5. 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."
6. 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.
7. 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.
The Sfas Emes (5647) says that תשמרו can also be translated as waiting (see Bereishis 37:11). במועדו לי להקריב תשמרו 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 (דבש יערת ,ותומים אורים ,ופלתי כרתי 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), און ואיש דרכו רשע יעזוב וירחמהו 'ה אל וישוב מחשבותיו, "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.
