Jewish prayer is composed three most important building blocks Psalms and hymns, ברכות – Blessings -, and the Recitation of the Shma’.
These three basic building blocks are joined by four secondary building blocks: Scriptural prayers by key Biblical personalities, פיוטים – liturgical poems -, תחינות – sundry petitionary prayers, and readings.
In this post, I want to briefly elaborate on the function of blessings, Psalms and the Shma’ Yisrael. Read the rest of this entry »