Perspectives on Tefillah

Three perspectives on tefillah. The first perspective, the Mishnah says in Berachos that העושה תפלתו קבע אין תפלתו תחנונים. The Gemara has a few different peshatim as to what it means haoseh tefillaso keva. And one of them is that it's domeh alav kemasoi. That that a person experiences tefillah as a as a burden. The Rambam quotes in quoting this peshat, so the Rambam says:

לא יעשה תפלתו כמי שהיה נושא משאוי ומשליכו והולך לו.

Right? And if if you're carrying around a a very heavy knapsack, so as soon as you get somewhere where you can take the knapsack off, so right away you you dump the knapsack as as quick as you possibly can to relieve yourself of that burden. So that's the imagery which Chazal, the Rambam following Chazal, is using:

לא יעשה תפלתו כמי שהיה נושא משאוי ומשליכו והולך לו.

A person shouldn't shouldn't be looking to to extricate himself and and get away from it. But I sort of took that that the line in the Rambam out of context. Now I'll let's read the entire halacha. The entire halacha actually appears towards the end of Perek Daled here in Hilchos Tefillah and and the halacha reads as follows. We'll try to read it from from start to finish: כיצד היא הכוונה שיפנה את לבו מכל המחשבות. What is kavanah? That a person should clear his heart of all thoughts: ויראה עצמו כאילו הוא עומד לפני השכינה. He should see himself standing in the presence of the Shechinah. Lefichach, consequently, צריך לישב מעט קודם התפילה כדי לכוון את לבו. Person has to sit quietly a little bit before davening in order to focus, in order to master concentration: ואחר כך יתפלל בנחת ובתחנונים. Afterwards he should daven slowly, imploring Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And now the Rambam, here's the line that that we read before:

לא יעשה תפלתו כמי שהיה נושא משאוי ומשליכו והולך לו.

Rambam continues: לפיכך צריך לישב מעט אחר התפילה ואחר כך יפטר. Therefore a person is supposed to again sit, spend a little bit of time after tefillah and only then take his leave.

חסידים הראשונים היו שוהים שעה אחת קודם תפילה ושעה אחת לאחר תפילה ומאריכין בתפילה שעה.

So what's so remarkable about this Rambam and it's it's so blatant is that the Rambam strings together the din of kavanah with this din of haoseh tefillaso keva that a person relates to tefillah as though it were a masoi, as though it were a burden. So I think we certainly would have distinguished the two very very sharply. We would have said kavanah means when you're davening, to do what we don't do, to to to focus on the davening and to have a sense of of what you're doing. That that's one din. And then there's another din, there's another din of of of attitude here, that one shouldn't relate to tefillah as a burden. And the Rambam, one continuum here, beneshimah achas, the Rambam talks about the din of domeh alav kemasoi, the Rambam puts in the halacha of kavanah. Halo davar hu. So let's reread the beginning of the halacha:

כיצד היא הכוונה שיפנה את לבו מכל המחשבות ויראה עצמו כאילו הוא עומד לפני השכינה.

The essence of kavanah, kayaduah, the Rambam explains, is that sense of being omed lifnei haShechinah. Here the Rambam says a tremendous chiddush rabbosai, tremendous chiddush. That one's tefillah is כאילו עומד לפני השכינה is not only measured and determined by where one's thoughts are during davening, whether one's tefillah is כאילו עומד לפני השכינה is not only measured and determined by a person's conduct and focus during tefillah, but is also measured by what a person does after the tefillah as well. If a person was omed lifnei hashchina, he doesn't go dashing out. The going dashing out, the domeh alav k'mishoi is a stirah to omed lifnei hashchina. If a person has an audience in the White House, a person doesn't go dashing out, a person doesn't go dashing out and slamming the door behind him. It's not going to be, it's omed lifnei hashchina. First of all, the yiras hakavod which that entails, the sense of privilege which one should have is contradicted by an attitude of domeh lo k'mishoi. Give a משל למה הדבר דומה, another place in halacha where you have such an example. The Mishna says in Sukkah that yordu geshomim so a person leaves the sukkah. And the Mishna says me'aimasai mutar lifanos? At what point, how heavy does the rain have to be in order for a person to leave the sukkah? Mishetisrach hamikpah. If you have a dish of, what do they translate, mikpah shel gerisin or of grits or whatever, and there's enough water, enough rainwater coming through the schach that it would get spoiled. Okay, so in one way or another the Rishonim are all wrestling with the following question: why do we give a standard food? Why not say mishetisrach whatever you happen to be eating? If you happen to be eating a piece of chicken, so it should depend upon mishetisrach ha'of, if you're eating kugel, it should be mishetisrach hakugel, and why is it that we're measuring things by mishetisrach hamikpah and specifically mikpah shel gerisin? So the Ran has an answer as follows. The Ran says that the truth is, again this is not what it says in Shulchan Aruch, that the truth is that the shiur for leaving the sukkah, it requires a heavier rainfall than simply being mitzta'er. It requires more rain to leave the sukkah than would exempt you from going into the sukkah in the first place, the Ran says. And why is that? Because the Ran says to not go into the sukkah, okay, so you look outdoors, you see there's enough rain coming in that you'd be mitzta'er in the sukkah, or you see there's enough rain coming in that whatever you want to eat would get spoiled in the sukkah. Okay, so you're mitzta'er. Once you're in the sukkah, there's a concern that in leaving the sukkah you can be nireh k'meva'et besukkaso. Once you're already in the sukkah and it's a question of leaving the sukkah, so then you're potentially, there's a sensitivity here that in leaving the sukkah you shouldn't look like you're meva'et besukkaso, like it's good riddance to the sukkah. Where did the Ran get this idea about that by Sukkah even when a person leaves he shouldn't be nireh k'meva'et besukkaso? From the famous Gemara in the beginning of Avodah Zarah, right? When the אומות העולם לעתיד לבוא will come to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and they'll ask for schar, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu will tell them what are you asking for schar, you didn't do anything, you're not entitled to schar. And one of the tainos that the אומות העולם will have is כלום כפית עלינו הר כגיגית? If you would have forced us to be mekabel Torah the way you forced Klal Yisrael, so then we would have also been mekabel Torah and then we would also be entitled to schar. So really that's a tainah shel hevel because היום לעשותם ומחר לקבל שכרם, that le'asid lavo it's going to be too late to earn schar. But

אף על פי כן אין הקדוש ברוך הוא בא בטרוניא עם בריותיו,

Hakadosh Baruch Hu says okay, I'll break the rules, I'll give you another chance. And he gives them מצווה קלה יש לי, I have an easy mitzvah for you to fulfill. And he gives them mitzvat Sukkah. Then the Gemara says הקדוש ברוך הוא מוציא חמה מנרתיקה, Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees to it that there's a chamsin and that it's very hot. So then they run out of the sukkah to go back to their air-conditioned rooms. So the Gemara says so what's so terrible? מצטער פטור מן הסוכה. So why are they why are they that that is unpardonable and that's why they'll be flunking the test. So that's where the Ran is getting the idea in terms of being mevaet basukkah. What is this idea of being mevaet basukkah? Well, why is it that you find it here more than by other mitzvos? So the pshat is as follows: that the ikar mitzvah of sukkah, so we make a mistake. The ikar mitzvah of sukkah is not really to eat in the sukkah, is not really to sleep in the sukkah. The ikar mitzvah of sukkah is עשה סוכתך קבע ודירתך עראי. A person has to show during the shivas yemei Sukkos that this is my house. Okay, so what are the primary activities which we associate with our homes? Achilah, sheinah. So mimmiela, that's why there's such a stress on achilah and sheinah. It's not that the mitzvah is achilah per se, it's not sheinah per se, it's בסכות תשבו שבעת ימים. I have to demonstrate that this is my house. How do I demonstrate this is my house? So the two most primary activities are achilah and sheinah. So now, chozer venisbonen. So the ikar mitzvah of sukkah again is through my actions to demonstrate that this is my home. Asei dirasscha keva, tzei mideiras keva, shev diras arai, but this is my teshvu k'ein taduru, this is my home for the week. So haga atzmecha, let's say the heat would break down, Rachmana litzlan, and a person would have to leave his home to seek shelter elsewhere because it's too cold. So you think he'd slam the door behind him? And you think he'd kick the door and say good riddance? No, a person would leave very unhappily that he has to leave his home. If a person is mevaet besukkaso, so that gufe undermines his whole yeshivas sukkah. Here too, the mitzvah sukkah can be contradicted by what a person's doing after the fact. Even when it's pouring so hard that you have to go into the house, if a person goes into the house the wrong way, in a way that is being mevaet besukkaso, so that after the fact is contradicting and undermining his yeshivas sukkah. That's why there's this special inyan of mevaet besukkaso. So too here in our context, the Rambam is telling us a tremendous chiddush. A person can focus during Shemoneh Esrei and can really have a sense of omed lifnei haShechinah. If he mamash runs out afterwards, that's a stirah. That contradicts the omed lifnei haShechinah of his Shemoneh Esrei because hayitachen? No one runs out from the Shechinah. It's not consistent with the yiras hakavod that being omed lifnei haShechinah obligates. It's not consistent with the sense of privilege that being omed lifnei haShechinah necessitates. So that's what the Rambam learns pshat here, that the domeh alav kemassa taki is part of the din kavanah because the din kavanah is that tefillah should be an experience of omed lifnei haShechinah. Omed lifnei haShechinah, again, as in our mashal from yeshivas sukkah, just as asei sukkascha keva is measured not only by what I do in the sukkah, but how I leave the sukkah, so too my omed lifnei haShechinah is measured not only by what I'm doing, what I'm focusing on, what I'm saying, how I'm saying it during the sha'as tefillah, but it's also measured by how I leave from tefillah. Does the Rambam mean mamash that a person could retroactively really posel his tefillah? I don't know, but he certainly can be pogem in the tefillah, he certainly impugns the tefillah. So that's one perspective on tefillah and the wake of tefillah. Another perspective on tefillah: the main part of tefillah is bakashah. That's true not only during the weekday tefillah, it's true on Shabbos and Yom Tov as well, it's just a different type of bakashah. But that's the centerpiece of davening is bakashah. Why is that a form of avodah? It seems to be, if anything, self-gratification. This is what I want from Aleph through Tav. What's the avoda she-b'lev shebo, what's the דברים העומדים ברומו של עולם? A person comes to the Ribono shel Olam with his long shopping list. So the teretz is as follows. Imagine a child going with a parent to a toy store. So he says, Abba, Imma, you know buy me this, buy me that, please buy me this, please buy me this. So why doesn't he just buy for himself? Why does he have to go through the trouble of asking his parents and trying to convince his parents? Let him buy it himself. So the answer is they have this magical plastic card and wherever one gets it, he doesn't have this magical plastic card, so he can't buy it. So when a person asks, there's an acknowledgment that a person can't do for himself. What I can do for myself, I don't have to ask. I don't have to ask someone else to do. I don't have to ask anyone to pick up the Rambam. I can do it myself. טוט מען נישט קיין טובות. I don't have to ask, I'm not dependent. The ikkar of tefillah, the reason bakasha is what's so paramount in tefillah is not because of the gratification she-bo, but it's rather because of the in the first beracha it's explicit, and all the other berachos at least at the outset it's implicit rather than explicit. The ikkar of the bakasha is the awareness and acknowledgment of אתה חונן לאדם דעת ומלמד לאנוש בינה. It's not the channeinu. The ikkar of the significance of bakashas tzrachav is that acknowledgment and that awareness that Ribono shel Olam, I'm asking you channeinu me-itcha because I know that you exclusively אתה חונן לאדם דעת. And I'm asking you Ribono shel Olam hashiveinu avinu l'torasecha without the siyata d'shmaya it's not going to happen. So the ikkar then of tefillah is the sense of total and absolute dependence that a person has upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Again, obviously not to the exclusion of the hishtadlus we're supposed to make, of whatever human initiative there is, but that in no way diminishes the absolute and total dependence that a person has on Hakadosh Baruch Hu and that's why bakashas tzrachim is just so, so crucial and so central. That's perspective number two. Perspective number three on tefillah. I think towards the beginning of his sefer She'arim B'tefillah Rav Pincus talks about this. I think he gives a mashal, I don't remember whether he gives this mashal, maybe something like it, I don't remember. He says imagine that you win $500 of free groceries from a kosher supermarket and they deliver it to your doorstep. Everything you need from all the staples, ice cream, and chocolate cake. Everything a person needs for a well-balanced diet. And then it's delivered to your doorstep. He says ella mai, but they deliver it to your doorstep. If you don't open the door, so then the whole beracha of winning the free groceries is not going to be realized, it's going to be squandered. So he explains that in sefarim, the idea is presented that even when as it were Hakadosh Baruch Hu has already decided to impart beracha, tefillah is necessary to open the door, to open the gates, to open the tzinoros through which the beracha can come down to us. Again, even as it were kavyachol that it's not that we have to change ourselves to merit the beracha, but even when the beracha is already forthcoming, but tefillah is what opens the door that the beracha can come into our lives. So those are the three perspectives of tefillah. They're they're all independently important, but there is a certain convergence, and that convergence is something is is the following. If only we would stop and think, one of the most incomprehensible and nonsensical forms and and inappropriate forms of behavior is running out of shul mamash the second davening ends, and על אחת כמה וכמה before davening ends. It's a stira gluya to tefillah, to omed lifnei hashchina. That's the Rambam's chiddush in presenting the דומה לעבד לפני רבו in the halacha of kavana. A person can impugn, can spoil his kavana after the fact. It's a remarkable, remarkable explanation of the Rambam. Tefillah is supposed to express a person's awareness of dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but the tefillah has to be compressed into only so many minutes because I have so much that I have to do. I can't really allocate the full time that the minyan takes, however long that is, because I'm so busy. So busy doing what? Anything in life that that I'm running to do. So the whole point of the tefillah was that without the siyata d'shmaya I can't think, and and without thinking I can't do anything. So what what am I I'm running to do whatever it is, unless it's a Hatzalah call, what am I running to do? It's also an open stira to to what what tefillah is. Tefillah again is is an expression of our awareness of total dependence, of אתה חונן לאדם דעת, that we're dependent upon you כי קל מלך חזק אתה, and refaeinu and barech aleinu. So whatever it is I'm running to do, if I'm gonna accomplish anything by running there, it's only with the siyata d'shmaya. So how can it be that that I'm running out from from tefillah? And finally, again, in very much the same vein, whatever it is I'm running to, whatever bracha it is that I'm trying to bring into my life by running out, it's tefillah which brings bracha into a person's life. This is probably a very good example, one way to to think of growth in avodas Hashem is in dispelling blind spots. Most of us have have blind spots. Dehainu, the pshat in a blind spot is is sometimes you can get into a fender-bender or something, you see what it is, but you I don't know you had a yetzer hara to try to switch lanes even though you knew it was gonna be a little close and you have a yetzer hara to try to switch lanes, or whatever it is, sometimes you just mamash didn't see. That's a blind spot. We're so caught up in in everything that that that we're doing, in everything that we have to do, that we're simply blind rachmana litzlan to to what tefillah is and the role of tefillah in our lives. If we had the least bit of appreciation for tefillah is omed lifnei hashchina, so then what the Rambam says is just so it's a tremendous chiddush of the Rambam, but as as the Rav says, the test of a chiddush is just how obvious it is. And if we understood again that the role of tefillah in terms of it expresses dependence and it's the biggest stirah to tefillah to Ribbono shel Olam I have to run to the office, I have to run to—even to run to seder is a stirah to tefillah, it's not just to run to the office. A person has to choose a minyan that he won't have to run out to get to seder. Running out to seder is also a stirah when we do it. The other and with this we'll close you have a parallel phenomenon again at least tefillah in the sense of opening the tzinnos of bracha when the bracha is already waiting to be delivered and we're running away from tefillah to try to get the bracha. We're running away from tefillah prematurely. You have a similar again it's a blind spot. There's no it's a blind spot. You have a similar phenomenon by Shabbos. People are always cheshboning what's the first possible second to make havdalah? What's the first possible—when one of the biggest aveiros that can be committed is when if Maariv is davened two minutes later than the announced time because that's going to set everyone's plans back by two minutes. So here too Shabbos is a mekor habracha. Shabbos is a mekor habracha. Who doesn't who's not looking for bracha in every aspect of their lives? Shabbos is the mekor habracha and we run away instead of trying to hold on a little bit longer so we're cheshboning we have to make sure that we have the luach to know what the earliest possible zman is.