This week, Rabbi David Woznica explores the theme of prayer. Today’s animating question: Have your children or grandchildren seen you pray?
Will our children or grandchildren’s memories of us include us engaging in prayer? Do you have a memory of your parents or grandparents engaged in prayer? If you have such an image, it’s likely a treasured memory.
It can be very meaningful to attend synagogue with family and/or friends. The memory that I am suggesting, however, is of private, personal prayer. Imagine your child (young or adult) seeing you standing alone, perhaps with a kippah (yarmulke) in your home, and quietly (perhaps intensely) speaking to God.
If you wish to influence your children’s or grandchildren’s love of God and Judaism, let them see you in prayer. I believe their memory of seeing you engaged in deep personal prayer will remain embedded in their hearts.
Rabbi David Woznica
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