Our Only Weapon

A Tefillah Collection

When we have no words, we turn to tefillah.

The hashakafa/self-help corner of frum publishing highlights a beautiful diversity, and you can find titles with a huge variety of approaches and styles to any topic. Whether the ongoing devastating events lead you to look for inspiration, chizuk, increased learning in your life, or a better understanding of the words you’ve been turning to, there’s something for everybody.

ואשי ישראל ותפלתם באהבה תקבל ברצון

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• New: Arise and Aspire, Rebbetzin Shira Smiles - the deeper meaning behind the birchos hashachar

[For online reading, see the Song at Sunrise Mishpacha series, which inspired this book]

• Coming Closer, Rabbi Yisrael Shlomo Goldfinger - a new approach to thinking about tefillah, and an in-depth walk-through of how to apply it to common tefillos

• Gates of Prayer, Rav Shimshon Pincus - an approachable exploration of the 10 ways Chazal describe tefillah and what they teach about its essence

• Mean What You Pray, Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt - a logical and astonishingly practical book about how tefillah works, with a walk-through of how to use the words of the siddur as an outline to meaningful tefilla

• Nishmas: Song of the Soul, Yisroel Besser - commentary and stories on the words of Nishmas

• Praying with Fire, Rabbi Heshy Kleinman - the classic series of lesson-a-day books with short ideas and inspiration about tefillah

• Rav Avigdor Miller on Tefillah, Yaakov Astor - relatable questions and answers asked to Rabbi Miller about how to daven and what we’re davening for

• Rav Schwab on Prayer - the classic commentary on tefillah

• Tefillah: Creating Dialogue with Hashem, Rav Reuven Leuchter - concepts and strategies to improve and understand your tefillah

[Some of my takeaways from the book here]

• The Prayer of Protection, Rabbi Yechiel Spero - stories, ideas, and explanation about the words of Yoshev B’seser and their power

• New: Three Steps Forward, Rabbi Menachem Tenenbaum - approachable ideas about how tefillah works and how to connect through tefillah

• Service of the Heart, based on the teachings of Rav Moshe Wolfson - explanation of the essence of tefillah, and ideas and inspiration based on specific tefillos

Bonus: Unlock Your Heart, a Mishpacha series by Faigy Zelcer and Leah Gebber - deep and relatable ideas for women about dismantling the barriers and connecting to tefillah from a master educator and beloved writer. (Start here) 

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