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TITLE Educating Toward Meaningful Tefillah. Notes from ATID. PUB DOCUMENT RESUME ED 482 367 SO 035 465 AUTHOR Finkelman, Yoel, Ed. TITLE Educating toward Meaningful Tefillah. Notesfrom ATID. PUB DATE 2001-00-00 NOTE 28p.; Prepared by the Academy for Torah Initiativesand Directions (Jerusalem, Israel) . For related documents,see SO 035 04-466 and SO 035 468. AVAILA$LE FROM Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions,9 HaNassi Street, Jerusalem 92188, Israel. Tel: 972-2-567-1719;Fax: 972-2-567-1723; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www,atid.org/ PUB TYPE Collected Works General (020) Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Jews; *Judaism; *Religious Education; SecondaryEducation; Spirituality; Student Educational Objectives IDENTIFIERS Jewish Day Schools; Prayer; *Torah ABSTRACT This collection of articlesserves as a record of some of the deliberations of members of the Academy for TorahInitiatives and Directions (ATID) (Jerusalem, Israel) . The collection captures the collectivethinking that the ATID fellows and faculty membersunderwent as they explored methods of transforming prayer in Jewish schools intoa more meaningful experience. Articles in the collection are: "Reflectionson Role Models for Spirituality and Prayer" ("Devarim She-Ba'al Peh al AvobahShe-ba-Lev")(Chaim Brovender); "Response" (Joel B. Wolowelsky); and "Educatingtoward Meaningful 'Tefillah': Some Suggestions for Orthodox Jewish SecondarySchools--Notes from the Deliberations of the ATID Fellows" (Prayer andInwardness; Prayer as a Social Activity; Prayer for Girls and Young Women) . (BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRSare the best that can be made from the ori inal document. Educating Toward Meaningful Jewish Prayer (Tefillah). Notes from ATID. Yoel Finkelman, Editor Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions, Jerusalem (Israel). PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY 54Ks TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office at Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) BEST COPY AVAILABLE 1)11 This document has been reproduced as I" received from the person or organization originating it. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI posilion or policy. ATgazipu Notes from ATM: Ebv catins Towarb Meaninsful Ebiteb tn Yoel filikelman Academy for Torah Initiatives andDirections (1".0 171.11 7131112 1:19171 ;MTV711171'7 runny - PEST COPY AMLABLE Athizt-zu Notes from AT1D: tbucatins Towarb Meatiitisful Tefillali Ebiteb tni Vocl finkelman Academy for Torah initiatives and Directions 0".0 ltrna D1.717I anni irnmi7 fulfil- 7111J/ 4 Copyright © 2001 by Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions. All rights reserved. 0, Cover: Page from the Hamilton Siddur (Spain, 13 century). ,,, 5 N.-74c:: from AIM: E.tocatiriS Tow,wo Tcfl1bJ Notes from ATM: Ebucatitis Towarb Meanitisful Tefillali Anhivitation Educating Jewish children isa holy task. Those entrusted with the task must develop the sophistication to succeed, and to lead thisenterprise to new levels of accomplishment. The Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions encourages theyoung educators in the ATID Fellows training program to develop a vision for themselves and the community they will lead. But that is not enough ATID also focuseson the strategies necessary to actualize and implement the theory and vision. We present these Notes from ATID: Educating Toward Meaningful Tefillah, first in this series, which isa record of our deliberations on this topic. This document captures the collective thinking which the ATID fellows and faculty members underwentas we explored methods of transforming prayer inour schools into a moremeaningful experience. We do not imagine that these policy recommendationsare a panacea, nor do we believe that our findings will be appropriate for all schools. With this in mind, we have included a dissentingresponse to some of our proposals. We do believe that if properly implemented, theymay indeed succeed in many settings. More significantly, we are convinced that these suggestions can serve as a springboard for rigorous deliberation in your schools. Each school can develop specific and implementable strategies which will improve the tefillah of the students and staff. The distribution of thisessay allows ATID to disseminate some of its ideas to the community of Jewish educators. We hopeto encourage further reflection and planning, in order to improve the rigor, professionalism, and success of our important endeavor. Our sincere appreciation is extended to 3 Yoel Finkelman, whose yeoman efforts, talent and sensitivity saw this project through to publication. Our thanks are also extended to Prof. Susan Handelman, who was instrumental in facilitating many of the initial discussions and deliberations of the ATID Fellows, upon which this monograph is based. ATID will be honored to help facilitate your explorations and planning by providing resources, either written or human. If this essay has served as a catalyst for your school or synagogue, we ask that you share your experiences with us by writing to [email protected]. We will use our website to collect and disseminate your contributions to what we hope will be an ongoing collaborative inquiry into thecriticalissues facing Jewish education today. Rabbi" _Jeffrey Oaks Director, ATID www.atid.org Notes frowi anacmivls- TowArb Reflections on Role Mobels for SpiritualiN & rramer DeVa:14M She-Ba'al reli A Avobali Slie-batev Rabbi Chaim Brovender There is no reason in the world for educators toassume that tefillah can't be meaningful. However, it is not at all clear how one learns to daven. Many ofus undergo a training period which ultimately makes it possible forus to participate in some form of davening. But training a person to spend an appropriate amount of time in the synagogue is not the sameas training him for davening itself. Convincing a child of the milmemosamminuir value, importance, and necessity of attending prayers or reciting the words isConvincitig a cliilb of tlie value, not equivalent to preparing that child to importance, anb necessit4 of be open to the inner experience ofattenbin5 pramers or recitinS spiritual, soulful prayer. the worbs is not equivalent to preparinS tliat cuilb to be An individual cannot simply makeaopen to the inner experience conscious decision to pray properly. of spiritual, soulful pramer. Rather, the person must first become intimately aware of the possibility ofmrlimmommor genuine prayer, an awareness that we are directed to engender in ourselves. We must invest serious time and seriousenergy to become aware that the prayer process is possible, and that we can actually join that process. Not everyone accomplishes thisnot even everyone who is trained from childhood to daven. But it seems to bea position that one can assume if he or she is so inclined, or if so directed by teachers and parents. Educators must not confuse the discipline of davening with davening itself. Both are necessary and both have to be taught, butwe do our students a disservice if we confuse the two inour teaching. This confusion makes it impossible for students to address the real problems of theirown davening. Clearly, certain discipline is necessary forproper davening. The time, place, words and their meaning are all important,as well as the community in 5 which prayer occurs. But none of these is equivalent to davening in its essence. We sell our students short,and are to blame for our own failure, if we concentrate only on theform, and do not enable our students to discover the substance of prayer. All students have the potential to pray seriously. Ironically, halakhah itself allows for this confusion. It is easy enough to become involved with the minutiae of the event, and ignore the fact that there is a spirit, an ethos, that has to be grasped. We are not only the teachers of the details of the halakhic demands and concerns (though we Wemust also enablecertainly are that as well). We must also enable and empower the students to anb empower the stubentsfind and activate their own spiritual to titib atib activatecore even in this pragmatic world. their own spiritualcore. AIMENevertheless, there is a formand a ratherrigid one atthat to our davening, and that form is determined by halakhic considerations. As such itis of singular importance to us when we approach Hashem.Since halakhah in some way expresses God's will by teaching us how we are to stand before Him then it would be remiss on our part to ignore that feature of the halakhah. In fact, the student should understand that the "laws of prayer" are the rules which Hashem and Chazal have commanded us, and which enable us to petition Him with great sincerity andmeaning. However, the rules will not necessarily resonate in the hearts of the petitioners, nor generate a spiritual experience automatically. We must go furtherand teach ourselves to find the proper attitude to prayer from within. This is not something which can be taught through traditional modes of teaching, but is a process of discovery that we as educatorsmustallowandencourage . Teachins Pravier Prayer is a natural event deriving from the human psyche, and is capable, if properly engaged, of enhancing one's personality. Prayer is implied in creation itself. If God created the world, it is reasonable that His creatures should be able to turn to and speak with their Father in heaven. It seems 6 1111111111111-
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