Davening

I got a very nice complement at Shul the other day.

That morning I got to Daven Psukei D’Zimrah. After service, as I’m packing up my teffilin and tallit, one of the other congregants comes up to me and said “I just wanted to tell you that you’re a very inspiring davener.” I thanked her, and we spoke for a few minutes about how I’ve been moving towards traditional Judaism in the last few years.

While that warm fuzzy feeling you get from a complement is always nice, this was more than that. On any given weekday, our minion consists of the Rabbi, Cantor, Torah reader and usually about 15 congregants. Of those 15, there are 3 (including one woman) of us who are not saying Kaddish. Five or six of us take turns leading service. Of those, I’m the only one who is not saying Kaddish.

I go to Shul for purely selfish reasons. I’m not there to say Kaddish for a loved one (G-d willing I won’t be in a position to need to do that for a long time). I’m not even there to help make the minion. I’m there because the spiritual lift I get from starting my day off with davening is enough to carry me through the rest of the day.

When I pray, I don’t simply mouth the words. I think about what I’m praying, I concentrate on different parts of the prayers, depending on my need that day. When I pray to G-d, I do it with “all my heart, all my soul and all my might”.

It’s nice to see that this feeling comes through.