Women and Prayer

Prayer occupies a central position in Jewish tradition, and women occupy a central position in the world of prayer. The Bible records some of the outpourings of the souls of great women, describing the importance of these prayers both personally and nationally. These women established significant precedents and served as the templates of service of the heart – avodah shebalev for all times. Let us explore the lives of some of these important women and the contribution they have made.

What is prayer? An encounter with God and with oneself. A moment of grace, of abandonment, of affirmation of recognition. If art is man’s way of saying no, prayer is his way of saying yes. Yes to the universe and its creator, yes to life and its meaning, yes to faith, to hope, to joy. A beacon to the lost wanderer, Jacob’s ladder to the dreamer  in search of dreams, a window to  the soul: prayer  is what is most indispensable in man’s passage on earth. Consolation or compensation to some, sublimation to others, prayer also means power and adventure. (Elie Wiesel, “One Man’s Prayer” p 359)

For prayer is basically, and in the fullest sense, an act of faith. Faith in God  and in history – in God as source of history and therefore just and not only almighty and compassionate; faith in words,  faith in  faith. Without faith, prayer approaches parody. To pray means to be able to measure what one has and what one lacks, what one is and what one wishes to be; to accept what one is given and give it back. (ibid. p 361)