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| Praise are You O lord our
God, Who hears our prayers. |
Barukh at adonai eloheinu melekh haolam
shomeah tephillah. |
In many ways this bracha could be the first we
learn and apply. At the core of prayer is the desire that those
prayers be heard. We pray on some level to get it out. We utter
the words of prayer in order to verbalize our feelings and sometimes
whether we feel they have been heard or not is irrelevant. The simple
act of saying the words makes us feel better regardless of whether
or not someone is listening. But more often than not we want to
know that our sentiments are being received and we would even prefer
acknowledgement. We talk to those around
us and when there is silence as we come to a pause in our speech
pattern we ask, "are you listening?" We want to know that what
we are saying is being heard. And when we feel as though we are
being ignored we become frustrated. It is even more aggravating
when that person responds that they have in fact been listening
and repeat back word for word what you just remarked. It is upsetting
because you know they heard the words but were not focused on
the content. In the words of Jack Reimer and Harold Kushner, "One
who attends a concert with his mind on business, hears but does
not really hear."
This bracha is recited in various locations. In
the Amidah this bracha follows a series of brachot in which we
ask God for active participation in our lives. We ask for health
and well being, we ask for insight and understanding, we ask for
a sense of community and we ask for forgiveness. Then we ask God
to simply listen to our prayers. We hope our words have an impact,
and we pray our approach is worth response. There is so much we
need in order to survive and we need help. Saying the words we
need help is the hardest part of the journey. It is easy to say
we have no need for prayer. We recoil to the misconception that
we are self sufficient and independent. But we know deep in our
core of the need to be heard.
The second location for this bracha is at the conclusion
of the prayer for going on a journey known as Tephilat Haderekh.
In this prayer we acknowledge the dangers associated with travel.
We realize as they did in days of old that travel means leaving
the safety and the security of our familiar surroundings, and
therefore, there are either real or perceived risks that exist.
But we also understand that along with travel comes a sense of
loneliness. For the business traveler who spends a great deal
of time jetting from location to location there I a sense of dislocation
that can occur. Spending and day in one part of the world and
then another with only momentary stopovers at home can leave a
person without a sense of grounding and without community. This
bracha reminds us that no matter where we are, God is with us,
and God is listening.
We spend a great deal of energy trying to fid the
most effective way to communicate. In presentations we use all
sorts of aids. In conversations we employ an impressive array
of vocabulary. In correspondence we use our nicest penmanship
all in the hopes of being heard properly. But with God all we
have to do is start talking. God is listening and with God there
is no misunderstanding.
Copyright © 2001 Rabbi
Yohanan Stein. All rights reserved.
New Jersey Region United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism
PO Box 390; 1025 St. Georges
Ave
Linden, NJ 07036-0390
Phone: 908-925-USCJ (8725)
/ Fax: 908-486-USCJ (8725)
E-mail: njersey@uscj.org
Copyright © 2000 -
2003 New Jersey USCJ. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: July 2003
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