The Korban of Prayer
Now, this attitude of dam shafach is an important lesson for us; very important. Because even though we don’t have that same opportunity today – we don’t have the korbanos and so we can’t experience that exact kirvas Elokim like they did – but we should know that we have something in its place. םִּקְנוְּ מִידִים תְּנֶגֶד תּוֹת כְּפִלּוֹת – Our davening was established to parallel the korbanos (Brachos 26a). That’s what the Chachomim tell us: ָןִּמְקוֹם קָרְבָּה בְּפִלּוֹת – Davening is instead of bringing a korban (ibid.)
“That’s what I want from you,” Hashem says. ַת יְשָׁרִים רְצוֹנוֹּפִלּוֹת – He favors our prayers like a korban. It’s the same lashon we find by korbanos:ָּחֻ ֽ הוִּ זְבּלִ ֽ רְצֽ ֹנְכֶם תּ – that’s Hashem’s Will. He wants people to offer Him offerings of prayer because tefillah can be one of the great achievements of a person in this world, almost as great as the ‘korban experience’!
That’s why the Gemara describes davening as מוֹשֶׁל עוֹלָםְּרוּבָרִים הָעוֹמְדִים בְּד, words that stand at the top of the world. מוֹשֶׁל עוֹלָםְּרוּב means it’s a very noble and exalted thing, the highest of the high. It means that if we talk about maasim tovim, about opportunities for accomplishment in our career in this world, we don’t have to look far. We’ll find it in the siddur. Only that ְנֵי אָדָם מְזַלְזְלִין בָּהֶןּב – people underestimate that opportunity (Brachos 6b).
Spilling Blood in the Shul
I’ve said it before, that it’s a cancer, this sickness of what we are doing with our davening today. It’s one of the greatest failings in Jewish life today, the tragedy of good people, idealistic people committed to a life of serving Hashem, and yet, we fail to utilize one of the biggest opportunities that life can offer to anybody: the success that one gains from a career of tefillah.
It’s a great pity! Because when you pray without understanding what tefillah can do for you, a big part of your life is wasted. You’re like the one who is making shechitas chutz; every day you’re squandering the korbanos of tefillah. It means you’ll go through all the motions of davening; it looks like tefillah but it’s not. It’s םּדְשָׁפָך because every day you’re standing Shachris, you’re standing Mincha, you’re standing Maariv, but what are you getting from it? You’re losing opportunities all the time! And therefore, to restore tefillah to its proper place should be one of our highest aspirations.
The Rav Miller Specialty
Now we won’t be able to do that in one night. It’s a big undertaking. We would first of all have to learn what the words mean. There are deep things there and they deserve to be studied. The siddur is one of the great opportunities of life but you have to know it in order to make use of this opportunity.
By the way, I would like to talk about the siddur at length but I know it would be boring for you. On tefillah, I would like to talk for a whole year – an entire year only on the subject of prayer! I have it written down at home; it’s one of my specialties.
We could take every word and analyze it; we could study it deeply and it would be worth every minute. But I’m not going to speak about that now. The details, the words, we’ll leave that for now. Tonight I want to talk to you about the more comprehensive achievements we can gain from tefillah. To clarify some of the opportunities of tefillah; opportunities that if we ignore them it’s ם יֵחָשֵׁבּד – it’s one of the great opportunities of life that we are misusing.
To Know or Not to Know
Now everybody who stands Shemoneh Esrei believes in Hakadosh Baruch Hu. There’s no question about that; otherwise you have better things to do with your time – anything is better than talking to a wall. So if you’re standing there, if you’re saying the words, absolutely you’re a believer, a maamin.
And nevertheless it pays to note that we’re told, ָה עוֹמֵדַּ ע לִפְנֵי מִי אַתֵּל דָּה עוֹמֵד לְהִתְפַּלְּשֶׁ אַתְּכ – when you stand up to say Shemoneh Esrei know before Whom you stand (Brachos 28b). It seems superfluous. What does that mean ‘know’? Don’t we know? Every little boy, every little girl knows.
But the truth is we don’t know. Because ‘ַעּד – know’ means something different; it means you should gain ַעַתּד, a clear picture.
Davening for Daas
And that’s why davening is so important. It’s a mistake people make – they think davening is to get something, to get parnassah, or health or a shidduch or children or whatever it is. No, that’s not true. It is true but that’s only a tafel, a side benefit. The primary achievement of davening is daas, Awareness of Hashem. That’s why you daven Shemoneh Esrei. Actually that’s why you need things in the first place; that’s why you need a shidduch and a refuah and parnassah and everything – so that you’ll stand up to daven and acquire daas.
So ָה עוֹמֵדַּ ע לִפְנֵי מִי אַתֵּל דָּה עוֹמֵד לְהִתְפַּלְּשֶׁ אַתְּכ means when you get up to daven, make a plan beforehand to try to know before Whom you’re standing. Try and picture that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is standing right in front of you and He’s listening intently to your words.
Am I Talking to the Wall?
It’s not easy. The Mesilas Yesharim says that it’s not an easy thing to impress upon your mind that Somebody is actually listening; שִׁי אֵין הַחוּכֵ עַ לָזֶהּמְסַי, because our senses do not help us. You’re standing in front of a wall maybe; you see nothing in front of you and you’re saying words.
But when you put effort into it, when you keep on trying, after a while it’s possible to gain the attitude that Hashem is right in front of you, and He’s listening.
That’s why the words ָה שׁוֹמֵעִַּי אַתְּכ are so important. “You, Hashem, are listening.” Yes, You are really listening, no question about it. We’re the ones not listening! We don’t listen carefully to what we are saying but He is always listening.
The Goldmine
We have a sympathetic ear. ַתְּפִלָּה שׁוֹמֵעַ תִּי אַתְּכ יִשְׂרָאֵל עַמְּךְ רַחֲמִיםּב, with compassion. Only that we have to work to gain that attitude. It won’t happen by itself. Say, ָהּאַת שׁוֹמֵעַ – Oh, Hashem! I’m not talking to the wall or to my siddur. You’re listening to me! I’m really talking to You!”
So Hashem says, “You’re saying that? You really mean it? If you’re saying that, then I’m going to make you feel that I’m listening to you. I’ll help you out. And each tefillah I’ll help you more.” And so those words, ָה שׁוֹמֵעִַּי אַתְּכ are a gold mine of daas.
Gold Mines Galore
The truth is that the word ָהּאַת – ‘You’, on its own, whenever you say the word ‘You’ in the davening, it’s a gold mine. That’s why the best way would be if you’re able to spend a long time on that word. You’d stop at Atah every time and think, “Atah?! You?! From where do I get the boldness to say ‘You’ to the Creator?! It’s chutzpah; it’s a frightening word. But He gives me permission because I’m his child.” You’re His son, you’re His daughter, so you can say, ‘You’ to Hashem. You have to spend time thinking about that.
Don’t just say it as if in a dream, mumbling. You! Atah! You! You! It’s a tremendous word, a very powerful word. ‘Powerful’ I mean to give you a new mind, to give you daas.
And once you get into the habit, every word becomes a privilege. A pleasure; it’s like honey on the tongue as you’re talking to your Best Friend.
Don’t Be Tibetan
Only what happens? We don’t listen to the words we’re saying and it’s a waste, a tragedy. We become dulled by habit and finally we settle on the Tibetan method of davening.
I told you once what the Tibetan method is. They write out on a long scroll all of their tefillos and they wrap it around a spindle and there’s a greased axel there and the monk gives it a twirl and it goes around many times. And each time it goes around, you have credit for a whole tefillah. Each time the wheel turns so a long v’hu rachum is said by him and it goes down to the Tibetan heaven.
So what do they do, the really pious ones? They have a whole row of these wheels and they walk back and forth – they’re joking and talking, telling stories with their fellow monks but while they're doing that, as they pass by a wheel they give it a spin and another prayer goes down to their demon-god. And the wheels don’t stop a second because they’re expert daveners; they keep on walking back and forth each time they give a twirl. That's the ideal, that's the real ideal of praying by rote. And it’s a tragedy when we try to imitate that, lehavdil.
