Meaningful?

Sort of like the difference between Rifaeinu for most of us and Rifaeinu for those with a loved one in the hospital.

But what is "meaningful?" I, like every other davener in the world, can differentiate between a meaningless or quality davening- but can we express in words what it is that actually creates a great prayer experience? Emotion? Care? That magical sense of encountering the Divine? It's a tough question.

I know this much: this

is meaningful, but it takes five minutes to listen to. Whether or not we share the same taste (pay attention to the words!) the point remains the same: the powerful, tragic emotions of sound (or stage) grace us with that cathartic bliss that I for one equate with “meaningful.” Can that powerful, emotional, human effect of quality music be reproduced in the humdrum context of weekday Mincha- I believe so. My goal consists of making my prayers as moving as my music.

Obviously, “meaningful” denotes much more than “being like music” but as stressed above, its a tough and ambiguous equation. The best definition I have right now is "Meaningful tefilla: a prayer that you enjoy enough to look forward to."

That, my friends, is our mission.