What is ‘intention’ (kavvanah) in prayer?

WHAT is “kavvanah” in prayer?

Kavvanah, which literally means “intention,” is the magic bullet of prayer. If one prays “with kavvanah,” one has prayed. If not, not.

The trick, then, is to define this critical concept carefully and accurately. Otherwise, prayer becomes an exercise in going through the motions. This is at best. At worst, one doesn’t pray at all. It becomes meaningless.

There are many widespread definitions of kavvanah that do, indeed, sound good, like the real thing.

Kavvanah, we are told, is this:

1. To pray with a likeminded group of people, all of whom are serious about their prayer, is to pray with kavvanah. When people around you are not talking, not goofing around, not dying to get out of shul so they can comment on everything from the stock market to the new car to the weather, one is praying with kavvanah.

Kavvanah is to pray with people who want to pray.

2. To pray in a minyan or shul with a fine hazzan, or a fine prayer leader, or a fine choir, is to pray with kavvanah. To be inspired, to be transported, by a really quality leader, or leaders, of the prayers is to pray with kavvanah.

Kavvanah is to be moved by musical expertise in prayer.

3. To pray in a minyan or a shul which has a lot of spontaneous singing is to pray with kavvanah, especially when the melodies are familiar. When people are “really into it,” when they are letting go, singing the prayers to Carlebach or other inspiring melodies, this is to pray with kavvanah.

Kavvanah is to be moved by a musical praying community.

4. To pray in a minyan or a shul where the people pray slowly and deliberately, when they are not rushing through the words, is to pray with kavvanah.

Kavvanah is careful recitation.

5. To pray in a beautiful shul, which is conducive to awe and holiness, is to pray with kavvanah.

Kavvanah is location.

6. To understand the prayers, to study them, to know what the Hebrew says, and perhaps also to know the history of the prayers, and then to recite them, is to pray with kavvanah.

Kavvanah is knowledge.

7. To pray when it is a release, an experience born of sorrow or of elation, is to pray with kavvanah.

Kavvanah is a profound experience stemming from tragedy or from joy.

8. To pray with kavvanah is to join a long, multigenerational chain of praying communities, made up of people now gone, greater and better than I, who can lift me as I pray.

Kavvanah is transgenerational.

9. To pray with kavvanah is to pray in accordance with one’s traditions and rites. For example, if one is an Ashkenazi Jew and prays in a minyan that follows the Ashkenazi rite, this is to pray with kavvanah. The same is true if one’s rite is Sephardi or Italian.

Kavvanah is personal tradition.

Or, we are told, kavvanah is a combination of two or more of the above.

IN fact, all of these definitions of kavvanah miss the essence. While each of them may cradle and nurture kavvanah, kavvanah is possible without any of them (except, perhaps, #4).

In its essence, kavvanah in prayer is to believe that my words of prayer make a difference to G-d.

When I pray, I believe my prayer counts. When I pray, I believe that the fate of individuals and, indeed, of nations are within my power to affect, for I believe that G-d listens to prayer.

In the words of Rabbi Mordechai Shulman, the late dean of the Slobodka yeshiva, prayer is “the power that enables the individual to influence the entire world.”

Philosophically, this cannot be cogently expressed, but spiritually the reality is clear. When I pray, I believe that prayer is of the essence of my being fashioned by G-d in His image. This is kavvanah.

Every imaginable external trapping of prayer — the “right” minyan, the “right” building, the “right” melodies, the “right” intellectual preparation, the “right” rite — without the belief that prayer has ultimate effect is, at best, a handmaiden of kavvanah, but not kavvanah itself.

• Kavvanah is when somebody says, in the midst of a tragedy, “Don’t just stand there, do something!” and somebody else says, “Right, recite some Psalms!” and you do so. You believe that this is, indeed, doing something. This is kavvanah.

• Kavvanah is when you pray for a sick person and the person does not recover, but you pray with the same confidence for the next sick person who comes along. You believe your prayer matters. This is kavvanah.

• Kavvanah is when you are in the midst of prayer triggered by a misfortune — a kidnapping, a medical diagnosis, a financial defeat — and, as you pray, at that very moment, it is irrelevant to you whether other people are also praying for an end to this misfortune. Your relationship with G-d at that moment is self-validating. Like   G-d Himself, your relationship with G-d in the moment of prayer is not subject to division, deficiency or addition. This is kavvanah.

• Kavvanah is when the people next to you are not particularly focused, or when the shul is not beautiful, or when the musical talents of the prayer leader or one’s fellow prayers are not inspiring, yet you remain focused on the words of prayer. Their potential power leaves you no choice. This is kavvanah.

Kavvanah, in a phrase, is to act upon the gift of G-d consciousness.

Kavvanah expresses power.

Kavvanah expresses hope.

Kavvanah expresses confidence.

Kavvanah reflects gratitude.

Of course, disappointment is an occupational hazard of prayer, but the belief in the ultimate power of prayer can, by definition, sustain us all, animate us, excite us and draw us ever closer to the Alm-ghty and His will.

Copyright © 2010 by the Intermountain Jewish News