Jewish Personal Prayer - On My Own

First, the WHY - Why would any Jew or anybody exploring Judaism want or need to explore the idea of Jewish personal prayer? 

Torah gives us a 3-word Hebrew phrase to answer that question. It's Ein Od Milvado.  "You were shown to know … ein od milvado — there is none other than He.” Devarim 4:35

Image from Sefaria.org

There is no one, there is nothing besides God for us. That's why we need to know God and have conversations with God for our own personal lives. 

This short podcast from Breslov.org describes Ein Od Milvado beautifully. 



Next, the WHAT - What is Jewish personal prayer? 

An exploration of Jewish personal prayer often begins with reading what other people have to say about it. Here's a list of resources, meaning webpages, videos and books on Jewish prayer, some with sections or brief mentions of Jewish personal prayer. 

* Judaism 101on Jewish Liturgy, by Tracey R. Rich

* To Pray As A Jew, by Hayim H. Donin

* Entering Jewish Prayer, by Reuven Hammer

* My Jewish Learning on Personal Prayer, by Sylvia Barak Fishman

*Jewish Prayer and Meditation, a Jews For Judaism video by Rabbi Michael Skobac

* Breslov.org on Your Thoughts And The Power of Hisbodedus, by Chaya Rivka Zwolinski

* The Jerusalem Post on World of The Sages: Adding Personal Prayer, by Levi Cooper

*My Jewish Learning on Keva & Kavanah, by Arnold J Wolf

* Chabad.org video series on A History of Prayer, by Lazer Gurkow

* Institute For Jewish Spirituality on How Do Jews Pray? by Jonathan Slater

* The Way Into Jewish Prayer, by Lawrence A. Hoffman

* Azamra.org on Hisbodedus: A Time For Yourself, by Avraham Ben Yaakov

* In Forest Fields: A Unique Guide to Personal Prayer video, by Shalom Arush, translated by Lazer Brody

* Kosher.com video on The Power of Jewish Prayer, by Yechiel Spero

* Gedale Fenster video on Hitbodedut:The Ultimate Tool to Get You From Anxiety to Confidence (I saved the best resource for last. This video will change your understanding of Jewish personal FOREVER. Invest the hour and 18 minutes to watch, it's worth it.)

And finally, MY RELATIONSHIP WITH PERSONAL PRAYER -  I am the World's Leading Expert on the subject of my own personal prayer. Nobody else has my relationship with prayer, so nobody else can correct or criticize it. It's mine alone. I am the only one in the world who can pray my prayers. God wants to hear from me!

(Read the paragraph above out loud. Try looking in a mirror while you read it. I wrote it for you! Read it out loud to hear yourself say it. That's what we all need. We need to hear it to believe it.)

Hello, my name is Mia Sherwood Landau. I am a writer, folk musician and folk artist. Oh, I’m also a farmer We raise Lemon Verbena commercially here in North Texas.

Searching for a book on Jewish personal prayer, I couldn’t find what I was looking for. So, I decided to write the book I want to read.

My forthcoming book is called Solitary Splendor: Jewish On My Own, But Not Alone.

What I’m sharing today is part of it, so I want to thank you for being here and being part of my book in progress.

Your thoughtful comments are welcome. And, who knows? You may see them in the book someday.

Here’s a list of three thing I've discovered people think about Jewish personal prayer:

1. Many people think our personal prayers should only be inserted into the daily prayers. There’s no requirement for additional prayers of a personal, individual nature.

2. And some people are shy about speaking directly to God in their own words. It seems selfish somehow, or they are hesitant to demand time and attention from the Almighty God of the Universe.

3. All of us are subject to the sad, secular notion that talking out loud to God is a sure sign of a crazy person. Normal, sane people don’t need to speak out loud to an invisible God who may or may not be real anyway.

Those are three things I learned about personal prayer that may stop us before we even start exploring it.

Oh, there’s one more thing – personal prayer is also called hisbodedus, hitbodedut or hisbonenut. It’s all the same Hebrew word with different pronunciations. It means self-seclusion and in-depth meditation, referring to secluding yourself with the Creator of the Universe to pour out your soul in heartfelt prayer.

What I’m talking about today could be called hisbodedut, but we’re going to call it Jewish personal prayer because that’s easier to say and to understand.

I like to make prayer easy to say and understand, so that’s what I do when I’m by myself. I like to make my prayer so simple that even a child can understand it.

And why would I need to do that when I’m all by myself? Because there is a child present, for sure. It’s my inner child inside of me. My prayers need to be simple and honest, like the prayers of a child, because I am a living child of God. I really am. You might say my inner child is praying from my heart straight to my Father in Heaven.

I want to pray from the depths of my inner child to the heights of the throne of God, the Creator of us all. To me, this is how to pray as a Jew. It’s very personal. My Father in Heaven wants to hear from me, in my own words and in my own language because that’s how He made me.

Who I am and what I think and feel is not a mystery to my Creator. He made me and sincerely welcomes me to call home anytime, day or night.

As you can see, my personal beliefs about our Almighty God are showing up boldly here. Please feel free to tune me in or tune me out as you are led by your own soul. Our adventure in Jewish personal prayer together has just begun, and the truth is this – it never has to end. 

When asked my level of observance I say, "I am an Internet Jew." 

My reply tends to disturb some people who participate in their local congregations, but often rings delightfully true to other Internet Jews. We know who we are, and we know we have more access to Jewish wisdom and experience than any Jews throughout history. 

This is my first post and OneShul video exploring Jewish personal prayer on my own. It's just the beginning of my sharing about my own experience and the experiences I'm collecting from others. Please feel free to share in the comments, or leave a message on 903-642-1449.