על למסעיהם מוצאיהם את משה ויכתב" (ב לג) "‘ה פי
There is a famous question as to why we were commanded to actually utter the words of tefillah. Is it not enough to think them in our hearts? Doesn’t Hashem know exactly what we are thinking and feeling?
Harav Yeshaya Yosef of Drohbovitz explained:
The purpose of tefillah is also to arouse the heart of a person to the knowledge that Hashem is the Master of everything. Tefillah in the heart is effective only to arouse the person while he is davening, but when he utters the tefillah with his lips, especially when he mentions the Name of Hashem, that hisorerus lasts in his heart even after the davening ends. As Chazal say (Megillah 27b) that until one walks four amos away from when the tefillah ends, it is still "sedurah tefillaso befiv," and his lips murmur the words of the tefillah. Therefore, we were commanded to utter the words, in order to continue the hisorerus of the heart.
This concept is alluded to in the words of the passuk here: "Motzae’ihem lemaseihem" – when a person utters the words of tefillah with his mouth, then with the power of speaking the tefillah that awakens him over and over, he makes great strides in his avodas Hashem.
Chazon Yeshayahu – Tefillah L’Ani
