Table of Contents
See what awaits you in Making Prayer Real, including 24 practices to catalyze and deepen your prayer life.

Preface. Pages xi–xviii.
The author shares his experience with prayer: the trials of attending synagogue services in his youth, and the rewards of prayer today.

The Efficacy of Prayer. Chapter 1, pages 21-29.
Does prayer accomplish anything in the real world?  In this chapter, five contributors take up the challenge.  Here are three: Rabbis Aryeh Ben David, Rami Shapiro and Anne Brener.

What is Prayer? Chapter 2, pages 39-47.
Few of the MPR contributors think of prayer as, “I ask, and God gives, or doesn’t.”  What, then, is prayer?

Coping with Loss. Chapter 14, pages 135-137.
We tend of think of prayer as a synagogue activity, but prayer is most valuable in the trenches of life. In this chapter we ask if prayer can help us respond well to life’s trials; in this excerpt, mourning.

Best Practices. Chapter 18, pages 175-178
MPR contributors share their insights into getting the most out of traditional Jewish Prayer.

Excerpts are from Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer is Difficult and What to Do about it © 2010 Michael Comins. Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, VT 05091, www.jewishlights.com.