The Seven Minute Shacharit

The Seven Minute Shacharit

A Workout for the Soul

Prayer does not always come easy, let alone fixed prayers done at specific times, and especially when we do not have a community that engages in such practice. Many of us who try and develop a daily spiritual practice find that using a standard siddur can feel overwhelming, lengthy, and time consuming. Trying to abbreviate the daily shacharit service on the fly can feel like yet another task, and many eventually give in to the all-too-common “all-or-nothing” mindset, and end up giving up on daily prayer altogether. Many of us fail to keep a daily prayer routine because we do not realize that spiritual practice takes, well, practice.

The Seven Minute Shacharit is a barebones service, containing an egalitarian, abbreviated – yet halakhic – version of the morning service. It is suitable for both beginners and skilled davveners who find that they can benefit from having the option of an abbreviated prayer routine.

A super-short version of the daily morning liturgy, guided both by Jewish law and the author's spiritual sensibility. I am so enjoying using this mini-Siddur! I grew up in an Orthodox synagogue, so I can "speed daven"—mumble the entire 30 minute service from memory without even paying attention. The "Seven Minute Shacharit" helps me slow down, discover new meanings, and connect the words of the prayer with my own personal prayers. Highly recommend!

-Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan

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