Classic Concepts: Modeh Ani and Prayer
4
This is why a Jewish person immediately says ‘Modeh Ani’ when he wakes up in the morning, before he enters the world full of ‘water’. These words mean that he recognizes that his entire life is dependant on Hashem. He then continues with the morning Brochos, where he thanks Hashem for each of his necessities individually. Although it may seem that all of these necessities are already right there in front of him, and he need not bless Hashem for them, a Jew realizes that everything is constantly being recreated by Hashem, and he therefore must constantly be thankful for everything.
5
The Zohar brings an example of such practice from R’ Yaisa Saba. He had a custom to ask Hashem for food before he ate, even if the food was sitting on the table in front of him. Seemingly, if the food was already there, why was there a need to ask Hashem for it? According to what we just explained it is well understood. Everything is constantly being created by Hashem. This means that without Hashem recreating it, the object does not exist. Being that the existence of the object is completely dependant on Hashem’s recreation of it, it makes perfect sense to pray for it even when it is already there, for the prayer is asking Hashem to renew it again and again.
6
Prayer creates an awareness in a Jew that the world around him is actually pure G-dliness. Anything that he sees in the world would not exist without the force of Hashem constantly recreating it. This would indicate that the purpose of every single creation is solely to bring honor to Hashem. With this in mind, a Jew is able to enter the world and be certain that none of the distractions will affect him in a bad way, for he realizes what they actually are there for.
7
Before one Davens, being that he has still not come to this deeper realization of what the purpose of every creation is, he is still under the impression that the world is an existence of its own. With this type of attitude, a person thinks that if he is unsure whether a specific action is wrong, it’s no problem to go ahead with it. This is due to the fact that in reality, he lives in a physical world. Spirituality is still only an added factor in his eyes. Once he Davens and comes to realize that in essence, everything is G-dliness. Therefore, even if something would be technically ‘permissible’, if it serves no purpose in his service of Hashem, he will stay away from it. As the famous Chsidic saying goes, ‘Something that is not allowed is certainly not allowed, and those things that are allowed, are unnecessary’.
