Last week, Bruriah students explored the power of tefillah together at an inspiring yom iyun. This program launched a year-long initiative that cultivates within every student meaningful and personal connections to tefillah.

The first part of the yom iyun was dedicated to enhancing kavana during davening. It began with divrei chizuk from Tanach faculty Talia Kronenberg who spoke passionately about her inspiring personal journey towards improving her own tefillah. This was followed by a panel discussion during which Bruriah faculty members presented helpful suggestions from their own experiences in tefillah. “I really loved how relatable and informative the panel discussion was,” shared sophomore Dalia Hess.

After a break for some delicious warm cinnamon rolls and coffee, the students headed to the second part of the program, which was focused on implementing concrete, individualized solutions through an interactive activity. Daily tefillos were hung up around the gym, and underneath each was a designated space for students to write their own personal insight into these tefillos in the hopes that others will glean inspiration from them. Each grade was given their own time to peruse these insights and write down the ones that they felt most closely resonated with them. At the end of this activity, students were gifted with a Tefillah Box, which has beautiful cards for each bracha in Shemoneh Esrei through which they will continue to explore their personal tefillah journeys. As a continuation of this beautiful program, teachers will continue to address the students weekly on specific tefillos in order to sustain the inspiration generated throughout the program, shaping a year dedicated to making tefillah more meaningful and personal for each student at Bruriah.