The Chazon Ish (sefer Maase Ish Page 156) never said a bracha or davened without kavana. It simply was not possible for him to daven without kavana. When he was terribly weak and ill, he couldn’t daven or make a bracha. He knew that due to his weakness he couldn’t daven with kavana, so he woudn’t daven at all. A chasan is exempt from krias shema on the night of his wedding because he is busy and can’t have kavana. Today, we don’t have this custom because we anyways don’t have kavana. “But”, said the Chazon Ish, “I do have kavana, so when I am not able to have kavana, I don’t daven or make a bracha”.
Rav Sholom Shwadron once told a story about a yid who was walking in Yerushalayim when suddenly, he feels a punch in his chest and yells “ow!”. He looks around, but nobody is there. Seconds later, he feels a punch again! Again, there’s nobody around. With a start, he realizes that he is in middle of shemone esray and was davening “selach lanu”. It was he who was punching himself in his chest. It would be a funny story if it wasn’t so tragic. That’s unfortunately how many of our tefilos look.
Says the Orchos Chaim L’ha’rosh (siman 36): concentrate on your tefilla, because tefilla is a service of the heart. Imagine, says the Rosh, that your son is speaking to you and his mind is elsewhere. Would you not be angry? How, then, can a human being act this way towards Hashem? What good is it to ask for slicha by the bracha of “selach lanu” if you don’t have kavana? We need a “selach lanu” on the “selach lanu”!
The Chaye Adam (klal 5 siman 1) brings down a story about someone who didn’t have kavana when he said the shem Hashem. He was a talmid chacham that came up to shomayim and the malachim put a sefer Torah in his hand, and they asked him “Did you fulfill the mitzvos of the Torah?” The talmid chacham said yes, and witnesses were called. He was found to have indeed fulfilled the mitzvos well, yet there was one problem – he very often didn’t have kavana when he said the shem Hashem. He was given a choice – either to return to the world or to get punished in gehinnom. This talmid chochom was afraid to be sent back to the world, for who knows if he would correct the wrong? He opted to take his punishment then and there.
These are examples of how our gedolim were machshiv tefilla, and the efforts they invested in davening with kavana. Tefilla is such a powerful tool, a weapon that can break though all barriers. Let us tap into the tremendous koach hatefilla, realizing before Whom we are standing and paying attention to the holy words that we utter. There is no limit to the brochos that we can get by davening with proper kavana. It is well worth the effort.
