Winter Tefillah Workshops and Learning Groups Sign Up Page

From December through March, YIB will be organizing small groups that will meet two to three times to study together different aspects of tefillah and the siddur. Led by Rabbi Hellman, Ora Weinbach, and Rabbi Nehemiah Polen, the groups are designed to have a variety of topics and styles so that everyone can find one that fits them, and we hope everyone will join a group.

The goals of these chaburot, which will mostly take place in member homes on weekday evenings, are to facilitate meaningful discussions and learning to help us all grow in our davening and also to create and strengthen bonds between members as they study and share in these small groups.

Class Descriptions:

1. The History of the Siddur
Which tefillot are ancient and which are more recent? How are the experiences of Jews in different countries reflected in our liturgy? By tracing the history of tefillah from the Mishnah and Gemara through the Medieval period and recent times, we better understand its structure and how we move through the different sections of davening.
With Rabbi Hellman

2. Help! I don’t enjoy davening! (But I want to!)
Some people naturally connect to davening, but others find it more difficult. Join a facilitated honest and open discussion about what makes davening difficult. With the help of a few key texts, the group will consider what prayer pathways don’t seem to work and, hopefully, discover new gates to enter the world of prayer.
Facilitated by Rabbi Hellman and Ora Weinbach

3. The Shema
We say Shema everyday but do not necessarily ever stop to truly contemplate its words and what they mean to us. A close reading of the fundamental opening line of Shema as well as the other paragraphs will give us the opportunity to discover new depths of understanding as well as hear how others internalize them.
With Rabbi Hellman

4. Meditative Approaches to Tefillah
This experiential group will introduce basic meditative practices that can be used to enhance our tefillah. Indeed, mindfulness, a focus on our breath, and visualizations are all found in Jewish sources! 
With Ora Weinbach

5. Davening with Rambam and Rav Soloveitchik
Studying passages from the Talmud and later works, this group will approach tefillah from a halacha-centered perspective. It will also delve into the writings of Rambam and Rav Soloveitchik that stress the experiential and subjective elements within halacha’s more standarized framework.
With Rabbi Hellman

6. Chassidut and Tefillah
One of the key (and controversial) characteristics of the beginning of chassidut was ecstatic prayer, as modeled by its founder, the Ba’al Shem Tov. Tefillah remained important to chassidut, and it’s approach developed and evolved. This group will study and discuss texts from different Chassidc branches, each with its own unique style. 
With Rabbi Dr. Nehemiah Polen

7. The Mussar Movement and Tefillah
The Mussar Movement stressed sincere, internal spirituality and a purposeful, systematic commitment to religious growth. This study of classic Mussar texts, from Rav Yisrael Salanter, the founder of the movement, to Rav Shlomo Volbe of last generation, will explore some of this approach’s critical insights into tefillah.
With Rabbi Hellman

Please submit the form below, choosing the topic(s) for which you have interest.

We will contact everyone who signs up for each topic to coordinate and determine the best dates, times, and other details for each class.