Spontaneous Prayer (Rabbi Shalhevet)
During Rabbinical School, each student must complete at least one unit of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education). We are assigned to a hospital and floor or to a rehabilitation home, a nursing home, or other places in need of a chaplain. I was sent to St. Albans VA hospital, in Queens, on the palliative care floor. We worked 400 hours that summer to complete our training. So, needless to say, I spent a great deal of time with my patients. Of all my patients, only one was Jewish, and he was mostly unresponsive. So, I had to learn how to comfort, console, and pray with people of another faith. Comfort and consolation came relatively easy. My patients were human beings, just like me. All they needed in terms of comfort and consolation, was a safe shoulder to lean on, an open ear, and caring heart. But prayer proved itself to be much more difficult for me.
I had memorized Hebrew prayers. Or, I could read them from a siddur. But my patients,
some on the brink of existence, wanted more than written words – even those used for generations and centuries. They wanted me to channel the Almighty and “Pray from my heart.” Fear paralyzed me. Slowly but surely, I allowed them to teach me how to pray. At first, I sat quietly and listened to what they were asking of God. Then I began to feel their pain, join with them in their memories, and their requests and an entirely new world of prayer opened up for me.
I began to research spontaneous prayer in Judaism. It turns out that “invented prayer” or spontaneous prayer not found in the pages of any books, has a rich and deep history on our people. Certainly, when our ancestors spoke with God, it was not through words that were printed in a book handed out at services. It was often a conversation – sometimes with a response and most of the time without. But it kept coming. A pouring out from the heart in the hopes that someone, hopefully the Eternal One will catch them, hear our prayers, and hopefully answer them.
So, while this idea was new to me, it certainly wasn’t new to Judaism as a whole, on the contrary, it was like bringing back a long-lost friend. It was a new beginning for me to a new world of praying. It was frightening at first because I didn’t know what to say or do to make it sound “authentic.”
I decided to try it anyway. I decided that I would dive in head first and just speak to God on behalf of my patients. The experience is one that would change me and my relationship with God forever.
We now stand at the precipice of the High Holy Day season. We will spend a great deal of our time in synagogue reading prayers printed in books. They most certainly are beautiful and poetic messages to God. But let us not forget our rich and deep heritage of personal, spontaneous prayer. We may never have done it before and it may even feel foreign to us, but trying something new and making the old new again, is what this time is all about.
From my entire family to yours, we wish you a sweet and wonderful New Year.
Rabbi Jaimee Shalhevet
It’s Hard to Be Jewish Alone (Larry Henin)
November 3, 2019 by nssadmin • Blog • 0 Comments
Good evening. It’s time for the Kol Nidre appeal from the temple president. That’s me!
Let’s get a few things straight. This will not be the typical appeal speech, putting many of you to sleep or dreaming of that dessert you gave up to be here on time. This year I will not recite all the wonderful programs we have here at North Shore Synagogue. You can learn about those programs by reading our weekly happenings or monthly Shalom or by stopping by the main office. So, I’m not going to use my one hour up here to tell you about them. Seriously, I’m just asking for a few minutes of your attention.
So how do I encourage each and every one of you to open up your pockets and make a pledge, and hopefully a very generous pledge this year? That’s a great question. Anyone out there have the answer? Okay, I think I do.
It’s very important to me and many of you sitting out there that North Shore Synagogue has a strong and viable future. Why is there some doubt about that future? Let me tell you why. It’s a fact that the number of Jewish families living in our area is on the decline and many of those Jewish families who do move in believe, unlike all of you, that they have no need for a synagogue. That thinking, of course, could potentially lead to the end of synagogue life as we know it. But, as most of you know, synagogue life, whether you attend one or two days a year or every week of the year, is vital to us to maintain our Jewish identity. It’s more important than ever that we have a place to go to – where we act as one, with a common heritage, common holidays, common rituals, common morals, common principles and common beliefs. North Shore Synagogue is that place. Our synagogue serves to bring Jews together – for worship, study and community.
Each of us has our own reasons for being a member of North Shore Synagogue. In the spirit of Jewish tradition, if I asked everyone here for your reasons I’d get many, many different answers.
To me, North Shore Synagogue is the place where our children and grandchildren are being taught to love and embrace Judaism, and enjoy the many wonderful holidays and traditions our religion boasts.
To me, North Shore Synagogue is the place where we can celebrate together holidays, mitzvahs and other joyous occasions.
To me, North Shore Synagogue is the place to come together to support others in crisis, to rally together to help others in need, and console one another when a loss of a loved one must be confronted.
To me, North Shore Synagogue is the place where we meet new friends, experience friendship, and have a sense of belonging.
To me, North Shore Synagogue is the place where we come to address larger Jewish concerns by addressing anti-Semitism, engaging in Tikkun Olam – and worship together to improve the nature of our society and the world.
To me, North Shore Synagogue is the place where we form a new link in the chain of Jewish tradition carrying on historic values for future generations to inherit.
So, North Shore Synagogue is important to me for many reasons. North Shore Synagogue is, in essence, a community, a special community consisting of all of us – of which we are all a part of – and which plays an important role in our lives.
It’s hard to be Jewish alone. Through a congregation, one’s Jewish life experience is enhanced and expanded by partnering with a community that is lasting and offers a rich menu of experiences throughout the year. That is what a Synagogue like North Shore Synagogue is all about – a place to provide for the spiritual, communal and educational needs of every generation of Jews.
Now some of you may be thinking, all that you say is fine, but let someone else come forward to pay for the privilege of maintaining our synagogue and synagogue life – I already pay my dues. But dues barely get us by each year. It’s your Kol Nidre pledges and continuing membership that will take us into the future. If you leave it up to others, sooner or later, there will no longer be any others and Jewish life as we now experience it here at North Shore Synagogue may come to an end. Now, I don’t want to scare anyone into thinking that North Shore Synagogue is about to shut down. It’s not – and I expect it will be here for many, many more years to come. But, it’s important, that we not take that for granted
So once again I ask each of you to be generous this year when you make your Kol Nidre pledge.
Do it for yourselves. Do it for your family. Do it for your children. Do it for your grandchildren, and Do it for the generations to come.
On behalf of myself, my family, and the staff and the entire Board of Trustees of North Shore Synagogue, La Shana Tovah, a healthy and prosperous New Year to you and your families, and thank you for being a part of the North Shore Synagogue family.