Monday, May 12, 2014

tefila chabura

Both Sarah and Chana struggle with kavana in shemona esrei.  I suspect they are not alone.  They struggle with motivation.  They do not desire to daven.

Personally, I don't feel the same way they do.  I understand almost every word I'm saying.  I went through a few years when I couldn't say shemona esrei due to the rigorous demands of early infancy coupled with toddlerhood, but when I eventually emerged from that and disciplined myself to set aside the time, I mostly look forward to tefila.

So I was thinking this summer of doing a regular discussion (chabura) with Sarah and Chana about shemona esrei.  I'm hoping to have some conversations where they explain what their resistances are to tefila, and maybe we can brainstorm a bit and find some tactics, and maybe I can convey what I love so much about it.

I'm trying to figure out how to structure it.  How long?  How frequently?  What time of day?  At a specific time, or more flexible? Should I prepare a mental curriculum or walk in and see what happens?

1 comment:

  1. One of the things I saw (somewhere) was that kids/teens do not have as many things that they are acutely missing and need to pray for. Maybe starting each day with asking them what it is that they would like to ask Hashem for would help them focus a bit?

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