We have previously learned an important foundational principle from the Mabit and others, which teaches us that the purpose of prayer is not at all for us to have our requests granted—rather, it is so we internalize our own nothingness and recognize that only the Ribbono shel Olam can help us. This is the entire purpose of prayer.
But there’s a great question that many have asked regarding this: If tefillah isn’t for the purpose of having requests granted, why is our davening designed so that it implies that we are asking for things? We should simply get up and make proclamations: I have nothing and I can do nothing—only the Ribbono shel Olam can help me, and I am completely reliant upon Him!
In Your Hands Alone
In fact, we’re all familiar with just such a tefillah that is designed as a proclamation. It was authored by Rebbe Meir’l of Apta, author of Ohr l’Shamayim, and it reads: לבד בידך הנני כי ידעתי העולמים רבון ותחבולות בעצות אתאמץ גם ואם היוצר ביד כחומר נפשי ולתמוך להושיעני לימיני יעמדו תבל יושבי וכל וישועה עזרה אין ועזרתך עוזך מבלעדי, Master of the universe, I know that I am in Your hands alone, like clay in the hands of the potter. Even if I exert myself with plans and strategies, and even if all the inhabitants of the world stand at my right to save me and support my soul—without Your strength and Your help, there is no help and no deliverance.
Further in that tefillah, we even supplicate Hashem: העולמים רבון עזרני לכן הזה הדבר אמיתות תמיד לראות פתוחות עיני להיות, therefore, help me, Master of the World, for my eyes to always be open to see the truth of this matter.
Between Prayer and Proclamation
And so, the question is very strong: Why isn’t our entire davening designed along the same lines of proclamation of our own fallibility and Hashem’s strength. Why is it that when a Yid is in need of parnassah, he requests assistance with the matter, and through this he internalizes that Hashem is the Source of all sustenance. It seems to be a roundabout way of getting to the core of things.
We may feel that the entire Shemoneh Esrei should have been designed in a way that we proclaim that Hashem is the Source of wisdom, the Source of forgiveness, the Source of redemption, of healing, of sustenance, of blessing, and so forth—because this is, after all, the real purpose of our prayer.
But the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah expressly did not design our tefillah this way, but rather in a manner of asking and requesting and supplicating.
Sticking to the Simple Meaning
Furthermore, there’s an even more basic question. We know the rule that פשוטו מידי יוצא מקרא אין, a verse doesn’t depart from its basic meaning. Deeper profundities and insights are wonderful... but the simple meaning must remain.
If so, how can the tzaddikim tell us that the entire purpose of tefillah is to internalize truths about Who really holds the keys to our salvation—and to strengthen our bitachon in Hashem—when the words of the tefillos seems to suggest that we’re requesting that our needs be granted? This would seem to be an extreme departure from the simple meaning of the words and what they suggest.
And so, let us go a bit deeper so that we can reconcile these questions with the yesod established by the Mabit, the Yavetz, the Maharal, Rav Chaim Vital, and others who have clearly established that our tefillah is essentially a proclamation.
Our Great Lack
The Chovos HaLevavos (Sha’ar Cheshbon HaNefesh 3:18) says a similar yesod: It is said regarding one of the tzaddikim that he would conclude every tefillah by proclaiming, “Ribbono shel Olam, You know what is good for me, and I have not come here to remind You or notify You of my needs—only to ask that I merit to feel the greatness of my lack and the depth of my reliance upon You!”
There can be no clearer way of underscoring the point that the tzaddikim are teaching us regarding tefillah: Its entire purpose is for us to internalize how dependent we are!
Casting Our Burdens
The Chovos HaLevavos continues to emphasize the point even more strongly: בתפלה כוונתנו כי שתדע אחי לך וראוי וכניעתה האלוקים אל הנפש כלות אם כי אינה והודאתה ושבחה לבוראה רוממותה עם לפניו עליו יהביה כל והשלכת לשמו, And it is fitting for you to know, my brother, that our intent in prayer is nothing other than the yearning of the soul for Hashem and its submission before Him, along with its exalting of its Creator, and its praise and thanksgiving to His Name, and the casting of all its burdens upon Him.
Five Foundations
HaGaon Rav Avigdor Miller analyzed this passage in the Chovos HaLevavos (Sha’ar Cheshbon HaNefesh 9) and derived from it five important foundations in tefillah:
- Cleaving to Our Creator: Every entity in this world has a natural yearning toward the source of its sustenance. The more we meditate upon Hashem as our Source of life, the more we will attain a yearning to Him. This is accomplished through tefillah.
- Submitting Before Him: This is the aforementioned yesod that we must internalize that we can do nothing without Hashem.
- Exalting Our Creator: The entire purpose of this humility and submission before Hashem is that we recognize the greatness and the exaltedness of our Creator. We cannot do anything for ourselves, but the Ribbono shel Olam, Who fills all the world, can do everything. He does everything, and we’re dependent upon His benevolence.
- Praising and Thanking: When we recognize and acknowledge the greatness of Hashem, we’re automatically awakened to give praise and thanks for everything He gives us—which is a major feature of tefillah.
- Casting All Our Burdens Upon Him: When we internalize these four points, there’s nothing left to do but cast all our burdens and needs upon Him.
Cleaving and Connecting
The main takeaway from this teaching of the Chovos HaLevavos is that the purpose of prayer is to become connected and tethered to Hashem through tefillah. How do we attain deveikus? Is it if we shake very hard during davening? No! Deveikus is a feeling of complete submission and self-nullification to Hashem—because we are nothing, and He is the Source of our life. If we’re alive, it’s because He is sustaining us, and therefore, if we need anything, we turn only to Him.
Thus, this point could not be made more clearly by the tzaddikim—but our questions regarding the design of tefillah must be reconciled.
