Avodah Lesson 1 Kavanah

INTRODUCTION

In Judaism, prayer consists of two parts: keva, the fixed words and order of the service, and kavanah, the feeling that we bring to the experience of prayer. Kavanah is the emotion and, literally, the intention that helps us focus on the moment of prayer in order to connect with the Divine. Kavanah can be the avodah or work that we talk about in our Enduring Understandings. In this sense, avodah consists of the effort to concentrate, the emotional effort required to connect with the Divine. According to Arnold Rosenberg, “Kavanah is deep focused concentration and compre- hension. . . . It is the mind state that enables prayer to be effective.”1 Kavanah can also be a spontaneous outpouring of the heart, as it was for the Children of Israel as they stood at the shore of the Red Sea and sang Mi Chamochah.

This lesson focuses on the concept of kavanah and explores the different ways of achieving it. It also rais- es the question, “Why pray?” We will briefly discuss this difficult question, which will be further explored in the next lesson. The Set Induction for this lesson focuses on two critical elements of kavanah: its lit- eral definition—kavanah as intention or concentration—and the euphoric, spontaneous experience of kavanah, using the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites and the singing of Mi Chamochah as an exam- ple. The remainder of the Learning Activities in the lesson involve a brief study of texts. While text study may be challenging for students at this level, discussion and reflection questions are age-appropriate and accessible, and provide a lens through which to discuss and define the topic of kavanah.

To complete the lesson, students and their families should be asked to attend at least one synagogue service within two weeks of implementing this lesson. A sample letter to be sent home to parents is includ- ed in the lesson materials (see page 123).

ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS • Avodah is the work we do to find sacred connections to God, community, and self.

• Engaging in the work of avodah can bring order, beauty, meaning, and insight to our lives and our community.

• Keva and kavanah, the fixed order of worship and the personal intention we bring to prayer, are complementary aspects of Jewish worship, combining to help us make sacred connections.

1 Arnold S. Rosenberg, Jewish Liturgy as a Spiritual System (Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1997), p. 10.

113 114 Avodah Lesson 1 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS 1. How is striving for a connection to God, avodah, like work?

2. What is the wisdom behind the structure of fixed prayer and ritual?

3. How can I experience kavanah and feel moments of connection to God?

4. How can fixed prayer become relevant and important to me?

5. How does the act of participating in fixed prayer keep my relationships with God, with the Jewish people, and with myself in good shape?

QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED 1. What actions do I need to take in order to experience kavanah?

2. What would an experience of kavanah feel like for me?

EVIDENCE OF UNDERSTANDING • Students will express feelings of kavanah through journal reflections.

• Students will illustrate reflections of what an experience of kavanah can be like.

LESSON OVERVIEW • Set Induction (15 minutes)

• Text Study (20 minutes)

• Creating Reflections on Kavanah (20 minutes)

• Conclusion (5–10 minutes)

MATERIALS NEEDED • Sentence completion sheets (page 119) • Kavanah definition to post or share (page 120) • Text Study sheets (pages 121–22) • Pencils • Butcher paper • Markers • Paints CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life Kavanah 115

• Two or three decks of playing cards, divided in half and prearranged with all black cards in one stack and all red cards in another; plan to just use twelve pairs, rather than all twenty-six in each half • A recording of Mi Chamochah (A good recording can be found on Nashir B’Yachad: We Sing Together, Transcontinental Music Publications 950010. If no recording is available, invite the rabbi, cantor, edu- cator, or any other adult to make a tape or lead the singing of this song.) • Poster board

LESSON VOCABULARY gc¤e The fixed words and order of the prayer service. keva v²b²UF The proper intention and emotional focus that enable us to con- kavanah nect with God during prayer; the proper concentration in order to open your heart and mind to connect with God during prayer. LESSON PLAN SET INDUCTION (15 MINUTES) Playing Concentration

1. Divide the class into groups of three or four.

2. Give each group twenty-four cards of the deck; make sure you include cards of the same color and number. The goal is for students to uncover matching pairs of cards (both red 4’s, both black 9’s, etc.).

3. Explain the rules to the students:

• Place your cards face down in four rows of six cards. • You are looking for pairs of the same number in the same color. • Turn over two cards. If they do not match, return the cards to a face-down position. The next play- er takes a turn. • If the cards do match, remove the pair from the rows and take another turn until you do not find a match. 4. Give students about five minutes to play, then discuss the following questions:

• What makes this game hard? • What is the name of this game? Students may be familiar with it and know the name is “Concentration.” 5. Ask students to help you come up with a definition for the word “concentration.” Brainstorm a list on the board.

6. Ask students: Which activities do you participate in that require concentration? Why must you concentrate when you do these things? When is it easy to concentrate, and when is it hard? 116 Avodah Lesson 1 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life

7. Hand out the sentence completion exercise (Prayer requires concentration because . . .) found on page 119. Give students a few minutes to work on it, then gather the worksheets and post them on a piece of poster board. This should remain posted in the classroom for the remainder of this unit of study.

8. Share a few of the responses to the sentence completion.

The Kavanah of Spontaneous Prayer 1. Explain to students that while prayer takes concentration to be meaningful, the result of that concentration is often a spontaneous feeling of joy and connection with God.

2. Play the recording of Mi Chamochah.

3. Explain to students that this prayer is a reminder of the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea. For us, it is a prayer we say at every service, something that is a fixed part of our prayers, but for the Israelites, it was spontaneous, something that just came out in song when they experienced the miracle.

4. Ask students if they can remember a miracle they experienced. What did they do? How did they feel?

5. Listen to the music one more time. Ask the students to concentrate on the meaning of the words (“Who is like You, O God? Who is like You in holiness, awesome in deed, doing miracles?”). Give students a copy of the prayer in Hebrew and English, found on page 118. Ask the students: Does knowing the meaning of the words and the experience of the Israelites change how you feel when you say these words? What do you think the Israelites might have felt as they were singing these words? How do you think the words of Mi Chamochah helped the Israelites feel closer to God?

LEARNING ACTIVITIES Text Study (20 minutes)

Teacher Background on Maimonides—Born in Cordoba, Spain, Moses Maimonides (1135–1204) came from a wealthy Jewish family. When life became difficult for the Jews in Spain, his family moved to Morrocco, then Palestine, finally settling in Fostat (old Cairo), Egypt. Trained both as a physician and rabbi, Maimonides became such a good doctor that he was appointed royal physician to the king of Egypt. He also became nagid, or head of the Egyptian Jewish community in Cairo. He was a great scholar and prolific author of works on Jewish thought. His compilation of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah, is his seminal work. His great philosophical work, Dalalat al-Ha’rin (Guide for the Perplexed, 1190), is an attempt to bring Judaism in line with the philosophical trends of his time.

1. Explain to students that in order to be sincere, prayer can either be the result of careful preparation to achieve the proper intention or it can be a spontaneous outpouring of the heart. Focusing your mind and heart is part of Jewish prayer. For many years, great scholars, rabbis, and laypeople have struggled with how and why to focus during prayer. The word we use for focusing with an open heart during prayer is kavanah. Write or post this on the board (see page 120). Read the definition to students: Kavanah is the proper concentration in order to open your heart and mind to connect with God during prayer.

2. Distribute Text Study #1 (page 121). Read the text aloud for the students, then discuss the following questions: CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life Kavanah 117

• What do you think Maimonides means? (Kavanah—personal intention and concentration—is what makes prayer meaningful.)

• Can you say a prayer in such a way that it has no meaning? How? (By just saying the words without thought or feeling.)

Creating Reflections on Kavanah (20 minutes)

Teacher Background on the Baal Shem Tov—The Baal Shem Tov (1698–1760) was born in what is now Ukraine and is considered to be the founder of modern Chasidism. His life is the subject of many tales that circulated even before his death. Born Israel ben Eliezer, he is said to have had elderly, poor parents and to have been orphaned at an early age. He supported himself as an assistant in a cheder (Hebrew religious school), as a synagogue watchman, as a quarry worker, and as an innkeeper. He gained a reputation as a miracle healer, hence the name Baal Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name, i.e., the Name of God). Central to his teachings is the idea that one must worship and adhere to God in all activities, not only in acts of pre- scribed religious observance but also in the affairs of daily life. He held that not in sorrow but in joy must one worship God. (From “Baal-Shem-Tov,” www.encyclopedia.com/topic/baal-shem-tov.aspx)

1. Hand out copies of Text Study #2 (page 122). Read the text out loud to the students, then discuss the following questions:

• What do you think the Baal Shem Tov meant when he said, “The first time an event occurs in nature it is called a miracle; later it is taken for granted”?

• What does he suggest we do?

2. Tell students to take a few minutes to think privately about the last question. As students are completing the final question, unroll a large piece of butcher paper on a table and set out paints and markers. Ask the students to think about a time they prayed with kavanah—with all their heart, mind, and soul. Then ask them to think for a few minutes about what it was they were praying for when they prayed with kavanah. Ask them to come to the mural to draw or paint a picture of what they were praying for.

3. When the students have drawn their pictures and thought about what they were praying for, ask:

• Based on your reflections in the mural, how would you define kavanah?

• Do you think your piece of the mural reflects a feeling of connection to prayer? the Jewish community? God?

CONCLUSION (5–10 MINUTES) 1. Post the mural from today’s lesson. The definition sheet and the texts can go on the mural. Ask the students to think about the different things people prayed for with kavanah. Ask if there are any con- clusions the class can draw from the illustrations on the mural.

2. Share the journal questions on page 23 of the students’ workbooks and remind students they need to attend services over the next two weeks. Distribute copies of the letter to parents (page 123) for the students to take home. 118 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life

Mi Chamochah t¨rIb 'J¤s«EC r¨S§t®b vf«nF h¦n ?²h±h ok¥tC vf«nf-h¦n ?tkp v¥G«g ,¦v§, `o²H©v ,p§G-kg W§n¦Jk ohkUt±d UjC¦J v¨J¨s£j v¨rh¦J :sg²u okIgk QO§n°h ²h±h :Ur§n¨t±u Ufhk§n¦v±u UsIv oKF s©j³h

Mi chamochah ba-eilim, Adonai? Mi kamochah, nedar bakodesh, nora t’hilot, osei feleh? Shirah chadashah shibchu g’ulim l’shimchah al s’fat hayam; yachad kulam hodu v’himlichu v’amru: Adonai yimloch l’olam va-ed!

Who is like You, Adonai, among the gods that are worshiped? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? A new song the redeemed sang to Your name. At the shore of the sea, saved from destruction, they proclaimed Your sovereign power: “Adonai will reign for ever and ever!”

STUDENT REFLECTIONS

[Copy and cut page in half to distribute to students.]

Prayer requires concentration because . . .

Kavanah v²b²UF

The proper intention in order to open your heart and mind to connect with God during prayer.

Text Study #1 Maimonides declares: “Prayer without kavanah is no prayer at all.”

What do you think Maimonides means?

Can you say a prayer in such a way that it has no meaning? How?

Text Study #2 The Baal Shem Tov said: “The first time an event occurs in nature it is called a miracle; later it is taken for granted. Let your worship and your service be your miracles each day. Only such worship, per- formed from the heart, with the enthusiasm of fresh wonder, is acceptable.”

What do you think the Baal Shem Tov meant when he said, “The first time an event occurs in nature it is called a miracle; later it is taken for granted”?

What does he suggest we do?

Dear Parents, Today we began our unit on Avodah, understood through our studies as the work we do to make sacred connections to God, community, and self. This year we are exploring those connections through the lens of keva and kavanah, two important components of Jewish prayer: keva, the fixed order of the service, the traditional words we say from the prayer book; and kavanah, the intention of our hearts that helps us achieve moments of connection. In our lesson we focused on the concept of kavanah and what it means to open your heart to God during prayer, either through concentration or spontaneous feeling. We also made a bulletin board about prayer and a mural, both of which now adorn our walls. Please stop by our room to see this work. As part of their homework for this week, we have asked students to try to attend a worship service and to take note of their feelings during worship in order to explore feelings of connection to God. Please find a time for your family to attend a service over the next two weeks and work with your children to complete the journal assignment on page 23 of the student workbook. Please share with each other your responses to the synagogue prayer experience. Your interest in their work will help them explore the elements of Jewish prayer. Thank you for your time and your commitment to your child’s education. Sincerely,

______