Lately I've been wondering what the praying brain looks like. At Stanford, they've studied monks in meditation. "Essentially when you spend a lot of time meditating, the brain shows a pattern of feeling safe in the world and more comfortable in approaching people and situations." Perhaps prayer, too, can make us feel safe in the world.
I read today that the root of the word tefillah (Hebrew for prayer) means to judge oneself. Perhaps prayer can bring us introspection.
And perhaps prayer can make us brave. According to Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, "Prayer is a delivery system for committing us to the great ideas that make life worth living, because ideas that are ritually construed empower us to do what we would otherwise never have the courage to do."
#blogElul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer, aka Ima on the Bima. The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with the Selichot, the prayers of forgiveness. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed.
All month, along with Rabbi Sommer and others, I'll be blogging a thought or two for each day to help with the month of preparation. Follow Rabbi Sommer on twitter @imabima for all the #BlogElul posts. You can follow me on twitter @Vicki_Weber. If you decide to blog yourself, check out the list of daily topics and jump in! Be sure to tag your posts on Twitter and Facebook so they can be included on the stream.
