Is there anywhere online where I can listen to the Amidah/Shemonei Esrei? I have the siddur, but would like to hear it chanted/prayed/said. I thought it was online, but I cannot find it anywhere.
WRS - Osei shalm bimromav, Hu yaasei shalom aleinu, v’al kol Yisrael. V’imru: amein!
I have no idea where you’ll find it online.
But, umm, if you really want to hear it why not try visiting your local synagogue?
Most rabbis don’t bite, but those who do have had their rabies shots.
(I’ve always wanted to use the words rabbis and rabies in one sentence)
There are likely several melodies used, depending on tradition, location, and the cantor. The shima is the only prayer I’ve heard chanted the same way in every congregation I’ve been in.
If there is a local Judaica store, they likely carry recordings of various cantors. I know there was discussion of Mandy Patinkin putting out a cantorial album. I can’t recall whether he did or not.
Are cantorial renditions different from what tunes people use for private davening?
I bought a tape, “How to Pray the Weekday Shacharit,” but it doesn’t have “Aleinu” or “V’al Kein.” I might get the “Weekday Minchah and Maariv” tape, since both of these prayers are shorter than Shacharit and so perhaps the Amidah and Shema might be dealt with in more depth. (The tape I bought says the Shema (both the actual Shema and the V’ahavta etc.) rather than sings or chants it: shouldn’t it be chanted according to the trope in the Torah rather than simply spoken?)
It would be far more convenient if I had something I could listen to repeatedly either on the computer or via CD/tape.
WRS
People tend not to sing things when davening (praying) privately - most people whisper, rather than using any voice at all. The role of the chazan (cantor) is to pray on behalf of the community, much of which is done out loud. That’s nicer to listen to when there’s a tune, but there’s generally no halachic requirement for any tune in particular, or indeed any tune at all. If you’re just davening for yourself rather than for a group, you can just whisper everything in the siddur (prayer book) for yourself and you’ll be good to go. (The first line of Shma should be voiced.)
Some people say Shma with trop, but most of the people I know don’t - I whisper it quietly to myself. (Some halachic authorities hold that it’s better to say it with trop, but I don’t think that any require it per se. Zev or Chaim will probably be along to quote who says what exactly, but that’s not my area of expertice ;j.) I try to be careful to enunciate each word properly, without running one word into the next, but I don’t even know the trop, and I’ve been saying Shma daily pretty much my entire life.
Where will you be that you’d need to be saying Shma aloud? In all of the synagogues I’ve ever been in (admittedly, that’s an entirely Orthodox list) the person leading davening didn’t say the Shma out loud, other than the last three words.
Thanks people!
I believed (incorrectly, it seems) that Jews who davened regularly did so with a tune or with trope. I must admit that I daven at least one prayer every day (usually mincha, otherwise ma’ariv, but very, very rarely shacharit). I thought it would be more pleasant singing or chanting the prayers rather than simply saying them; although, saying them is also nice, especially now that I can fly through the prayers after having said them so many times.
I’m still interested, of course, in learning how to sing or chant the prayers. Maybe on the days I have more time to daven I can do so slowly and with a melody, although it simply may be that there is no traditional melody associated with the prayers.
Of course, I could go to a shul and find out first-hand how it’s done, but I guess I’m still a little scared to do that. I don’t know if someone will be offended seeing a goy trying to daven.
WRS
In all honesty, if you’re a white guy, people will probably assume that you’re Jewish, but not raised religious. Non-Jews tend not to turn up in synagogue knowing how to daven mincha.
Ah, but see, I am not white. 
I (would) stand out like a sore thumb. But then you do have a point - non-Jews are not wont to show up in shul knowing mincha.
WRS
WeRSauron Depending on how exactly you’re not white, it might not be a problem. Hispanic? Arabic? Find a Sephardic synagogue. Asian? Explain to the congregation that chatting with all those Jewish customers over the years has you curious. Then explain that yes, there really is no MSG in the food. Black? Here in Philly there is at least one primarily black synagogue.
Even if you stand out, showing a basic knowledge of Judaism should convince people that you’re Jewish. Even if you tell them you’re not Jewish, the majority of congregations will be very happy to teach and share with you.
Wow. Primarily black synagogue? The closest I’ve come to seeing a non-white Jew is seeing one of obvious Mediterranean descent. I’m South Asian, but I do live in a heavily Jewish area. (As a matter of fact, when I visit my friend in the city, where there is a lesser concentration of Jews, I feel out of place, like I am in a foreign land. I can’t survive without Jews around me!) Plus, there are Jews in Cochin, India (but I’m not southern South Asian: I’m northern South Asian). To put it bluntly, I look like a Muslim. But, then, what would a Muslim-looking guy be doing davening if he were not Jew-friendly or a Jew?
I have yet never experienced any discrimination in a synagogue. On Yom Kippur, some kids even sat near me, with their fathers in the row in front of us.
Jews are great.
WRS
How exactly does one look like a Muslim? My best friend and his dad had to trim their beards and start wearing big stars of David after 9-11. People kept looking at them and muttering antiArab and antiMuslim things, and threatening violence. Their last name is Cohen.
Anybody who walks into a synagogue with olive or copper skin and extremely curly hair and starts praying will just be assumed to be Sephardic. Most of the Israeli Jews I’ve met look like the American stereotype of Arabs.
The black synagogue has been covered occasionally in local papers. One was a cover story “Twice Blessed”. Another ran in either the City Paper or the Philadelphia Weekly. The book The Jew:Quest 2 (Cornmarket Press 1967) includes a section on the Jews of Harlem, complete with photographs.
I look Muslim because I look Pakistani. Not even Indian (as in from the country India) so that people can mistake me for a Hindu.
Although . . . once, the first time I went to Rosenblum’s in Chicago (a large Judaica store), I was in college and without a car, so I took public transport. I wore a kippah. Riding the bus down Devon there were plenty of South Asians and plenty of Jews. One nice older man, complete with beard and kippah, noticed me looking out worriedly. He came up to me and asked me where I was going. When I told him, he told me how far my stop would be. When my stop came, he reminded me that we reached the stop. I still feel thankful that a stranger would take time to help another stranger. I guess my point is that I suppose I’m worrying too much. I should just jump and go.
I’ll call the Chabad Lubavitch shul nearby and find out what time they have a minyan for mincha or maariv.
(Disclaimer: I will not go for shacharit, though, since I do not and will not wear a tallit or tefillin (even though I have both). A goy wearing a tallit and/or tefillin, unless he/she was preparing to convert - this truly would (and should) offend Jews.)
WRS