About this book
The Amidah prayer is the ancient heart of Jewish communal prayer. But liturgy is merely a recipe. Prayer requires the addition of intention and heart.
In Accept Our Prayers, the Bayit collective—writers and artists, poets and liturgists, rabbis and laypeople—responds to each blessing of the Shabbat Amidah through contemporary prayers, poems, meditations, commentary, and visual art. Each blessing’s creative responses are preceded by its complete text in Hebrew, English translation, and transliteration. Together, these works invite us to encounter familiar liturgy anew and to bring the words of our mouths into deeper conversation with the meditations of our hearts.
Read this book—and, more importantly, pray with it—to enliven your experience of Jewish prayer, whether in community or alone. You could choose from its selections and assemble them into your own Amidah, or take a deeper dive into a single chapter and let it inform how you encounter that blessing—in synagogue, on a hike, at home, wherever and however you may be. Prayer leaders can use Accept Our Prayers both to deepen their own practice and to inspire the communities they serve.