Am I Ever Bored At Services?

This originally appeared in the American Jewish World newspaper:

Are You Ever Bored In Services?

Rabbi Charni Flame Selch

There is a wonderful midrash in Shir Hashirim Rabbah which starts, ‘Once, when Rabbi Judah Hanasi was teaching, the congregation became drowsy…’

Imagine, people at the time of the Talmud were bored sometimes, so why not us? The simple answer is yes, I do get bored. And I’m in good company. Everyone is bored at one point or another.

I think the issue of being bored is what we do about it. It helps to ask why we are bored. Do we not understand the prayers? Do we not like the tunes? Do we need to connect to God in a different way? Are we relying on someone else to engage us?

Boredom is not the end. It should be a beginning The cure for boredom is curiosity. The midrash about Rabbi Judah says that when he saw that the congregation was drowsy, he changed his tactics and told an engaging story to grab their attention and nurture their curiosity

We are each responsible for our own approach to God. When we are bored, we owe it to ourselves to change our own tactics and approach the situation in a different way. Sometimes when I’m bored I will re-read the English while we chant the Hebrew or read other excerpts in the Chumash. Other times, I watch others around me and enjoy their sense of connection. That’s why communal prayers are so important. They give us a framework in which we can indulge our boredom and cultivate our answers to it.