Brent Emery has written an interesting article: “On faith: Learning to pray from a Jewish perspective,” in which he discusses Jewish prayers and how Christians can learn to pray from a Jewish perspective.
One section of his article caught my attention:
We as Gentiles have much to learn from our Jewish friends who have been praying for several millennia. Allow me an example of what we can learn from our Jewish roots:
Growing up in a Christian home, we always “blessed the food” before we ate. There are two things that are fundamently un-Biblical about our Christian tradition.
First, one does not “bless” food; rather, one blesses the Lord. In both the Bible and Jewish prayer, one does not bless things but rather blesses the Lord.
In fact, many prayers in Judaism begin with the phrase “blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe.”
Secondly, notice that we prayed a blessing before we ate (which is a good thing) but were ignorant that the Hebrew Scripture commands us to offer a blessing “after” we eat (see Deuteronomy 8:10). So when we eat, we should bless G-d beforehand and afterward.
Careful attention to Jewish prayer brings a needed corrective to prayer at meals and brings us in alignment with the Biblical text.
The concept of “blessing the food” is found mostly in the Roman Catholic tradition. Most Protestants give thanks to God for his gifts, his generosity, and for the food God has provided. Thus, in most Protestant traditions, the prayer before the meal is not an act of “blessing the food,” as is done in the Catholic tradition, but it is a prayer of thanksgiving to God.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Give us day by day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). It is because God has provided us with our daily bread that Christians pray a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s generosity. It is in this act of thanksgiving that many Christians pray from a Jewish perspective.
Emery is right: there are many Christians who still need to learn how to pray from a Jewish perspective.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 
>So, we need to learn to pray like Jews because we're Jews now?
LikeLike
>Handyman,You have completely misunderstood what I said. Have you ever prayed David's prayer in Psalm 51? Then, you were praying like a Jew.Do you like the book of Psalms? Most of those psalms are Jewish prayers.The Jews model their prayers from the prayers of the Bible. I teach a course titled "The Prayers of the Old Testament." Have you ever studied the prayers of the Old Testament? You should.Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
>This reminds me of a prayer a clergy friend of mine gave at a service club luncheon. "Dear Lord, we thank you for the food we are about to eat and the salads we have already eaten. Amen." Following this brief but impactful blessing, the presiding officer ordered the sergeant at arms to collect a dollar from all who had sampled their salad before the prayer.
LikeLike
>Duane,This is a great idea. Next time we have a function here at the seminary, I will remind the presiding officer to charge that dollar from those who eat their salads before the benediction.Claude Mariottini
LikeLike