Recognizing Our Smallness and Hashem’s Exaltedness
We have previously spoken about the idea—based in the words of Kadmonim—that the mitzvah of tefillah was designed so that a person internalizes how little he has on his own, and how much he must rely upon Hashem, Who has everything. The purpose of tefillah is to comprehend how small we are and to appreciate גדלות הבורא.
The sefarim hakedoshim teach us that we must approach tefillah with these two principles in mind—שפלות עצמו וגדלות הבורא—for it is upon these foundations that the institution of tefillah is predicated. Of course, there are many levels in how deeply a person can feel this, but the more he internalizes it, the more he will attain completeness.
The Purpose of Lack
We have also noted that the entire reason the Ribbono shel Olam created lack in the world—that people are always missing something—is for the sole purpose that they recognize they cannot do anything on their own but must turn to Hashem. This brings us to our שלימות.
Hashem has directly designed that we should constantly encounter difficult situations that challenge us. Here, we’re missing wisdom to make decisions; there, we’re missing money; then there’s another saga that causes us no end of heartache—and every time, we must learn that no eitzos in the world are effective, except our tefillah through which we turn to Hashem. All these difficulties stem from the fact that the Ribbono shel Olam is a טוב ומטיב, and He wants the ultimate good for us—and what is the best thing for us? The recognition that we’re dependent upon Him!
Food for the Soul
The Sefer HaKuzari writes these incredible words: “Tefillah is good for a person’s nefesh just as food is beneficial to his body.”
The analogy to food is very apt, as it enables us to understand the essence of tefillah. Just as a body that isn’t fed becomes ill and weak, and when we do feed it healthy food it becomes calm and serene—the same is true regarding tefillah and the nefesh. So long as the nefesh hasn’t received its dose of tefillah, it is hungry and thirsty. When we engage in tefillah properly—with praise and thanks, and with the recognition that our supplications are intended solely to recognize the truth of Who is in charge—this literally completes our soul!
The serenity that we feel after we have davened does not come from having unburdened our hearts, but from the closeness that we have attained to the Ribbono shel Olam. Our neshamah becomes illuminated with the light of Hashem, which provides sustenance to the soul.
He Craves Our Completeness
This serenity enables us to understand the sayings of Chazal that speak about the yearning of the Ribbono shel Olam for our tefillos, as the Gemara says (Yevamos 64a), הקב"ה מתאוה לתפילתן של צדיקים, HaKadosh Baruch Hu craves the tefillos of tzaddikim. Why, indeed, is that so? It is because tefillah brings us closer to completeness and closeness.
The sefer Pirkei Moshe (authored by Rav Moshe Almosnino of Salonika and Constantinople) asks why Pirkei Avos—which is a handbook for middos tovos and proper ways to live—contains an exhortation to take care in Krias Shema and tefillah. This would appear to be a halachic admonition. Why does it appear in Maseches Avos? Explains the Pirkei Moshe: The Tanna is teaching us here that the entire avodah of tefillah must be performed in a way that influences and permeates our entire lives. We should live and breathe the principles of tefillah throughout the rest of the day, even when we’re not davening.
With this he explains the aforementioned ma’amar Chazal teaching that HaKadosh Baruch Hu craves the tefillos of tzaddikim. He doesn’t need our tefillos, and He doesn’t need to be told what’s happening in our lives—rather, He craves our completeness. His yearning is that we should attain completeness and goodness. Through tefillah, we can attain completeness, and this is why the Ribbono shel Olam loves it so much.
Why Some People Belittle Tefillah
The Gemara (Berachos 6b) refers to tefillah as דברים העומדים ברומו של עולם ובני אדם מזלזלין בהם, things that stand at the core of the world and people belittle it. It is true that some people come late to davening, speak during davening, or in general skip through davening—but there’s something deeper here. Why, indeed, do some people belittle davening? The root of it is that we don’t properly appreciate how much sheleimus /completeness davening gives us, in the most literal sense.
If we daven the way we should, we become complete, and the more a person becomes complete, the more the creation around him is completed—and everything begins working better....
When a person talks during davening or doesn’t think about what he’s saying, or he doesn’t prepare himself properly for davening—it is because he hasn’t internalized what davening is. His improper actions are a byproduct of this lack. If this person could internalize the idea that proper tefillah brings completeness to the entire world, he would automatically not treat tefillah in a belittling way.
Rectifying All Worlds
There’s an incredible teaching of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the Zohar HaKadosh that sheds further light upon this most important aspect of tefillah:
When a person engages in tefillah, he repairs his guf and his nefesh, and he becomes complete. There are four rectifications that transpire through tefillah. The first is that this person himself becomes complete. The second is the rectification and the completion of This World. The third is the repair of all the Upper Worlds and all the Heavenly legions. And the fourth is the rectification of the Holy Name Itself, as it were. All the worlds, up and down, receive a proper rectification [through the prayer of a Yid].
According to what we have learned from the great tzaddikim, we now understand these words on a deeper level. For if we approach tefillah as a vending machine to attain our needs and desires, we won’t understand how it brings about a rectification of all the worlds—and even of the Holy Name Itself! But if we understand that tefillah is meant to teach us that we’re dependent wholly upon the Ribbono shel Olam, which brings a person to his completion, we can well understand how this brings the entire creation to its perfection.
Making the World a Better Place
All this applies to every Yid who moves—however slowly and steadily—in the right direction. If his emunah becomes even slightly clearer and more truthful, he has come closer to becoming a more complete person, and the world automatically comes closer to its own rectification, and a greater shefa comes down to This World.
This is how the world was designed: When a person completes himself, the entire creation becomes more complete. Indeed, Chazal tell us that a person was created the last of all creations for this reason: The entire creation depends on whether he will complete himself through tefillah. And for this reason, the Ribbono shel Olam yearns for our tefillos.
