Leonard Cohen was a popular Canadian artist. His song “Hallelujah”, became even more popular after appearing in the animated movie, Shrek (2001). One of the main characters in this song is King David who is the author of tehillim which forms the basis for many of our tefillot. Cohen describes King David’s gift for music and prayer, “Well I’ve heard there was a secret chord/That David played and it pleased the Lord.” Even though King David wrote many tefillot that praise God, at times he had hard times where it was more difficult for him to see or feel Hashem’s presence. Despite the challenges we may face, “Hallelujah” reminds us that every person has the ability to continue the conversation and connect to God through prayer.
(Lyrics) https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/hallelujah.html
Questions
Hallelujah literally means “praise God” —
One way of praising God is through tefillot like the 5 Hallelujah’s and Hallel (which we say on Rosh Chodesh). Are there other ways to praise God?
Do you find it easy or difficult to praise God in tefilla? Is your experience dependent on what is going on around you?