Another important prayer is the Bedtime Shema, which is recited before going to sleep. This prayer includes the Shema and a few other blessings, asking for protection during the night and thanking God for the gift of rest.
There are also blessings that are recited before and after eating, as well as blessings for various occasions such as seeing a rainbow, hearing thunder, or witnessing a miraculous event. These blessings serve to remind us to be grateful for the everyday miracles that we encounter.
Overall, Jewish prayer is a way to connect with God, express gratitude, ask for guidance, and seek forgiveness. It is a central part of Jewish life and serves as a reminder of our relationship with the Divine.
He returned my soul to me because He trusts that I will contribute goodness to His world and work to fulfill my role here, whatever that may be.
Another prayer worth noting is tefillat ha’derekh, the traveler’s prayer. It is a short prayer for safety we recite upon leaving the city limits. The roads here being as they are, this is a prayer I recite with particular intention and fervor every time I leave town…
There are also what we call “blessings,” short statements of gratitude we recite in various situations; for example, before and after enjoying food, or before performing a commandment.
Accoutrements
Generally speaking, no special equipment or attire is required for prayer; one must be at clothed, of course, and it is proper to be fully dressed, with our heads covered, out of respect for the Guy to Whom You Are Speaking (hence the kippah).
However, if you ever stumble across a Jewish man in prayer on a weekday, he will have a little black box tied to the front of his head with a thick leather strap, and another box tied to his arm near the shoulder, with another leather strap winding around the rest of his arm and then around his middle finger. He also might be wearing a wool shawl with fringes and two blue stripes over his head.
The shawl is a prayer shawl, a tallit, and the boxes are phylacteries, tefillin. The prayer shawl is a four-cornered garment, so it has tassels (tzitziyot) at each corner, according to the commandment of tzitzit. The stripes of the tallit inspired the blue stripes on the Israeli flag, symbolizing the State as the culmination of our prayers for two millennia. For the record, that’s what’s supposed to go in that velvet bag of yours.
Tefillin is a separate commandment, mentioned in the Torah a number of times, one of which is the Shema prayer: “You shall bind [the words of the Torah] as a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as a reminder between your eyes.” (Deuteronomy 6:8). They are leather boxes that contain parchment scrolls, on which four passages from the Torah are inscribed—two from Exodus, and two from Deuteronomy, the latter two being the first two paragraphs of the Shema.
The boxes are bound to the body with leather straps: one on the forehead (“between the eyes”) and one on the inner side of the arm—the left arm if you’re right-handed, and the right if you are left-handed. Men are required to put on tefillin every day except Shabbat and holidays. Women are not required because of the same rule mentioned before.
The Torah explains that the purpose of tefillin is to serve as a reminder of God’s intervention in the Exodus from Egypt. Practically speaking, having a physical object connected to prayer on your body helps channel your concentration and maintain an awareness and focus on God.
Excerpted from Letters to Josep: An Introduction to Judaism a collection of letters from a religious Jew in Israel to a Christian friend in Barcelona describing life as an Orthodox Jew. Equal parts lighthearted and insightful, it’s a thorough and entertaining introduction to the basic concepts of Judaism.