The Saba Kadisha of Radoshitz, in his sefer, Niflaos (volume 1, pages 21–22), recorded an amazing story about the formulation of the Noam Elimelech’s “Prayer Before Praying”.
The story goes like this:
When he was a child, the Saba Kadisha was once visiting Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk. He was talking with Chassidim from the Rebbe’s inner circle in front of the Rebbe’s home when several extremely tall men came and hurried into the house. When they reached the doorway, they had to stoop down to enter since they were so unusually tall. The holy Rebbe closed the door behind them before the Chassidim could catch a glimpse of their faces. They waited outside until the visitors left to see if they could recognize them. Again, the Chassidim were astonished when the men left. They did so in such a hurry that they could not make out the men’s features and just saw their backs; they left so fast they almost vanished. The Chassidim realized that something unusual had just taken place, and they decided to investigate and find out what had occurred.
The elder Chassidim among them approached the Rebbe and asked him to explain the strange incident. This is what the Rebbe told them:
“When I realized that most people cannot concentrate properly on their tefillos anymore due to the awesome burdens of earning a livelihood, and they lack the time and the understanding to concentrate fully, I decided to rewrite the standard formula for the tefillos. I would write a new, short and concise version that would be equally understood and grasped by everyone.
“The holy Members of the Great Assembly, the Anshei Knesses HaGedola (the original authors of the standard tefillos from the time of the Talmud), realized what I intended. They came here to ask me not to change even one tefilla from their established formula. I took their counsel and discussed the matter with them. They advised me to establish a tefilla to daven before the formal tefilla service. This would help anyone who lacks the concentration and proper devotions that are necessary for all formal tefillos.” This “tefilla before tefillos” is the Yehi Rotzon tefilla printed in many siddurim in the name of Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk.
(MiPeninei Noam Elimelech, p. 315).
