In the first episode of&nbsp;Thoughts & Prayers, host&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hartman.org.il/person/jessica-fisher/">Jessica Fisher</a>&nbsp;explores one of the oldest and most unsettling questions in Jewish life:&nbsp;Does prayer work? Through deeply personal reflection and conversation with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hartman.org.il/person/sara-labaton/">Sara&nbsp;Labaton</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://joshwarshawsky.com/">Josh Warshawsky</a>, and<a href="https://www.hartman.org.il/person/akiva-mattenson/">&nbsp;Akiva Mattenson</a>, the episode traces how ancient mystics, modern rationalists, and everyday seekers wrestle with the meaning and purpose of prayer &mdash; whether it changes the world, transforms us, or simply helps us keep knocking on a locked gate. Thoughtful, searching, and grounded in lived experience, this opening chapter invites listeners to reconsider what it really means to pray. Sources referenced in this episode include: <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Ashkenaz%2C_Shabbat%2C_Musaf_LeShabbat%2C_Amidah%2C_Kedushah.6?lang=bi">Shabbat Kedusha</a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Ramban_on_Exodus.29.46?lang=bi">Nahmanides&rsquo; interpretation of Exodus 29:46</a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Ashkenaz%2C_Weekday%2C_Shacharit%2C_Blessings_of_the_Shema%2C_Blessing_after_Shema.4?lang=bi&with=Navigation&lang2=en">Emet atah hu rishon</a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Yoma.69b.14?lang=bi&with=Introductions%20to%20the%20Babylonian%20Talmud&lang2=bi">Babylonian Talmud&nbsp;Yoma 69b:14</a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Berakhot.32b?lang=bi">Babylonian Talmud&nbsp;Berakhot 32b</a><a href="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/authors/ashbery/north.html">John Ashbery &ndash; &ldquo;At North Farm&rdquo;</a> <a href="https://www.hartman.org.il/program/thoughts-and-prayers/">Thoughts & Prayers</a>&nbsp;is a new limited podcast series from the Shalom Hartman Institute that explores the tensions, questions, and contradictions at the heart of Jewish prayer today. Hosted by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hartman.org.il/person/jessica-fisher/">Jessica Fisher</a>, each episode weaves together personal stories, classical texts, and conversations with leading rabbis, scholars, and educators to ask what prayer can still mean &mdash; and why it matters.See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

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