This same degree of distinction applies to the tzaddik’s quality of prayer (davening).
We know that the effectiveness of prayer is dependent primarily on how much kavanah (intention) is invested in one’s prayers.
There are people who say the words of prayer but do not put much heart into them. Then there are people who daven with much more kavanah. Students of the Baal Shem Tov, for example, would get so excited and emotional when they davened, they would dance and sing and wave their arms in all directions as an expression of the intensity of their connection to G-d during prayer.
The Baal Shem Tov himself once said that every time he prayed, he considered it a miracle that he was still alive when his davening was over.
Stimulated by his prayer, his level of love and his yearning to connect to G-d was so intense, he didn’t know how his soul was able to stay in his body.
When he davened, the spiritual energy elicited by the Alter Rebbe was so powerful, he would often stumble into the walls around him when his connection to G-d reached its peak. His followers would even cushion the walls of the shul (synagogue) where he davened to keep him from bruising himself during prayer.
If a person doesn’t know what davening is all about, he might think someone praying with a huge outward display of emotion is peculiar, particularly if the person’s expressions seem out of control. But a person who understands the true nature of davening would realize and appreciate that the person was experiencing an emotional connection with G-d too deep to be contained in subtlety. Then, all the movements and gesticulating would not only make perfect sense, they would be viewed with respect and admiration.
The Baal Shem Tov once explained this with an analogy. “If a deaf person were to walk into a wedding hall,” he said, “and see all the people wildly waving their arms and feet in all directions, he would think that everyone in that room had gone insane. But a person who could hear the music would see the whole picture and understand the beauty and perfection of the dancing.”
Although this type of physical expression in davening is not prevalent today, the measure of one’s greatness in davening is still determined by the level of one’s sincere excitement and intention. And a tzaddik’s level of emotion and love for G-d during prayer is much greater and higher than what the ordinary person would ever experience in a lifetime.
