This Ritual Life Archive
Welcome to This Ritual Life.
Here you will find out about ways to enhance your holiday experience, to celebrate or mark a meaningful life cycle event, and to deepen your experience of the everyday.
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Praying for What We Need
In theory, praying for what we need should be easy. Who knows better what
we need than we do? You would think the words would just pop into our
mouths, but they don’t. We wonder, is it okay to ask for the very private
things that are important to us? Should we be distinguishing between what we
want and what we need? And we may wonder: if we ask for what we need and are
answered, what are we bound to do in return?
Meditation:
A Prayer for What I Need
We used to pray for wine, flour, oil.
We knew the deal:
We pleased You, and asked for the things we needed.
We expected You would come through.
I still need wine, flour and oil
But I do not ask for them. (The market is just down the street.)
This does not mean You are off the hook.
As I see it, the deal stands: My pleasing You, in some realistic way
My asking for what I cannot get alone.
Here is my general list.
love, health, work, protection.
And this is what I need now: ____________
I need to have the courage to call out to You when I am in need:
I need You to be ready to hear me.
Ritual:
As you begin each day, either during the traditional Amidah prayer or,
perhaps, or as you wait for your coffee to perk, set aside a fixed time to
focus upon what you need that you can not achieve or acquire on your own.
Then ask.
Blessing:
Mi-ma-makim kir-ticha Yah
From my depths I call to you.
Barukh atah she’asah li kal tzarki
Blessed is the one who provides for all my needs
Teaching:
"The needs of you people Israel are great and their ability to express
them is limited. But let it be your will, Lord our God, and God of our
ancestors, that you provide all creatures with their needs, and for all
people that which they lack. ‘Blessed be the Lord, for you have heard the
voice of my supplications’. Blessed art Thou, O lord who hears our Prayer.”
(TJ: Brakhot 4:4)
R. Eliezer: If one prays only according to the exact text of the prayer and
adds nothing from their own mind, the prayer is not complete." (TB:Berakhot
28)
I want beautiful trees –
and not wars!
and a coat of many colors
and not uniforms
for all my dear ones;
I want rain
and green furrows
and houses
full of babies…
(Esther Raab from "Requests", translated by Catherine Harnett Shaw)
Aneinu b’yom koreinu
When I call you, you answer me…
(CLAL Faculty)
CLAL's National Jewish Resource Center develops and publishes rituals that
help to bridge the gap between our contemporary lives and the ancient wisdom of the Jewish
tradition. We invite you to become a partner with us in thinking about the place of ritual
in our lives and in developing new ritual resources for our time. If you are interested in
being part of this exciting endeavor, visit with us in the Ritual Resource Area
of the CLAL website by clicking here.
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