For all of you who have ever thought “I don’t really know what I’m doing when it comes to prayer,” this message is for you. For all of you that feel like you really have control of prayer, this is also for you.

Prayer is not there to keep us busy or to make us “good Jews.” Prayer is a resource we have to bring us to a surrendering. The goal of prayer is to connect us to something outside and within ourselves. The goal of prayer is to access something deeper, to find more of the truth. You can’t get there by going through the movements. Prayer without intention or an openness to transformation is just words iterated.

A wise woman once said that everything has the potential to be prayer. How right she is. Every conversation, every pondering, every joyous moment or moments of sadness, they all are prayer. If we surrender to them. If we stop trying to control these moments, and allow them to just be.

Today, on Shabbat, let go of control. Surrender to the day. Allow it to be what it is in each moment. Don’t judge it, don’t try to manipulate it, don’t deny it. Live in it and surrender to it. Perhaps it is there that you will find peace. And isn’t that what we pray for on Shabbat?

I wish you all a Shabbat of love and peace and surrender. Love you!

Rabbi Gabi