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muman613:
I can smell it...

Sveta:
Muman...is it better to not say a prayer rather than to do so without kavanah? I mean if you're just not "feeling it".

muman613:

--- Quote from: IsraeliHeart on April 15, 2012, 03:10:16 PM ---Muman...is it better to not say a prayer rather than to do so without kavanah? I mean if you're just not "feeling it".

--- End quote ---

Shalom IsraelHeart,

I appreciate your question and I hope I can answer it in a good way.

Regarding Kevanah/Intention... It is very important to have the correct Kevanah during prayer. Jewish prayer can become repetitive because we read the same prayers, day after day, with minor modifications and insertions into the Siddur/{Order of prayers}.

We are instructed that prayer should feel like a face to face meeting with a good friend, our Father and our King {Avinu Malkanu}. With this intention we should attempt to speak the prayer softly, moving our mouths, loud enough to hear ourselves but not too loud so that it interferes with others prayers.

Sometimes when my mind wanders I begin to lose concentration. There are times when a thought will enter your mind while davening and it will eventually become a distraction. This is one reason we try to avoid davening near windows with views which may distract us from our prayers.

Sometimes the people in my minyan start davening faster than I can read and understand. Often I find myself a page or two behind others and then I have to either catch up, or skip some of the prayers, or I do as some do and read the beginning of the paragraph, and the end of the paragraph, so that I can respond to important parts of the davening such as Kedusha, Shemone Esre, Shema, Shira HaYam, or Kaddish. But I always attempt to contemplate the words {which I read in hebrew but comprehend in english}. Names of Hashem such as the tettragramaton , elokim, chesed, rachaman, gevurah, gadol, teferret, kadosh, Shalom, shakai, etc. I comprehend these names... I also often scan the english translation before I read the hebrew and this way I know basically what I am saying, and after doing so for many years I recognize the prayers in hebrew now.

It is said that we should comprehend the words in our more familiar language first so that we know what we are saying. But it is good to learn the hebrew and use the Holy Tongue when we daven.

These are my personal recommendations, and the way that I have been davening for ten years now. I have become more proficient at davening by doing so every day, and it becomes a part of you, and it strengthens you.


http://www.torah.org/advanced/weekly-halacha/5761/behar.html


--- Quote ---WHAT CAN ONE DO IF HIS KAVANAH IS BEING DISTURBED?

Proper kavanah is the most important ingredient of davening. Consequently, it sometimes overrides other halachos. Therefore: If a sefer falls to the floor and that interferes with one's kavanah, he may pick it up after finishing the blessing that he is presently reciting(14). This may be done even if he needs to take a few steps in order to pick up the sefer(15). If, however, the fallen sefer does not disturb his kavanah, then he may not pick up the sefer during Shemoneh Esrei(16). Each individual needs to judge for himself if it is better for him to daven with a siddur or not, since some people concentrate better if they daven from a text, while others have better kavanah davening with their eyes closed(17). If one begins davening without a siddur and suddenly requires one in order to continue davening properly, he may go and get one if he knows its exact location. He many not, however, start searching around for a siddur(18).

If one is davening and is in doubt of a halachah concerning the Shemoneh Esrei, he may go and look up the halachah in a sefer. If he has no other choice, he may even ask another person what the halachah is(19). This should be relied upon only when not resolving his question might invalidate the Shemoneh Esrei(20).

A child [or an adult(21)] who is disturbing the davening may be signaled to with hand motions. If that does not work, one may walk away from the disruptive child [or walk over to the child to quiet him down(22)], but he may not talk to him in order to quiet him down(23). It is proper for a father to show his child where and what to daven before Shemoneh Esrei begins. Even if this will cause the father to start his Shemoneh Esrei later than the tzibur, he should still do so(24). If someone is knocking on the door or ringing the bell, or if the telephone rings during Shemoneh Esrei and it is interfering with his concentration, one may walk to the door and open it, or walk to the phone and lift the receiver off the hook. He may not speak, however(25).
--- End quote ---

muman613:
Here is another good article excerpt which discusses the importance of kavanah during prayer...

http://www.shemayisrael.com/parsha/chrysler/archives/shoftim64.htm

One should Daven in a fixed place in Shul, as this adds dignity to one's Tefilah, and lends it a touch of importance. One should try to Daven facing a wall, so as not to be distracted by people passing by, or by anything else that might interfere with one's concentration. And by the same token, one should either look in a Sidur or close one's eyes during Davening, as this too, makes it more difficult to be distracted, and augments one's concentration.

One should go to Shul primarily in order to Daven, not to meet with friends, read notices or involve oneself in whatever activities are going on there. If any of these are truly necessary, then they should be performed before Davening or afterwards, but certainly not during Davening, nor is it a Mitzvah to make a mental note of every fellow Jew who enters the precincts of the Shul or who leaves it.

One should enunciate every word slowly, since every word is part of Tefilah, which is called 'Avodah', and it is not respectful to rush through an Avodah. Besides, Davening word for word is a sign of love, which explains Chazal's analogy comparing Tefilah to someone counting his money.

One should take great care to answer every 'Amen' carefully, slowly and with Kavanah, and how much more so 'Borchu' 'Kadish', 'Kedushah' and 'Yehei Sh'mei Rabo'.

One should dress respectfully, which includes wearing a jacket and socks, and it goes without saying that one's body and one's clothes should be clean. Indeed, one would be expected to appear before the King of Kings and to behave in His presence with as much respect as one would before a king of flesh and blood.

Just as one Davens with sincerity, as we already explained (like a poor man standing at the door), so too, should one bow down (four times in the course of the Amidah) with sincerity, like one would bow before a king - in total subjugation. One should familiarize oneself with the various sections of Davening (in Shachris, i.e. Birchas ha'Shachar, Pesukei de'Zimrah, Birchas Sh'ma, Sh'ma and the Amidah), and their progressive levels of Kedushah. Besides adding meaning to one's Tefilah, changing gear from one level of Tefilah to another makes one's Tefilah that much more exciting, and makes it that much easier to Daven with more Kavanah throughout.

Chazal have already pinpointed landmarks in Davening, sections in the Tefilah that require more Kavanah (such as the first Pasuk of the Sh'ma, the first B'rachah of the Amidah, the B'rachah of 'ho'Keil ha'Kodosh' and 'Modim' to mention just some of them). But it is a good idea to add landmarks of one's own, parts of the Tefilah from which one draws personal inspiration for whatever reason. Reaching that point in the Tefilah will then serve as an incentive to increase one's Kavanah.

Many of the hints that we have mentioned (such as running to Shul, Davening verbally and closing one's eyes during Davening) may well be the result of Kavanah; but they also lead to it. As the commentaries explain, a person's external actions have a profound affect on one's internal self.

Finally, it is a good idea to actually look in a Sidur whilst Davening. The G'ro already points out that doing so helps to dispel evil thoughts. In addition however, there is much to be said in using as many senses as possible in the course of our Davening. Besides the sense of smell, we even employ our sense of touch during Tefilah, as now and again, we touch our Tefilin, and when we kiss our Tzitzis. And we certainly make use of our sense of speech and of hearing as we alternate between Davening ourselves and hearing the recital of the Chazan. So why not go one step further and use our sight too, in the service of Hashem, by looking inside a Sidur?

muman613:
If you are interested in the source of the idea of 'moving your lips' in prayer, here is an article from Chabad:


http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3241/jewish/What-is-Prayer.htm
What is Prayer?
By Y. Hechel Greenberg
If we are to fully appreciate what prayer means to a Jew, we should first of all get our terms straight.

The common term used for prayer for those with a Yiddish background is to daven (pronounced daa-ven) and there are various theories where the word "daven" came from. Some say that "daven" comes from the Hebrew word dovaiv, which means "to move the lips." Davening is when Jews move their lips. We don't pray silently; we pray verbally, vocalizing our prayers.

I once heard a theory from an old man in Seattle, Washington, that daven is an Aramaic word; it comes from the word d'avuhon, which means, "from our fathers." According to the Talmud, it was our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who first instituted prayer: Abraham was the first to pray the morning prayer, Isaac, the afternoon prayer, and Jacob, the evening prayer. So since prayers originate with our fathers, d'avuhon, it's called "davening".

In Hebrew, the word for prayer is tefilah. What does the word tefilah mean? There are two translations that are literal and accurate. The word tefilah comes from the word pellel which means "to judge." Tefilah is a time of self-evaluation, self-judgment, introspection, when a person takes the time to focus on himself and goes within himself to see what it is that he needs, what it is that he is all about, what are his faults, what are his qualities, what is it that he needs from G-d, and why should G-d give it to him. This self-assessment process happens through tefilah.

On another level, in another translation, tefilah means "attachment." When we daven, we create a bond between ourselves and our Creator. Prayer is a process of putting things together. When we daven there are only two things in the universe, G-d and ourselves. The problem is that there are two entities when they should be united as one. Tefilah remedies the problem and turns them into one. So tefilah is the process by which we begin looking at ourselves, focusing on ourselves, and proceed to focus on G-d and bring ourselves close to Him, raising ourselves above the whole succession of life that prevails during the rest of the day.

There is a very famous explanation from the Torah about tefilah. It deals with the incident (Genesis 28:12) when Jacob falls asleep and has a dream in which he sees a ladder standing on the ground and reaching into the heavens. Angels are going up and down the ladder. What is the allegory of the ladder? The Zohar, the primary work of Kabbalah, explains that this ladder joining heaven and earth symbolizes prayer. By means of the ladder of prayer we are capable of alighting, rising and elevating ourselves to the highest level.

Our sages tell us that Jacob's ladder had four rungs. Chassidic teaching identifies four stages in prayer, corresponding to the four parts of the morning Shacharit prayer:
1) P'sukei D'zimra ("Verses of Praise");
2) the blessings that precede the Shema;
3) the Shema;
4) the Amidah -- the "standing" prayer, also known as Shemonah Esrei ("eighteen") because of its original eighteen blessings.

These four stages form a gradual process which allows us to reach the top of the ladder. You can't get to the top in one jump; you have to take it step-by-step. The first step praising G-d.

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http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3241/jewish/What-is-Prayer.htm

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