In addition, it is also important for us to take some time to prepare our bodies for the avodah of davening. It is very beneficial to go to a mikveh before Shacharis in order to purify our physical form and reconnect to the incredible light of our neshamos. Similarly, as is mentioned in halachah, it is necessary for us to try to go to the bathroom before we pray. When we daven, our bodies become a merkavah (vessel) for kedushah. Thus, we should make sure that this vessel is clean and holy. We want to feel good as we daven, and if the body is very heavy, it makes it hard to attach ourselves to the inspiration of tefillah.
Because of this, some people spend a lot of time trying to purify their bodies. They want their system to be completely empty so that they are truly prepared for the light of davening. In this sichah, Rebbe Nachman teaches us how to approach this subject in a healthy way.
He explains that, although the preparation of the body for davening is important, we shouldn’t get too involved in it. We should certainly go to the mikveh, but this doesn’t need to take more than 15-20 minutes. We should try to go to the bathroom, but we shouldn’t spend so much time trying to make our physical form perfect, since Hashem doesn’t expect this from us, and anyways, complete perfection is unattainable.
Instead, we should learn the halachos regarding this subject and follow the main pesak halachah. We shouldn’t be nervous or have doubts about whether we’re really ready to daven or not. These thoughts are just a trick of the yetzer hara to cause us confusion and take us away from the amazing avodah of tefillah.
In fact, Rebbe Nachman even says that we can rely on the more lenient opinions of halachah under difficult circumstances. Obviously, in normal situations we have to be careful to fulfill the simple halachah, but in any case, we shouldn’t go beyond the “letter of law” in this area. Rather, as it says in this sichah: “A person should daven right away after he gets out of bed. If it is possible for him to go to the bathroom easily, then he should do so, and if not – not, and he should daven the way he is.”
