Selichos and Rosh Hashana are imminent. With them comes a focus or “tefillah, teshuva and tzedaka” – prayer, repentance and charity. In truth, improving the quality of our prayers is something for which we should constantly strive but the Rosh Hashana season is particularly conducive to the effort.
To help in this area, may I suggest you visit the Tefillah section of OU Torah? There you will find a number of series designed to elucidate the meanings of many of our daily, Shabbos and holiday prayers.
Foremost among these series is Rabbi Weil on Tefillah. In addition to general background on the concept of tefillah and insights on all the components of our thrice-daily services, Rabbi Weil addresses such holiday topics as selichos, the Rosh Hashana machzor, and the prayers of Yom Kippur.
Other series include Tefillah Tips, Tefillah Workshop, and spotlights on particular prayers, including Shemoneh Esrei, Kaddish and Yizkor. Plus, we are proud to introduce a new series, Weekly Tefilah Focus, which is currently analyzing the prayer Ashrei.
Rosh Hashana is a time for new beginnings. A fresh look at our tefillos is a Rosh Hashana resolution that will help us to grow throughout the year.