PRAISE GRATITUDE BESEECH The rhythm of Jewish prayers with some examples

There is a typical rhythm of Jewish prayer where we praise, express our gratitude and only then ask for what we want.  This frame isn’t original to me at all; I read it when I was reading books on Jewish prayer, though I can’t cite the source. It doesn’t always follow the precise rhythm, particularly in terms of gratitude and praise, but it does follow the idea that you don’t ask for things before you express praise and gratitude.

The blessings recited upon awakening are a great example of gratitude.  We praise the divine for the ability to stand up (modeh/modah ani), we give thanks for our community (mah tovu), our bodies, (asher yatzar), our souls (Elohai Neshama), a myriad of different things in the morning blessings, our teachers and being able to study Torah.

The Amidah is another great example. We praise the divine “the great God, the mighty God, the awesome God, the supreme God…You are mighty forever, O god, you give life to the dead.”   We express our Gratitude.  “We thank you for you are our God and God of our fathers and mothers forever. You are the refuge of our life, the shield of our help.” (this is from the Sudbury Siddur).  Only then do we ask for things (here using the translation from Chabad)

Bestow peace, goodness and blessing, life, graciousness, kindness and mercy, upon us and upon all Your people Israel. Bless us, our Father, all of us as one, with the light of Your countenance. For by the light of Your countenance You gave us, L-rd our G‑d, the Torah of life and loving-kindness, righteousness, blessing, mercy, life and peace. May it be favorable in Your eyes to bless Your people Israel, at all times and at every moment, with Your peace.   

Satisfy us from Your bounty and bless our year like other good years, for blessing; for You are a generous G‑d who bestows goodness and blesses the years. Blessed are You L-rd, who blesses the years. And then there’s a note that this is where we can ask for specific blessings such as things concerning work and love.

So I had my class write prayers, using this format.  I asked them

What seems really praiseworthy?

What are you grateful for?

What do you really want?

Here’s what I came up with (all these examples took us about 10-15 minutes).

“God and Goddess you are our names for the mysterious manifestation of this blessed world.  This world is a great gift filled with beauty and pain.  One is not possible without the other—without either, all is dull and flat. There is beauty everywhere, and there is pain everywhere.  And I fear that we are entering a period of even more pain through our own actions.  And yet in all that pain, I praise you, God and Goddess for the beautiful and painful world.

I am grateful for this beauty and I am grateful for this pain.  My experiences that have left their painful imprint on me and shaped my life should never have happened to me or to any other child, and yet I am grateful.  For without them, I doubt I would be sensitive to my own and other’s pain, I doubt I could hear the call of the wild earth.  I’d probably be some kind of entitled asshole, an all too common type in our world.

My request is my birthright, a birthright of all humans that cannot be abrogated, not even for a bowl of porridge. I want to be at home.  I want your help in finding a piece of land to which I can give my soul in my (and hopefully our) work with it and to find people with whom I can go deep, and also just goof off and eat good food and watch the adults work and the kids grow.”

Here’s one from a participant, GR.

Blessed are you, Shekhinah, Mother, Sister, Daughter, who are the world. I praise the beauty of your form: your hair that grows as the reeds, the corn, the wheat, and the willows; your breath that makes the leaves dance and the waves leap and fills our bodies with spirit; your veins that send the life giving waters flowing to your womb, the ocean, source of all life.

I am grateful for the bounty of this world, your body, which contains more beauty than I can behold in many lifetimes, more delicacies than I could ever enjoy, and more opportunities for love than I can ever truly acknowledge. Thank you for this opportunity to weave my thread into the tapestry of life.

I pray that I stay on the path of my soul, which is the path of your love, and that you guide me back to it when I stray. I pray for a community of fellows who will join me in this work, the wisdom to do the work well, the ease to enjoy it, and a family to raise in alignment with your divine rhythms.

Here’s one from RZ

Creator of all,

I praise you for the wondrous features of our world. The mountains, rivers, oceans, trees and creatures. And for the stars, moon and galaxies that are beyond what we even know.

 I thank you for my life and loves.

 I ask that you grant me the energy and time to fulfill my true purpose, to help create a more peaceful world.

 You too can write a traditional Jewish prayer.  I’d love to read them.