Prayer and Oscar Peterson

At Kabbalat Shabbat services Friday night Rabbi Na'amah Kelman read us an excerpt from the introduction to the Kol Haneshama Siddur, by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman:
"Praying is like playing jazz. The more you pray, the richer your prayer becomes. You can pray alone, but the exciting things happen with fellow pray-ers. It helps to know and trust the others, too (although you learn a lot when you pray with new people). Some services are traditional, others creative. Some synagogues are formal, others less so. The Jewish service is built around a set of spiritual themes. Sometimes we all pray in harmony, other times we each pray at our own rhythm, at our own volume.

The siddur is a framework, like the page of notes in front of the jazz player. If you choose to use these words, know that if you read the prayers, you are not praying. One should try and reach a proper balance between the pray-er and the prayer, and between the pray-er and other pray-ers."

This year we'll be learning the foundations of prayer, its basic notes and structures, so that going forward we'll be able to create, innovate and improvise. I couldn't help but think of Oscar Peterson's wonderful Hymn to Freedom, which will be an aspirational guide as to how to craft snazzy, beautiful, jazzy, soulful prayer...