It is probably very strange for a 45-year-old shikse to review a book intended for Jewish men. But the premise intrigued me: praying meaningfully and appropriately for your age and stage of life. Let the liturgy and the rules of prayer draw you into a deeper and more intellectual spiritual experience.
For readers unfamiliar with Jewish religious practice, a brief explanation is in order. Jewish men — at least the more devout and Orthodox ones — meet to pray for about twenty minutes thrice a day. They use a specific set of prayers (using a prayer book, or siddur) and must comprise a group of at least ten men who have reached the age of 13 (a minyan).
Rabbi Grunstein noticed that many adults still prayed as they had upon graduating from Hebrew school in their youth. They seemed disconnected from the inner experience of prayer, and often acted as if daily prayer was simply another thing to cross off the daily to-do list. As a rabbi, he was concerned by this lack of connection to the spiritual life, and realized that modern men needed to understand how these ancient prayer rituals could be relevant to their daily lives.
Daven Your Age takes the rituals of “davening” and offers an adult approach. The first two parts discuss specific meaning in rituals surrounding the daily prayer services, specifically addressing why the minyan is important and why men should try to participate, how the minyan contributes to a sense of culture and community. Parts three, four, and five address the specific prayers of the daily service, with special attention to the Amida. Each prayer is carefully analyzed and its importance and applicability to adult life are examined.
In the end, a thrice-daily ritual that might easily become just another “to-do” on the devout man’s list becomes instead a vital, meaningful service performed, not for the individual’s benefit, but for the good of the world, the country, and the community. Rabbi Grunstein’s Daven Your Age is a valuable and encouraging guide for those who want to deepen their understanding of and engagement in the daily prayer service.
(I received a review copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)