Adat In Time (Adat Shalom): T'fillah Survey

For our t'fillah survey, three of us (Daniela, Rami, and Rachel) interviewed forty campers. We asked them what their usual routine is during t'fillah. We took a poll where the options were either talking, praying, not paying attention, or other*. -Rami L.

Our results were:
Talking- 25%
Praying- 35%
Not paying attention- 27.5%
Other- 12.5%

Most of these people are pretty bored. Here are some ideas to not be bored in t'fillah! -Daniela B.

What can you do to make campers less bored? Here are some hints from Rachel:
1. If you look at the back of our siddur, there are a bunch of poems about meaningful subjects. Look at those poems if you want inspiration.

2. Don't talk! As much as you're bored, it would be disrespectful to blab during services. If you can't resist the urge to talk, then play a game called "prayer talking." Here's how you play. Grab a friend and a siddur. Then, when you want to say something, flip through the siddur to different english passages, and point to different words to make sentences. Now you're prayer talking!

3. Make the best of services! You may think, "Prayer is boring!" or "Um, no!!" but in truth, the best way not to be bored is to have some ruach! Sing as loud as you can during the Aleinu, Modeh Ani, and of course, Hallelujah! -Rachel B.

*Other answers included sleeping, kicking a tree, and one girl who had a book behind her siddur.