Teβillah from Beginning to End
On the topic of tefillah b'tzibur, it is worthwhile to mention the praise of those who come timely and daven the entire tefillah from the beginning to the end. Some people arrive during Az Yashir (when we say the words סוס בא כי) and leave in the middle of לציון ובא (at רוח ותשאני), and they feel happy that they cut the length of the tefillah in half. But it is a great pity on them because they missed out on the perfection of the tefillah.
The Gemara (Brachos 6:) calls tefillah "Matters that go up to the highest places in the world and yet people are מזלזל, disregard them." They don't give it the proper respect. They come late, leave early, skip here and there, and they think that it is okay.
Every part of the tefillah was established for a purpose. Each phrase is a stepping stone toward making a perfect tefillah and bringing Hashem's bounty to the world.
In some siddurim, the words השפע ירידת, “the descending of the bounty,” are written after Shemoneh Esrei, before the second Ashrei. This is because during Shemoneh Esrei we ask Hashem for bounty and success. Hashem grants our requests when we say למנצח אשרי לציון ובא and the rest of the tefillah. Kabbalah sefarim reveal that this is the time of ירידת השפע, when the bounty descends. People who leave shul early won’t receive it. They asked for many things in Shemonah Esrei but didn’t stay in beis medresh long enough to receive them.
It is like going to the bank to withdraw cash, and as the banker is preparing the money, you leave.
There is a businessman who awakens early so he can daven, learn Torah, and then get to work on time. One morning, he awoke to a bright sun and immediately understood it was late. He davened quickly in his house (Shacharis took about five minutes), grabbed breakfast, and rushed to his car. If he is lucky, and there isn’t too much traffic, he can be on time at work.
But when he arrived at his office, he realized he had forgotten his office keys in his haste. He will have to drive home, pick up his keys, and then drive back again.
He thought he would gain time by rushing through the tefillah, but he only lost out.
Reb Ezra Barzel explained that even if he hadn’t forgotten his keys, he lost out because tefillah is the key to parnassah, and that morning he didn’t take tefillah seriously.
Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev zt'l once saw someone fixing his wagon while davening Shacharis wrapped in his tallis and tefillin. The Berditchever exclaimed, "Hashem, how holy and special is your nation? They daven to You even when they fix their wagon!" So, even an imperfect tefillah is also significant and, to an extent, will bring down Hashem's brachos. Nevertheless, fortunate are those who daven from beginning to end with a minyan. Their tefillos accomplish so much!
