Filling Words with Light: Hasidic and Mystical Reflections on Jewish Prayer

by Lawrence Kushner

Breathe New Life into Your Prayer with the Wisdom of Kabbalah and the Hasidic Masters Jewish mystics teach that every word a person utters in prayer should radiate light. Even the letters of the words of prayer carry sparks of the Divine that yearn to join together in holiness. In this inspiring spiritual companion, Reform rabbi Lawrence Kushner and Orthodox rabbi Nehemia Polen join together to provide a window into the liturgy for people of all backgrounds by offering fresh insights and meditations that bring the traditional prayerbook to life. Drawing from the Torah, Zohar and ancient and contemporary Hasidic masters, Kushner and Polen reflect on the joy, gratitude, compassion, mystery and awe embedded in traditional prayers and blessings, and show how you can imbue these familiar sacred words with your own sense of holiness. Insightful, fresh and wise, Filling Words with Light will enrich your understanding of the prayer book and guide you on how to put more of yourself into the holy words of the Jewish tradition.

Genres: Jewish, Judaism, Mysticism

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jeffrey Spitz Cohan · Rating 3 out of 5]

For Jews, finding meaning in prayer can be difficult, depending particularly on one’s personal theology.

But who better to turn for help than to Lawrence Kushner, who teamed with another writer to produce this book.

That said, the key to reading this book may be to keep expectations low. It will not transform your prayer experience. Only a fraction of the book resonated with me.

“Filling Words with Light” offers Kushner’s and Nehemia Polen’s commentaries on about 70 snippets of prayers. And the commentaries themselves are based on Hasidic and other mystical sources.

In some cases, the commentaries seem only tangentially related to the prayer. In some other cases, the mystical insights are inaccessible.

But there are a few gems in this book that will enhance your prayer experience. Your gems may be different than mine. But I know I appreciated the insight into Psalms 150:6, which is: Without some intervening force, our souls would leave us in a split second. And you know Who is doing the intervening.

[Heidi Slowinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very approachable discussion of kabbalah. I found it very interesting.

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible to anyone, even folks without much Hasidic background. Kushner and Polen join forces again (I first came across this Reform-Orthodox duo in the My People's Prayer book series) for an incredible walk through the siddur. The authors draw out significant phrases from daily and Shabbat prayers, and through intruducing a wide variety of mystical teachings spin them into something incredible. Recommended for anyone in an intro to Judaism class, or anyone looking to add some kavvanah to their daily prayer.