Congregation B'nai Israel Vallejo
  • Welcome
  • The CBI Community
    • President's Message
    • Publicity
    • Youth Education Program >
      • Our Teachers
    • Membership
    • Donate on-line >
      • Donate with Check >
        • Gift Planning
        • Fund a Need New Refrigerator 2017
        • New Prayer Books - Book Plates
        • Sponsor a Seat
        • Tree of Life Leaf
        • In Honor and Fond Memory of Beryl Cohen Flooring Campaign 2017
    • Bulletin
  • Rabbi's Blog
    • How to be of help and strength in the aftermath of the wildfires
  • Calendar
    • Klezmer Concert with Haimish Band, March 9th
  • History
    • Memorial Page
  • Photos
  • Links
    • Jewish Radio Show, Vallejo, CA
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
    • Building and Grounds

How do you translate prayer into renewed purpose with strategies for enriching your day, every day?

10/1/2010

 

Beginning Sunday October 17, we shall embark on an exploration of content found in the daily prayer system that turns ritual into life awareness and strategies for making every day special. That seems like a tall order for people who may not think of prayer as practically applicable or relevant to conditions of daily life. Moreover, many people have deep-rooted associations with Jewish prayer as being rote, stuck in the past, and one of many examples of how distant Jewish ritual may seem from real world concerns.

It calls to mind what I was indicating on Yom Kippur: that the agenda for that day, atonement and forgiveness, only touches the surface of the meaning and impact of that day. It is too easy to ritualize notions of atonement and forgiveness…you say some words, hear some ideas, go through some motions and feel as if you have done your Jewish duty for another year. Atonement and forgiveness are not as much the agenda of Yom Kippur as they are the outcome of the real work that is to be done. When you do the real work, then these notions become powerful experiences, and you come out a truly different person. More accurately, Yom Kippur is a day of transformation: you examine thoughtfully and with feeling who you are, why you are alive, and strategies to undertake to reprioritize your energy and focus for the coming year.

Following up on that notion of strategies that go further and deeper than the ritual of prayer, we will begin, on Sunday October 17 at 10:45 AM a monthly journey through the daily visit with U KNOW HU, HaShem, and how the Daily Amidah, also known as the Shmoneh Esrey, becomes a detailed strategic system for making each day an experience that builds on the transformation provided by Yom Kippur. It is all about your power in life: how you can live more effectively in doing more of what you value and connecting with and building stronger relationships with people who share your commitment to reprioritization.

It begins with accepting that life is an extraordinary Game, whose rules are subtle and whose guidelines are designed to bring out your best and the best in people with whom you share your journey. Those of you who found some of the ideas suggested during the Days of Awe offering new and different ways to think of old customs and habits will see that these monthly visits will build on that experience.

We will look at subtleties embedded in the text of the Daily Journey, the Daily Amidah, and we will explore, building on your participation and insights, how Judaism is inherently and potentially a strategic system, not found in other formats. It can make better sense of your daily challenges, travails and joyous moments, and harnesses that energy to enable you to see ritual, both the tradition’s and ritual of your own creation, as a means to bring greater and deeper meaning and fulfillment to your ongoing journey through life.

Given the power of the experience so many of us shared during the Days of Awe, I am very excited about continuing this energy and process with you as we help one another make this new year one of tremendous blessing and accomplishment despite outside pressures and stresses that threaten our sense of wellbeing and hopefulness.

I also anticipate that sharing this experience will continue to enrich the sense that B’nai Israel offers a framework and structure for community in ways that we seem to need increasingly in times of difficulty and overwhelm

I look forward to seeing you then and in all the other contexts with which we are blessed to be of strength, blessing and inspiration to one another.

    Reflections
    by Rabbi
    David White

    Ideas, suggestions, and other feedback is most welcome.

    Archives

    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    December 2007
    November 2007
    October 2007
    September 2007
    July 2007
    June 2007
    May 2007
    April 2007
    March 2007
    February 2007
    January 2007

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed