These Yidden lived סמיכת גאולה לתפילה! They felt so indebted to the Ribbono shel Olam, and for this reason they felt comfortable supplicating Him... because “Since He’s always with me, and He wants my good even more than I want it, because He loves me more than if I were an only child, of course I can ask him for everything I want. I will supplicate with humility and bashfulness that the kugel should turn out delicious... that my son should have a good day in cheder....”
This emanated from the greatest sincerity and wholesomeness.
Halevai that we—with all of our studying the topic of tefillah and our work on this subject—should approach a fraction of their natural and original temimus... that we shouldn’t feel entitled to anything. Our avodah is to appreciate the chessed of Hashem, and the more we appreciate it, the more our tefillah is accompanied by the proper emotions and attitude that “the Ribbono shel Olam knows what I need, and He gave me this lack only so I should become closer to Him.”
