 2-cd set of our Shabbat morning davvenen and melodies is available for $26. These are professional studie recordings, not recorded on Shabbat. Postage is included. Many other congregations and havurot have begun to use these siddurim. If you wish to inquire about a discounted price for large orders, email <pnaiorrabbi@aol.com> |
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Prayer and Celebration |