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Kavanah, kavvanah, or kavana (, plural kawwānot) means "intention" or "sincere feeling, direction of the heart".Babli, Berakhot 31a (Gemara) in (2025). 9780141441788, Penguin. ISBN 9780141441788 It is a theological concept in Rabbinic Judaism about a worshiper's state of mind, heart, sincerity, devotion, and emotional absorption during Jewish prayer. It is the mindset often described as necessary for rituals and prayers. '
In Hasidic Judaism, a tradition emphasizing piety, kavana is the emotional devotion and self-effacing absorption during prayers rather than a liturgical, recitation-driven religiosity. In Kabbalah, esoteric Jewish mysticism, kavana refers to the practice where the devotee concentrates on the secret meanings of prayer letters and words, sometimes referring to the permutations of the Tetragrammaton. Some kavanot are particular to the tradition of Kabbalah during meditation.
Kavana is a much-debated subject among scholars, with traditional sources accepting that ritual without at least minimal kavana is insufficient. kavanah, Judaism, Encyclopædia BritannicaShulchan Aruch 60:6 and 589:8 Different Jewish authorities see various levels of kavana required for various rituals, and especially for prayer. Some (prayerbooks) list the kavanot for particular prayers. Some kavanot are associated with specific Jewish holidays such as the Three Pilgrimage Festivals of Sukkot, Pesach, and Shavuot, and others.
Kavana in prayer requires devotional belief and not merely reciting the words of a prayer. According to Sutnick, this implies that the worshiper understand the words of the prayer and mean it, but this can be difficult for many Jews today when they pray using liturgical Hebrew, which many Jews outside of Israel do not understand.
In Hasidism, it is one of four themes of religious worship and spiritual striving. The true faithful constantly contemplates the presence of the divine ( hitbonenut), constantly cleaves and communes with the divine ( devekut), intensely ecstatically feels the divine ( hitlahavut), and is intently devoted to this divine (kavana). "God was pleased with the heartfelt prayers and simple faith of ordinary Jews."Cohn, Tzvi Meir. Baal Shem Tov Deuteronomy (p.35). BST Publishing
Kavana is therefore the strength that the devotee uses in the intention towards God: in other words, it is a sort of concentration followed by the truthful perception of a response to faith, that is, when one is certain that God listens, precisely during the ecstatic action of the bond with God, in this realization. According to the Hasidic tales, but not only, children also know how to reach a good level of kavana, and it isn't useless to teach them the Shema even before they perform the bar mitzvah.
Discussion
Kavana comes from an ancient verbal root found where the object or subject is the heart. It connotes "to direct, to prepare, to establish", an orientation of mind, heart, intention. According to Moshe Halbertal, it implies concentration and sincerity, it is not rote recitation but the very essence of a prayer where the devotee expresses a plea and supplication to God, while believing, feeling, and meaning the prayer. Kavana is both emotional and intellectual devotion, states Herman Cohen. According to the rabbinic tradition, both action and proper intention is important during a prayer, and kavana refers to the latter. Pinchas Giller says kavanot are "ideas, texts and formulae" to be contemplated during praying.
In Chovot HaLevavot
Chovot HaLevavot "Duties of the Heart" by Bahya ibn Paquda (section 8, chapter 3), gives 3 general categories for kavana under the rubric "the different ways of serving God":
Kabbalah
In Kabbalah, kavana often refers to the permutations of the divine name that aim at overcoming the separation of the forces in the Upper World.
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