Introduction

The siddur is the most important work of Jewish spirituality. Developing an internal prayer-life for people of all ages is not easy. What sometimes helps me engage in the discipline of regular davening is a deeper understanding of the inner workings of the siddur. The more that I can appreciate what each section, prayer, paragraph, sentence and even word is doing, the more that I appreciate the hard spiritual work daily tefila.

Working to cultivate a prayerful personality and struggling to engage in the mitzvah of davening may or may not be the same process. For some, developing a personal relationship with the Creator of the World is a private matter that does not overlap with the hard work of regular daily tefila. I have found that for me, the more attuned I am to the meaning provided by the siddur the more I am able to develop that personal relationship with God. 

These essays will develop some broad introductory concepts about the nature of pesukei d’zimra with an eye toward a wider conversation about how these ideas can help us grow spiritually. There are three very different ways to conceptualize the role of pesukei d’zimra. 

1. There is only one direct reference to this section of the siddur in the gemara. This text, the starting point for our analysis, refers to pesukei d’zimra as Hallel. 
2. For a prominent group of rishonim, pesukei d’zimra serves as preparation for the recitation of the amida. 
3. And finally, there is a smaller group that understands pesukei d’zimra functioning on its own track, apart from the amida and not exclusively as a kind of Hallel. 

My hope is that with a wider angle lens we might better appreciate broader messages embedded in pesukei d’zimra. We will then summarize the various approaches and harness each idea to help build more prayerful personalities.