{"id":22358,"date":"2010-08-11T13:22:23","date_gmt":"2010-08-11T21:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=22358"},"modified":"2010-08-11T13:22:23","modified_gmt":"2010-08-11T21:22:23","slug":"jewish-prayers-last-too-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=22358","title":{"rendered":"Jewish Prayers Last Too Long"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dennis Prager writes<\/a>: I fully recognize that some Jews love all the prayers, find standing meaningful and regard the length of the prayer service as sublime. But I believe they constitute a minority even among that minority of Jews who regularly attend services. Nor do I believe that all of them find the prayer service particularly inspiring. Rather, they enjoy the familiarity of the service and the camaraderie of fellow Jews (neither of which I in any way disparage).<\/p>\n

For all these reasons, my ideal service has much less davening, much more learning and much more music. Speaking solely for myself, I find that studying or teaching the Torah enhances my faith more than prayers do.<\/p>\n

I have tried to put my ideals into practice. I have led Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services for the last three years here in Los Angeles, and I am doing so again this year. The 300 people who attend \u2014 many of whom have rarely or never attended High Holiday services \u2014 seem to respond quite favorably. And my services are not much shorter than others; it is the davening that is shorter.<\/p>\n

I do not offer my suggestions as definitive, or even as necessarily original. I am only certain that there is a shul crisis and that the shul service, with its overlong davening, is one reason. Adults do not play siddur baseball; they just don\u2019t attend.<\/p>\n

For information on Dennis Prager\u2019s High Holy Days services, e-mail pragerhighholidays@gmail.com. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dennis Prager writes: I fully recognize that some Jews love all the prayers, find standing meaningful and regard the length of the prayer service as sublime. But I believe they constitute a minority even among that minority of Jews who … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[29761,12633,7945,15792,23217,23216],"class_list":["post-22358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dennis-prager","tag-dennis-prager","tag-high-holiday-services","tag-high-holy-days","tag-jewish-prayers","tag-reason-adults","tag-yom-kippur-services"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t