Shemoneh Esrei: The Depth And Beauty Of Our Daily TefillahBy Rabbi Zev LeffTargum Press
Rabbi Leff’s Shemoneh Esrei is a magnum opus on the central prayer of our davening. This all-encompassing tome is a work that has been 20 years in the making – refined and redefined as various series of shiurim and subsequently weekly newspaper articles. Rabbi Leff graciously answered the call to have his brilliant insights made into a book. The polished gems of Torah thought reflected herein transmit the deep essence of prayer with purity and clarity.
While the book appears to be a bit daunting – it’s 546 pages long – it is written in a user-friendly fashion. It is both erudite and straightforward and the ideas presented are clearly organized to make them easy to grasp despite their esoteric and scholarly nature. Focusing on the heart of our daily tefil-lah, Rabbi Leff speaks to our hearts and minds about our service to Hashem. As the book analyzes each of the berachos in Shemoneh Esrei, it explores the depths of the themes in our lives, our faith and our service to G d.
Woven expertly into the fabric of the book are a wealth of sources from the Gemara and classic Jewish texts. Shemoneh Esrei presents the laws of the various brachas within the prayer, their meaning and their implications as well as the underlying themes of prayer to our lives as believing Jews. Rabbi Leff elucidates how each aspect of the prayer connects to every facet of our daily personal and na-tional existence.
With our hectic and often stressful lives, praying is something we often do by rote, many times, unfortunately, lacking the right kavannah. Reading Shemoneh Esrei will undoubtedly instill in the reader a new awareness of the impact, power and meaning of the words we utter in prayer. This new understanding will help us to imbue our service of the heart with greater clarity, devotion and sincerity.
May all our prayers be answered for the good and may Rabbi Leff be blessed with many more years in which to inspire us, till 120!
This book is a must for every Jewish home.
