Tefillah With and Without Kavanah

The Way of Emunah | August 23, 2026

Tefillah With and Without Kavanah:

Sefer Agrah D'Kallah states that the word "tanecha" (your basket) can also be understood as a reference to the tefillos that a person says every day, as the word "teneh" can be an acronym for “taamim nekudos osiyos", tunes, vowels and letters, which are the components that make up the words of prayer.

Since a person is always in a rush and doesn't have enough time to daven with kavanah for all that he needs, the pasuk then uses the word “m'sharosecha", which could mean "the remainder". This indicates that whatever is left out of a person's tefillos will also be blessed and fulfilled. Even the prayers that were not said with kavanah can also rise up to a high place, as the Zohar Hakadosh (Chelek 2, 245B) says that there is a special chamber for such prayers, where they wait until one davens one prayer with kavanah, and they then ascend along with that prayer.

Rav Meir of Premishlan zy"a explains the verse: "Boruch ta'anecha u'misharasecha. (Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl)", as follows:

"Boruch ta'anecha" – we ask Hashem to bless us by giving us what we "tainoh" (ask for), and we further ask Him to give us “misharaecha", what is left over, meaning what we haven't asked for because we don't even know that we should be asking for it. And He fulfills both prayers.

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