It states in this week's parashah (28:2) תשמרו להקריב לי במועדו, "Be scrupulous to offer [the korbanos] to Me in its appointed time."
The Sfas Emes (5647) says that תשמרו can also be translated as waiting (see Bereishis 37:11). תשמרו להקריב לי במועדו means we should wait the entire day for the time when we can bring the korbanos. Today, tefillah takes the place of korbanos (see Brachos 26:). Therefore, Sfas Emes writes, "The entire day should be of secondary importance; a person's focus should be tefillah." תשמרו, wait for those times of tefillah. Tefillah should be the highlight of your day, with the rest of the day utilized to prepare for this important time.
Reb Aryeh Leib Epstein zt'l wrote the following letter to Reb Yonason Eibshitz (printed in Pardes, year 5519), "I heard that on Rosh Hashanah your Shemonah Esrei takes two hours, almost until kriyas haTorah, but on a regular weekday, people told me, you don't daven long. Therefore, I request that you teach me your ways so I will know how to conduct myself."
Reb Yonason replied in a letter, "It is true [that during a regular weekday] due to my obligation to study Torah and many other obligations throughout the day, I need rachmei Shamayim and a lot of effort to daven properly... Nevertheless, my davening isn't that quick. Generally, when the congregation says Kaddish after Aleinu, I'm still in the middle of Shemonah Esrei. Although some young people laugh at me, I'm not ashamed. From all my toil and everything I do, the highlight of my day is the hour I stand before the One Who hears all prayers."
Reb Yonason Eibshitz was a genius in all areas of the Torah. We have many sefarim from him (יערת דבש, אורים ותומים, כרתי ופלתי and several others). Nevertheless, he testifies that the peak of his day was that hour he stood before Hashem in tefillah. This is what the Torah tells us, תשמרו, we should await those special moments of tefillah.
The Kuzari writes (3:5), "The time of tefillah should be the heart and the fruit of your day. The rest of the day should be paths leading up to this time. Yearn for these special moments when you become spiritual and distant from gashmiyos [when you stand before Hashem in tefillah]. Food nourishes you from one meal to the next. Similarly, tefillah should nourish your soul from one tefillah until the next."
The standard definition of the word לחם means bread or war, but לחם has another translation. It also means to connect. (For example, הלחמה means to solder, to connect.)
It states (Yeshayah 55:7) יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו וישוב אל ה' וירחמהו, "The rasha should give up his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts, and he shall return to Hashem, and Hashem will have mercy on him."
The Midrash (Vayeira Rabba 3:3, see Matnos Kehunah) says that we should read וירחמהו as וילחמהו, connect, and the pasuk says that when one does teshuvah, he becomes connected to Hashem.
The korbanos are called לחמי because the korbanos connect the Yid to Hashem. Today, the לחמי are our tefillos. It is when we turn our eyes and hearts to Hashem for all our needs and connect to Hashem.
The clerk laughed at him. "This isn't a store. People aren't buying packages here. They paid the store to send the merchandise. They are paying for the delivery, not for the items."
The nimshal is that people think their hishtadlus brings them their parnassah. Parnassah comes from tefillah, when one pours his heart out before Hashem. The hishtadlus can be compared to the few coins we pay for the delivery.
The following mashal is repeated in the name of the Dubno Magid zt'l:
There was once a kind king who permitted his citizens to come to him to request their needs from him. Anyone could come to the palace to speak to the king.
A problem arose when one person kept returning to the palace, disturbing the king. So, the king instructed his guards not to let this man in anymore. The guards were stationed at the palace's main entrance, but this man found an unguarded side entrance; he just entered through that door.
The king set up guards at the second entrance, but the palace had many entryways, and despite the many guards, this man always found a way to get inside.
A wise man told the king, "Instead of posting so many guards at the palace, appoint one guard to stand in front of that person's house, to prevent him from leaving his house. He won't come to the palace if he can't leave his house."
The nimshal is that a person wants to come to the King of the world with tefillah; he wants to come every day. The yetzer hara tries to prevent this, so he sets up guards that prevent the person from davening. The guards take on various forms. In one beis medresh, the yetzer hara arranges that people should speak during the tefillah, and he can't daven there with kavanah. In another beis medresh, the yetzer hara has them daven very quickly, and he doesn't succeed in davening there with kavanah, either. When he goes to a kever of a tzaddik, hoping that perhaps he can daven with kavanah there, the yetzer hara will make sure that he meets his enemy there — someone who disturbs him or laughs at him — so he won't be able to daven there either. In short, wherever one wants to daven, the yetzer hara placed a guard there, to prevent him.
But then the yetzer hara is clever. He says, "Why should I set up so many guards? I will appoint one guard and have the guard stand in the man's heart. I'll prevent him from opening his heart to Hashem, and then he won't be able to daven."
Everyone has this guard standing in his heart, but there is hope. When one davens with hislahavus and fervor, even if it is just external fervor, it pushes away the guard and enables his heart to open up in prayer before Hashem.
- The Brisker Rav zt'l said to his son, Reb Refael zt'l, "I hope that in the merit that I toil all day in Torah that I will be able to daven well."
- Bread is called לחם because it connects the body to the soul, so they don't detach from each other. Likewise, the korbanos are called לחמי קרבני because they connect Klal Yisrael to their Father in heaven.
- A poor, unemployed man didn't have anything particular to do with his day, so he spent a morning in the post office. He watched someone give a clerk a relatively small sum of money, and the clerk gave him an expensive package. Such exchanges occurred several times that morning. The poor person decided he would do the same. He collected some money, gave it to the clerk, and asked for an expensive package.