​Every two weeks, we share a “Conversations” video from the Making Prayer Real Course curriculum.  Excerpted from our library of interviews with leading teachers, “Conversations” are five-minute videos appropriate for a variety of settings in addition to a class on prayer, such as adult education classes, Confirmation classes, community retreats, Havurah gatherings, family education programming, divrei Torah for committee and Board meetings, etc. 

Does God Respond To Prayer?

With Cantor Ellen Dreskin and Rabbis Jill Hammer, Dvora Weisberg, and Nancy Flam.
The "Conversations" videos are available to your synagogue, school or other institution through the HUC-JIR College Commons.  Read on for full information about...

The Making Prayer Real
​Course Curriculum

A New Approach
The Making Prayer Real Course curriculum offers an innovative, spiritual dynamics approach to learning prayer and liturgy. Outstanding teachers are brought into the classroom via video, beginning a conversation that challenges students and draws them into dialogue with prayer, the Siddur, their clergy and each other. Skills are emphasized before theology as a workshop atmosphere is cultivated. As students explore numerous traditional and alternative prayer practices, they discover their preferences and abilities, crafting their own relationship to Jewish prayer as individuals and as members of the community.


A Resource-Rich Curriculum
The curriculum includes:
  • Lesson plans with innovative ideas and tested methodologies.
  • Traditional and alternative prayer practices.
  • Videos featuring outstanding teachers of Jewish spirituality.
  • "Conversations" videos for community programming outside of a class on prayer.


Learn More
  • See the Syllabus page for details on the MPR Course curriculum lesson plans and content.
  • Watch Sample Videos from the Course.
  • Read about the history of the project and the logistics of teaching the course on the MPR Story and FAQs page.
  • Learn about the innovative, MPR approach to teaching and learning prayer on the Pedagogic Strategies page.
  • Hear teachers discuss their experience of using the curriculum on the Teacher Reports page.
  • Pricing and Purchase information.


Video Contributors
Rabbi Rachel Adler, PhD • Merri Lovinger Arian • Rabbi Bradley Artson • Rabbi Phyllis Berman • Rabbi Anne Brener, LCSW • Rabbi Stephen Cohen • Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove, PhD • Rabbi Getzel Davis • Rabbi Lavey Derby • Rabbi Elliot Dorff, PhD • Cantor Ellen Dreskin • Reb Mimi Feigelson • Rabbi Nancy Flam • Rabbi Karen Fox, DD • Tamar Frankiel, PhD • Rabbi Laura Geller • Rabbi Shefa Gold • Rabbi Arthur Green, PhD • Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD • Melila Hellner, PhD • Rabbi Myriam Klotz • Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell • Rabbi Richard N. Levy, DD • Rabbi Yael Levy • Rabbi Ebn Leader, PhD • Rabbi Natan Margalit, PhD • Rabbi Jay Michaelson, PhD • Rabbi Rex Perlmeter • Rabbi Marcia Prager • Rabbi Or Rose, PhD • Rabbi Rami Shapiro • Rabbi Jonathan P. Slater • Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz • Rabbi Margot Stein • Linda Thal, PhD • Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg • Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, PhD • Rabbi David J. Wolpe


Conversations Topics​ 
  • Why Prayer is Difficult
  • Yearning: The Stirrings of the Heart
  • Gratitude and Prayer
  • The Heart of the Psalmist
  • Making Sense of Prayer
  • Our Bodies and Prayer
  • Praying with Our Bones
  • Birchot HaShachar
  • Blessings - Old and New
  • Mindfulness and Prayer
  • Tradition! Why We Pray a Liturgy - Part One
  • Tradition! Why We Pray a Liturgy - Part Two
  • Oneness
  • Kavanot for Saying the Shema - Part One
  • Kavanot for Saying the Shema - Part Two
  • Approaching Personal Prayer
  • Personal Prayer, Impersonal God - Part One
  • Personal Prayer, Impersonal God - Part Two
  • Does God Respond to Prayer? Part One
  • Does God Respond to Prayer? Part Two​ 
  • The Concept of Teshuvah 
  • Teshuvah: Aligning with God
  • Teshuvah: Can Prayer Change Us?
  • Teshuvah: Turning to God
  • The Amidah: The First Three Blessings
  • The Amidah: The Last Three Blessings
  • The Amidah: Standing before God
  • The Amidah: Personal Prayer
  • The Amidah: Ancestors
  • The Amidah: Conversation and Silence
  • Prayer and Healing: Does Prayer Heal?
  • Prayer and Healing: Emotional Medicine
  • Prayer and Healing: Suffering and Loss
  • Prayer and Healing: Connection and Anger
  • Prayer and Healing: Community
  • About the Kaddish
  • Kaddish and Healing -Part One
  • Kaddish and Healing - Part Two
  • Kaddish: Tradition and Community -  Part One
  • Kaddish: Tradition and Community - Part Two
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