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  Rabbi Mike Comins
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Overview
​Sample Videos
Syllabus
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MPR
Course
​Syllabus

Module 1: Engaging Prayer
Pesukei d'Zimra (Verses of Song; Opening Prayers)

Lesson Plans
1. The Difficulty of Prayer
The MPR Course begins with a surprisingly honest evaluation of the obstacles to Jewish prayer. Students are moved by the discovery that clergy “get it.” 

2. When Prayer "Works" and Mochin d'Gadlut
This critical lesson outlines a “spiritual dynamics” approach to learning prayer and facilitates the students’ setting of goals for the MPR Course.

3. Yearning: Psalms and the Stirrings of the Heart
In this session we explore the emotional sources of prayer. If gratitude is a response to what is, yearning expresses a desire for what isn’t. We explore the nuances of yearning, appreciate the artistry of the Psalms, and consider, “How can prayer help us to channel desire into holy desire?”

4. The Life of Gratitude
Seeing the world as a cup “half full” is not a controversial idea. But the gap between knowledge and practice can be hard to bridge. In this session, we present the value and explore the means of cultivating a daily practice of gratitude.

​Videos
  • The Difficulties with Prayer
  • The Goals of Jewish Prayer
  • Yearning: The Stirrings of the Heart
  • Psalms
  • The Life of Gratitude

​Conversations
  • Why Prayer is Difficult
  • Yearning: The Stirrings of the Heart
  • Gratitude and Prayer
  • The Heart of the Psalmist


Module 2:  Foundations
Birchot haShachar (Morning Blessings)

Lesson Plans
5. The Art of Blessing 
We learn the basics of blessings, beginning with the baruch ata formula and the role of blessings in Jewish liturgy. Using our spiritual dynamics approach, we ask, “What is the purpose of praying a blessing?”

​
6. Prayer as a Practice 
Together with “When Prayer Works and Mochin d’Gadlut,” this session relates the MPR approach to learning prayer and deepening one’s prayer life.

7. Creating Sacred Space with Response Blessings 
Unbeknownst to many, the vast majority of traditional blessings are said after an event and unconnected to ritual. We consider the value of “response” blessings, and following Martin Buber, explore the role of blessings in creating sacred space.

8. Bringing Our Bodies into Prayer
Reflecting on current knowledge of the mind/body connection and the role of music in synagogue services, we learn the advantages of consciously involving our bodies in prayer, and new ways to do it.

​Videos
  • Our Bodies and Prayer
  • Bringing our Bodies into Prayer
  • The Spiritual Dynamics of Blessings
  • Elohai Neshama as a Body Practice
  • 25-25-50 Meditative Walking
  • Prayer as Practice
  • The Art of Blessing
  • The Morning Blessings (Birchot haShachar)
  • Response Blessings
  • Blessings Practice

​Conversations
  • Making Sense of Prayer
  • Our Bodies and Prayer
  • Praying with Our Bones
  • Birchot HaShachar
  • Blessings - Old and New

​

Module 3: Listening Deeply
The Shema and Her Blessings

Lesson Plans
9. Mindfulness: Listen Before You Speak 
A wise person listens before they speak, says the old adage, but rarely do daveners take the time to do so. Listening to our hearts and to the world around us—listening for God—is a skill that relatively few have devoted time to refining. We study mindfulness with leading teachers from the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and we learn the basics of sacred, Hebrew chant with Rabbi Shefa Gold.

10. Tradition! The Benefits of Liturgical Prayer 
We apply our spiritual dynamics approach to liturgical prayer. How does communal, traditional prayer connect us to God and otherwise “work” in ways that other modalities do not? We learn how the MPR contributors work with liturgy through various interpretative techniques.

11. Shema 1: Liturgy as Sacred Story 
Exploring Joel Grishaver’s narrative approach to the Siddur, we consider the stories behind our tradition’s prayers, particularly the Shema, and how they affect our praying. We enter the Actor’s Studio to learn how we might be sacred actors in a sacred drama, speaking a holy script.
​
12. Shema 2: Understanding and Interpreting Liturgy
Using simple literary techniques, we analyze the Shema and her blessings as a unit before considering the meanings of monotheism and the various intentions one might bring to praying the Shema.

​Videos
  • Mindfulness and Prayer
  • The Magic of Hebrew Chant with Rabbi Shefa Gold
  • Ozi v’Zimrat Yah: A Demonstration of Hebrew Chant with Rabbi Shefa Gold
  • Why a Liturgy?
  • Oneness
  • Kavanot for Saying the Shema
  • Literary Approaches to Liturgy
  • The Shema in Narrative Context

​Conversations
  • Mindfulness and Prayer
  • Tradition! Why We Pray a Liturgy - Part One
  • Why a Liturgy - Part Two
  • Oneness
  • Kavanot for Saying the Shema - Part One
  • Kavanot for Saying the Shema - Part Two
​
​

Module 4: Personal Prayer
​Teshuvah and Introspection

Lesson Plans
13. The Challenge of Personal Prayer
Unscripted prayer raises obstacles, from simple unfamiliarity to the serious questions about theology that can no long be avoided when composing one’s own prayers. We explore the obstacles to personal prayer, and offer strategies to overcome them.

14. Cultivating Your Personal Prayer Voice
Students learn several modalities to discover or deepen the experience of personal, unscripted prayer.

15. Teshuvah: Introspection for Change
​Throughout the MPR Course we have been exploring the effects of prayer. Now we zero in on what many consider the key question. How does prayer change us? We consider the characteristics of transformative prayer.

16. Discerning Divinity: Listening for a Response to Prayer
The elephant in the room, the issue of God’s response to prayer, is often circumvented. The MPR contributors share their experience and their thinking. You might be surprised.

​Videos
  • The Challenge of Personal Prayer
  • Personal Prayer, Impersonal God
  • Rabbi Nachman’s Hitbodedut
  • Discernment
  • Teshuvah
  • The Concept of Teshuvah

​Conversations
  • 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

​​

Module 5: Growing and Healing Through Prayer
​
The Amidah, Mi sh'Berach and Kaddish

Lesson Plans
17. Exploring the Amidah
We learn and investigate the structure of the Amidah, focusing on the first three and the last three blessings in the rabbinic and mystical traditions. Then we discover our own interpretations.

18. The Amidah and Me
​ After studying the weekday intermediate blessings and learning the historical background, we return to the way people prayed in Talmudic times. Ending each blessing with the traditional formula, students create a personal Amidah.

19. Coping with Illness and Loss
​Does prayer heal? The MPR contributors speak from the heart. We explore prayer practices for healing.

20. Mourning and Kaddish 
Rabbi Anne Brener explores the nuances of grief, and how prayer might catalyze the mourning process. The MPR contributors speak about Kaddish and mourning.

Videos
  • The Amidah: Overall Structure
  • The Amidah: The First Three Blessings 
  • The Amidah: The Last Three Blessings
  • Ways into the Amidah
  • The Amidah: History and Halacha
  • Improvising with the Chatimah
  • Coping with Illness and Loss 
  • Mourning
  • Kaddish

​Conversations
  • 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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  • Home
  • Bio
  • Programs
  • Making Prayer Real
    • Start Here
    • The Book
    • Curriculum
    • MPR eJournal
  • TorahTrek
    • Start Here
    • A Wild Faith
    • TorahTrek eJournal
    • The Guides Track
  • Writings
  • Events
  • Contact