PunkTorah

Independent Jewish Spirituality Online

Kavanah vs. Keva In Jewish Prayer

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Kavanah. If you’re Jewish, you’ve probably heard the word thrown around by your Rabbi, or perhaps by a friend. Perhaps you use it yourself on a regular basis. For me, it’s a biggie. Loosely translated as “intention,” and related to the word kivun meaning “direction,” living life with kavanah is an ideal I strive towards on a daily basis. I find that being mindful about why I act the way I act makes my life significantly more meaningful.

So I was surprised when in a few conversations, some people spoke to a vicious “kavanah vs. keva debate” that they believe is raging across the world of Jewish prayer. Keva relates to the Hebrew word “Kavua” which means “fixed,” “stable” or “permanent,” and these friends of mine seemed to think that making their prayer keva was tantamount to removing any and all emotion from the process. Indeed, Rabbi Shimon said almost two thousand [Read more…]

Can You Say Kaddish For A Dead Business?

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Putting the words “Jewish” and “business” in the same article is bound to get some comments. Of course, we as a people have a reputation for being very savvy in the career world. But sometimes life is not that simple, and we are forced to face a dreadful loss: the closing of a business.

I know a little something about this. I have worked for two businesses which eventually closed. The first one, a small coffee shop, and the second, a furniture store. In both situations, the loss was not just financial, but the loss of a dream, the loss of a sense of identity, the loss of the owner’s purpose.

Business owners are not the only ones effected by a company closing. Of course, workers lose their job: but also, the people who sold products to that company, the people who provided services like cleaning or temporary help. When someone falls, we [Read more…]

Perspective and Respect

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Late night tonight, it’s almost 3am in California. It’s about 5 hours past my typical bedtime and I am up trying to work on my rough draft for my thesis. Yet, before I sleep I read about community members that need a little extra prayer for one reason or another. Childish as this seems at first, I read with skepticism, expecting to see gripes about bruised knees and sprained ankles. Quickly, I realize there are community members who need added prayer and a speedy recovery. I no longer am able to write my thesis chapter or shut my eyes… my perspective has just changed like a paradigm shift between shallow care and deeper meaning.

It seems that the prayers we say should not just be for those who are ill, but their loved ones as well. Is that not the true Jewish value? What is community if we pray for one’s physical welfare while their loved one is emotional suffering by watching? We should pray for both. Aren’t we all affected when someone is ill, dies, suffers? G-d forbid we understand their pain, that we’ve felt it. However, being the sick or watching a loved one be sick, still is suffering.

I find it painstakingly hard to stand in shul and say the name of the person I know who is ill. I am terrified my voice will crack, might I cry, am I so worried that someone might judge me, that someone might ask who the person is and why I have mentioned them as opposed to others. On PunkTorah, people seem to offer sentiments so freely. Maybe I am committing an aveyrah or not being the community member I wish to be.

Upon further reflection, I have decided to add to my list of thoughts and blessings not only the ones who directly suffer, but all parties involved. We are supposed to value life. Like Israel has recently demonstrated with Gilad Shalit, when one suffers, we unify and suffer together.

May our stories of pain and suffrage end on the note Shalit’s did. May we all find our way into the comfort of someone’s arms we love and may those who are in need of healing have the speediest of recoveries. May we as a community, no matter the size, understand that pain is not a trivial feeling of shallow distain, but of genuine discomfort. And may our understanding prove to be commentary that we as a people are constantly in prayer for those in need.

Again, for all those on our prayer list and for some who aren’t, may you find the comfort that is needed to handle these moments, may there be healing and may there be hope.

Be True to the Streets,
Yentapunker

Chava Arias: My Journey To G-d

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pSgaa84FnM

Becoming religious from Middle School and beyond. Prayer and faith by Chava Arias. Filmed at Moishe Hose, Costa Mesa, CA. The G-d Project is the world’s first social media platform dedicated to Jewish spirituality. We bring God back to the conversation.

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