{"id":34699,"date":"2025-02-06T17:40:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T00:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2025-goodnews-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-02-06T18:01:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T01:01:38","slug":"2025-prayer-2","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2025-prayer-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Prayer Mean in Hebrew?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><div>\n<div style=\"text-align: right;\">By Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-34700 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-1-e1738889028242.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"295\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Prayer as Introspection<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In the English language, prayer is largely defined by the idea of asking. The Jewish concept of prayer, however, is best defined by its Hebrew word \u201ctfilah\u201d (\u05ea\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4).<\/p>\n<p>The primary meaning of the verb \u201clehitpalel\u201d (\u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05dc), the verb behind the noun, is<strong>\u00a0self-judgement or introspection<\/strong>. Especially in Jewish Hassidic traditions, tfiliah is understood to be an introspection that results in bonding between the creature and the Creator, as a child would bond with his\/her father.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-34701 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-2-300x292.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-2-300x292.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-2-36x36.jpg 36w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-2.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Divine Prayer Mystery<\/h3>\n<p>It is not a surprise that when the Jewish Christ was asked by his disciples how they should pray, he taught them what to request, making sure to address their Heavenly King as \u201cOur Father\u201d. Shortly before that Jesus warned them to avoid using vain repetitions that characterized pagan approaches to prayer.<\/p>\n<p>In Isaiah, we find a curious text: \u201cThese I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in the house of my prayer\u201d (\u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05ea \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9). Note the wording: not \u201cmy house of prayer,\u201d but\u00a0<strong>\u201cthe house of my prayer.&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0But how is it possible for God to engage in prayer? And with whom?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-34702 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-3-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Prayer as Bonding<\/h3>\n<p>The answer lies in understanding that Hebrew prayer is not only a \u201crequest-making session.\u201d It is a communal bonding between God and his child. The house of \u201chis prayer\u201d is, therefore, where God himself engages in introspection and, in so doing, bonds deeply with his people. They in turn reciprocate this action in their own prayers and bond with God.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-34703 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"736\" height=\"736\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-4.jpg 736w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-4-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-4-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-4-36x36.jpg 36w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-4-180x180.jpg 180w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/prayer-4-705x705.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":34700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-34699","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/34699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34699"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/34699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34705,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/34699\/revisions\/34705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34699"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=34699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}