‘Obligation and opportunity’

     
The first event took place Wednesday night, but I didn’t get word of this series until just now. Drisha Institute, in midtown, offers a highly interesting program of workshops, prayer, and lectures in the coming two weeks that examines the act of prayer. From the publicity:

Prayer: What Are We Doing?

Prayer is both an obligation and an opportunity, yet we encounter many obstacles in prayer—practical challenges as well as theological ones. This series will discuss ways to understand what we are doing when we pray, and introduce practices that help us sustain concentration and cultivate presence of mind and heart in our prayer.

Wednesday, March 26

and

Wednesday, April 2

Workshops at 6:30 p.m.

Lectures at seven o’clock

Drisha Institute for Jewish Education

37 West 65th Street, Fifth Floor

Manhattan

Each evening will begin at 6:30 with a choice of workshops on practices that we might choose to introduce into our tefilla. Workshops will be followed at 7:15 by tefillat ma’ariv (with a choice of minyanim) and a brief break for refreshments. The evening will conclude with a lecture at 7:45 on approaches to the theology of prayer.

6:30 to 7:15 p.m. – Choice of Three Workshops:

Soul Connection: Meditations for Prayer according to the Aish Kodesh (with Mira Niculescu);

Trembling Joy: Quieting the Noise and Amplifying the Song of the Heart (with Rabbi Dani Segal); or

Niggun Ha’Lev: Melodies to Awaken our Hearts in Prayer (with Rabbi David Silber).

7:15 – Tefillat Ma’ariv

Courtesy Drisha

7:45 to 9 – Lecture:

March 26: Words Filled with Light: Hasidic Mystical Reflections on Kavvanah and Contemplative Prayer (with Professor Eitan Fishbane).

April 2: Prayer and Human Needs: R. Soloveitchik and Other Recent Thinkers (with Professor David Shatz).

There is no fee, but we welcome contributions to support our work. Pre-registration in not required, but we recommend pre-registering in order to sign up for your first choice workshop. For those who cannot attend, lectures will be live streamed as well as available for viewing after the lecture.