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Get StartedFrom Prayer to Creation (Part 2 of 6)
Making Sense Of: Morning Prayers
The first blessing of the morning shema is a beautiful, poetic prayer about… light and creation. What do these themes have to do with shema or shacharit? And what might they be trying to tell us about prayer in general?
In this video, Rabbi Fohrman digs deeper into the curious reference to creation in the first blessing of the morning shema. Following the hint back to its source, he offers a close reading of the biblical story of the Six Days of Creation. With morning on his mind, a surprising pattern emerges: Each day of creation is described using the same formula: “And it was evening, and it was morning...” What is the significance of this formula? And can unpacking the role of morning in the creation story help us understand the value of praying in the morning each and every day?
This video is based on content that originated from part 2 of a 3 part lecture series on A Tale of God's Two Names. For a more in depth understanding of these materials, be sure to listen to A Tale of Two Names: Elokim and YHVH, A Tale of Two Names: Why Were There Days of Creation? and A Tale of Two Names: From The Garden To The Flood.
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