Q&A: Prayer Without Intention
Prayer Without Intention
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Prayer bores me, and I don’t understand how it’s possible to read a text every day with interest without getting bored.
Is there anything I can do to change that?
Answer
Bring some reading material for your free time (during the reader’s repetition of the Amidah, and for most of the Verses of Praise).
Discussion on Answer
Right.
What is halakhically required and what isn’t?
The morning blessings and blessings on Torah study, the basic framework of the Verses of Praise, the Shema and its blessings, the Amidah, and preferably also Ashrei and Uva Letzion. Even within these, there are things that are hard to see as truly obligatory, but that’s the basic framework.
“The basic framework” of the Verses of Praise… sounds pretty scary.
How, according to your view, can one fulfill the obligation of the Amidah prayer? After all, you don’t have intention. Or do you mean that you do have intention for the first three and last three blessings, but not for the middle blessings?
I didn’t understand the question.
And what about during the coronavirus period, when you can’t pray with a quorum—just say what is halakhically required?