How to Deal

“The thought of memorizing prayers seems an artifical and stilted way to restore something as vital as spiritual hunger.  But consider what Rabbi Abraham Heschel said to the members of his synagogue who complained that the words of the liturgy did not express what they felt.  He told them that it was not that the liturgy should express what they feel, but that they should learn to feel what the liturgy expressed. Recited faithfully, great thougths put into great words can do that for us . . . Memorization can be to our hunger for God what practicing a musical instrement is for performance.  It can be the singing of the scales of the soul.”

- Ben Patterson.