Friday, May 05, 2006

I timed it

Yes, folks, it’s official: Including, ahem, a “pit stop” or two, it takes me roughly an hour to davven (pray) Birchot HaShachar (the Morning Blessings) and P’sukei D’Zimra (the Verses of Song, aka Introductory Prayers) at my preferred (stop and think about what I’m saying and/or check the translations) pace. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was the world’s slowest davvener.

P.S. Mind you, even an hour is not enough time for me to say all of Birchot HaShachar and P’sukei D’Zimra. I always skip the readings about the Akeidah (Binding [of Isaac]) and the korbanot ([Temple] sacrifices), not being much into either, in Birchot HaShachar, and, even on Shabbat and Chaggim, I skip probably half a dozen pages in P’sukei D’Zimra. I have neither the reading speed nor the patience to davven much more than I'm davvening now--otherwise, I'd never get to the matbeiah shel tefillah, the core required part of the service, and/or I'd be so "davvened out" that I wouldn't be able to pray with kavvannah (focus, intent).

4 Comments:

Blogger elf said...

It used to take me an hour, too. Shacharit is long.

Fri May 05, 12:46:00 PM 2006  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Elf, I'm glad to know that I'm in good company. It's fortunate for you that you're a bit ahead of me, these days.

"Long" is an understatement. But I must say, on the plus side, that my Hebrew is slowly improving to the point at which I can actually understand much of what I'm saying. It's a real joy. And I'd rather take my sweet time than davven the "Speedy Gonzalez" way, which is why I started davvenning through Shacharit at home in the first place.

Fri May 05, 05:42:00 PM 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I actually really love the birchot hashachar and p'sukei d'zimra -- they're my favorite part of the morning service, at least these days. (In fairness, I tend not to davven the readings about the akeidah and the korbanot -- neither of the two siddurim I prefer includes them, so I don't miss them, though I know they're in Artscroll.)

Many mornings I davven them quickly, but sometimes I stop and take them really nice and slow -- the way you describe -- which I really enjoy, when I take the time to do it. :-)

Mon May 15, 09:55:00 PM 2006  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Rachel, agreed--there's some nice reading in there. A few words of gratitude and a little poetry, first thing in the morning--what's not to like? :)

Wed May 17, 01:31:00 AM 2006  

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