Overview

I Am My Prayer is a memoir of the author's public and private prayer experience. It is also a guide and explanation of key elements of public Jewish Services. The book familiarizes readers with the use of prayer metaphors, questions about God, the importance of communal prayer, ethical values expressed in the liturgy, and consideration of creative liturgy. While the context of the book is Jewish, it has a universal message to anyone who struggles with prayer, and who seeks to be comfortable and fulfilled in a service. The discussions in these pages draw upon biblical and rabbinic texts, kabbalistic tradition, and upon modern philosophers and contemporary writers. This volume will be useful to individual seekers and for classes on prayer and liturgy.

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9781725295841

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Reviews

In over forty years as a Jewish educator, I have read many books on prayer. I Am My Prayer stands out as the most welcoming and conversational, equally appealing to the novice and the knowledgeable. Rabbi Citrin shares personal anecdotes and reflections, approaching this tricky subject with humor, warmth, humility, and clarity. . . . A truly wonderful and thought-provoking book. --Joy Ellen Rosenberg, director of education emerita, Temple Beth Shalom, Santa Fe Paul Citrin offers an accessible personal and rabbinic reflection of Judaism's experience of prayer. He weaves the texts and ideas of Jewish tradition into his own life so every reader shares Citrin's life journey while engaging in thoughtful analysis. A master teacher, his book provides insights, arguments, and new questions about the human quest for God. Let us be grateful for Citrin sharing his life's quest. --Joseph A. Edelheit, emeritus professor of religious and Jewish studies, St. Cloud State University As a Christian minister and pastoral counselor, I found Rabbi Citrin's reflections on prayer richly rewarding. In the years when I was spending weeks in monasteries deepening my prayer life, this book would have been a welcome companion and guide. Now, it offers avenues for expanding my practice of prayer into expressions of art, rooted in the traditions of my Jewish ancestors and brothers and sisters in faith. --Paul E. Hopkins, author of Pursuing Pastoral Excellence In this teaching memoir, Rabbi Paul Citrin stretches out his arms to embrace Jews and Jewish tradition through prayer. Using metaphors of nature--the liturgy as a garden, the Divine as a waterfall, the text as a river of parchment, the worshiping community as reviving dew--he invites us to see the world around us anew, connecting the beauty of the natural world to the wisdom planted within Jewish prayer. --Patricia Karlin-Neumann, Senior Associate Dean for Religious Life, Stanford University

Author Information

Paul J. Citrin has served various congregations as a rabbi over forty years. He is retired from the pulpit, but teaches in synagogues and community centers. He is the coauthor of Gates of Repentance for Young People (2002) and Ten Sheaves: A Collection of Sermons and Articles (2014), and editor of Lights in the Forest: Rabbis Respond to Twelve Essential Jewish Questions (2014).

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