Have you ever prayed? I mean I am not referring to the practice that many of us are familiar with – mumbling some standard text in a foreign language that we don’t understand while our minds wander to what we might have for breakfast when we arrive home from our I mean deep from the heart, visceral, gut-wrenching prayer. Each week on a Monday night, I am fortunate enough to lead a class on It is really a discussion group delving into the meaning, both simple and deep, of our traditional Jewish prayers. Last Monday night, we discussed the concept of Modim (Thanksgiving) within the central and most important prayer, the Amidah.
The participants all had a slightly different take on what this word meant. Apparently, there are 10 times more words in English than there are in Hebrew, and so, it is not surprising that there were many variants of the meaning of the Hebrew word Modim. We had suggestions of eternal gratitude, indebtedness, fealty, loyalty, acknowledgment, and just plain thanks.
The following day, on Tuesday morning, while the content of the session was still fresh in my mind, an unexpected opportunity came my way to understand the meaning of prayer in many of its aspects. I turned up at 9 a.m.
at the local hospital for what was meant to be a routine ultrasound test on my abdomen. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter I lay down on the examination couch and duly bared my torso for the nice, young sonographer chap to do his thi.