Shabbat Prayer

In Judaism, prayers are directed towards G-d, the Creator. Similar to other religions, Jews are instructed to pray during difficult times in order to receive the help that they need. By engaging in this action, adherents prove their belief in G-d’s powers and abilities to get them through their lives. However, tefillah, translated from Hebrew as a word for prayer, occurs by one’s own will, three times daily, and for certain rituals (Jewish Virtual Library). According to Rabbi Dovid Zaklikowski, the sacred Hebrew text, the Torah, calls prayers “service[s] of the heart” (Zaklikowski). This is due to the fact that the Jewish people show their appreciation and devoutness to their religion. While praying, they speak from their heart and think about
The first important prayer for Jewish people is the Shabbat prayer. It is celebrated every week at sunset on Friday. Shabbat came about since G-d tirelessly labored to build our world for six days of every week, but always took one day off to rest. Traditionally, families will start preparations in the late afternoon for a nice meal. Some of the important items that are placed on the table include challah, a type of bread, candles, and wine, which have respective prayers. In terms of illuminating the candles, the mother/wife lights two candles and after says a prayer to usher in the day of rest, the Sabbath. The English translation of the Shabbat prayer is, “Blessed are You, Lord, our G-d, King of the Universe, who sanctifies us with his commandments, and commands us to light the candles of Shabbat (Amen)” (Jewish Virtual Library). It is important to note that this prayer is the same for lighting the candles during Hanukkah, with only a replacement of the holiday at the end. While also the last prayer recited every Shabbat, the prayer for bread is usually performed before most meals. The English transliteration is as follows: “Blessed are You, Lord, our G-d, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth (Amen)” (Jewish Virtual Library). Besides being a faith prayer, it also is classified as a praise and worship one.
When praying, one must be facing toward Israel, or to the east (Broyde). Also, according to Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in a Huffington Post article, it is necessary for Jewish people to have the ‘kavanah’ mindset during prayer. He explains that Jews must pray with a purpose in order to get something out of it. Kavanah involves having a deep focus on what one is saying as well as considering how one lives his or her life (Schachter-Shalomi). This reminded me of the Samatha form of meditation, which involved profound concentration. In terms of what one wears, the tallit is a rectangular-shaped prayer shawl with tzitzit strings tied in knots. It represents the 613 guidelines that the Torah gives on how to live a life filled with good deeds (Milgram). While it can be worn at home as well, the tallit is most commonly worn at the synagogue during services. The person reading from the Torah always wears one. Further, there are some similarities I have noticed between Hebrew prayers. First, many blessings begin with “Blessed are You, Lord, our G-d, King of the Universe,” making the prayers have a faith aspect. In addition, they all end with “Amen.” While the prayers that I specifically gave as examples are performed at home, observant Jewish people also attend services at their synagogue to engage in prayer. These services could include anything from Rosh Hashanah (the new year) to Passover. Also, all Hebrew