Why We Daven
In a recent New York Times book review of Jonathan Weisman’s (((SEMITISM))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump, the famed author Simon Schama counseled, as a defense against anti-Semitism, “an aggressive defense of … the integrity of the democratic process, the protections of the Constitution and the preservation of the ideal of a nation of immigrants.” And, he added, “A little davening now and then wouldn’t do any harm.”
Ah, daven. A Yiddish word whose source is as elusive as the act itself–praying–is common.