The Project Begins

Welcome to The Kavana Project. Our Mission: to analyze, define, and defy the space between “knowing what the words mean” and that thing we call Kavana. Or, as we say it over here, to bridge the gap between meaning and meaningful.
To wit: Operation Birchot HaShachar. We’ve created an image for each of the fourteen Morning Brachot- a small combo of text and art to reflect and inspire what we think about (or at least, try to remember to think about) while rushing to catch up to the Chazzan. Reflecting on what we reflect on led to The Questions We Face in Our Search for Kavana.
You may not agree with some pieces. You definitely won’t
sympathize with all. Hopefully, the contrast will concretize your thoughts. Please, share those thoughts with us. This is a work in, you guessed it, Project: your ideas, your comments, and your response to the images are integral. There’s a comments button for a reason. So take a leisurely scroll down and remember to ask:
"WHAT'S MY KAVANAH?"








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.

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