Perspectives on Tefilla

Chazal defined Tefila as Avoda she-ba-lev. But what does that phrase mean? So there are different understandings in the Rishonim. Commenting on the Mishna in Pirkei Avot, you have it in the second source in front of you, that Shimon HaTzadik היה משיירי אנשי כנסת הגדולה. He was one of the last of that group known as the Men of the Great Assembly, the Anshei Knesset HaGedola. hu haya omer, he would habitually say, על שלושה דברים העולם עומד. The world is sustained in the merit of our involvement in three areas: al ha-Torah, al ha-Avoda, and ve-al gemilut chasadim. Rabbeinu Yona comments on Avoda as follows in source number three: הקדוש ברוך הוא בחר בישראל מכל האומות. Hakadosh Baruch Hu from all the nations of the world, He chose Kelal Yisrael. From the entire cosmos, He chose Eretz Yisrael. Within Eretz Yisrael, He chose Yerushalayim. And within Yerushalayim, He chose Har HaBayit, as the pasuk says: כי בחר ה׳ בציון אווה למושב לו. Hakadosh Baruch Hu chose Tzion, ke-vi-yachol He desired it as a resting place, as a home for himself, ke-vi-yachol. ובחר מכל בבית הבחירה. And above all, the choicest place in the entire briya is the Beit HaMikdash. And why is that? Bishvil ha-Avoda, because that's where the Avoda, that's where korbanot were offered. So הנה לך כי מפני העבודה נברא כל העולם כולו. The entire briya finds its fulfillment in our engaging in Avoda, Avodat Korbanot. Oz be-chata-einu, Rabbeinu Yona continues, חרב מקדש ובטלה העבודה. As a result of our sins, the Mikdash was destroyed and until it's rebuilt bimhera be-yameinu, the Avoda has been discontinued. So how does the world function now? How does the world continue? והתפילה אלינו עכשיו במקומה. The substitute, the religious equivalent of Avodat HaMikdash is when we daven. והתפילה אלינו עכשיו במקומה, ke-mo she-amru Chazal: u-le-ovdo be-chol levavchem, איזוהי עבודה שבלב הוי אומר זו תפילה. So according to Rabbeinu Yona, it's clear that within the phrase Avoda she-ba-lev, the word Avoda should be associated specifically with the Avoda in the Beit HaMikdash. And what it means is that the equivalent of the Avoda in the Beit HaMikdash happens, instead of through korbanot in the Beit HaMikdash, ba-lev. So that's what Avoda she-ba-lev represents for Rabbeinu Yona. The Rambam doesn't really tell us what his understanding of Avoda she-ba-lev is, but it's pretty clear that it's not Rabbeinu Yona's. If you backtrack to source number one, so the Rambam also quotes this meimar Chazal, מצוות עשה להתפלל בכל יום. It's a mitzva to daven daily, shene-emar: ועבדתם את ה׳ אלוהיכם. Mi-pi ha-shmua, from the Torah she-ba'al peh, the oral tradition, lamdu she-avoda zo, that the Avoda, the service, the worship, the form of worship that the Torah refers to here is Tefila. ve-ne-emar: u-le-ovdo be-chol levavchem, amru chachamim: איזוהי עבודה שבלב זו היא תפילה. If you continue and you read through the balance of Halacha Alef, Halacha Bet, Halacha Gimmel, there's no allusion, no reference to korbanot, the Beit HaMikdash, to any kind of equivalence between Tefila and what happens in the Beit HaMikdash. So the Rambam in no way indicates that's his understanding of Avoda she-ba-lev. What we're going to discuss now is not being fully documented, but there are other sources that we don't necessarily have the time for which do substantiate, but the Rambam's understanding seems to be as follows. Let's perhaps move to the next word in the phrase, ba-lev. So we generally translate lev as heart, and that is a... For instance, when the Rambam in Hilchos Avoda Zara tells us what the lav of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם in the third parsha of Krias Shema, so we recite the pasuk לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם. You shouldn't wander, you shouldn't be led astray by levavchem. So the Rambam says that that prohibits us from being undisciplined in our thinking and gratuitously entertaining and conjuring up all kinds of thoughts which contradict the foundations of emunah. That a person shouldn't go achar machshavos libo after the thoughts of his lev. So it's clear and the Rambam says this explicitly that one of the meanings of lev alongside the meaning of heart is that lev also means the mind, thought. Avodah shebelev for the Rambam is avodah doesn't have for the Rambam in this context isn't supposed to have that more narrow connotation as it does for Rabbeinu Yonah. Don't associate it specifically and narrowly with the Beis Hamikdash. Avodah means service, worship of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Which mitzvah is it that represents serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu not through actions but through thought? Avodah shebelev means that the core of the mitzvah of tefillah is to be thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's the core of the mitzvah of tefillah. It's avodah, it's a form of serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu, how belev? Which plays out not through physical action and movement, but it's avodah, it's a form of service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu which plays out belev, which plays out in the mind through thought. Or in other words, the core, the essence of mitzvas tefillah is to be thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now it's true Chazal then, the Torah already and Chazal amplified it for us, they sort of guide our thinking and to focus our thinking we have to articulate it, but the core, the essence of tefillah is avodah, it's a form of serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu belev. It's possible, I know it from looking in the mirror, hopefully you only know it from other sources, it's possible for a person to be very busy, very preoccupied, at times maybe even preoccupied with Torah and mitzvos, but not to be mindful of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. To not even having a passing, fleeting thought of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And על אחת כמה וכמה when one's obligations involve the mundane preoccupations, it's certainly susceptible to that. The mitzvah of tefillah according to the Rambam, the Torah by requiring that we daven, so the Torah says that we have to block out time to think about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's what the heart and the essence and the core of tefillah is. Again, so in terms of thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, okay, so we engage in a dialogue, we say words of praise, words of bakasha, words of hoda'ah, but the core, the essence is it ensures that a person blocks out time to be thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Otherwise one's routine, again even if it's a routine which is halevai and halevai that it is, which is full of Torah and mitzvos, but a routine, it can become routinized, it can become mechanized. When a person davens properly, it ensures, it anchors, it anchors one that one has devoted some time to thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The Rambam tells us, he continues tells us, perhaps move on to another point, provide a try to gain another perspective on tefillah. Rambam tells us that the de'oraisa of tefillah doesn't specify. But the format that the Torah does give us is the format, the structure for tefillah, and that's the format that we know from our Shmoneh Esrei as well; you begin with shevach, you begin with words of praise for Hakadosh Baruch Hu, you follow that with bakasha, with requests, with petitioning Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and finally we conclude with hoda'ah, with expressing our thanks to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now within that structure of shevach, bakasha and hoda'ah, so the most center piece of that is the bakasha, and I don't mean that just literally because it's first shevach, then bakasha and finally hoda'ah, but it's the bakasha which is central to tefillah. One can see that in many sources, maybe I'll just read you a comment of Rashi, I'm sorry it's actually not in the sourcesheet in front of you. Rashi is explaining, he's quoting the Yerushalmi which explains what the idea of smichas geulah l'tefillah is. The idea that both in Shacharis and in Maariv, so we first say Birkas Krias Shema specifically culminating in the bracha of Ga'al Yisrael, and then we segue directly without any interruption into the Amidah, into Shmoneh Esrei. So the Yerushalmi explains and says that

יהא אדם מקרב להקדוש ברוך הוא אליו ומרצהו בתשבחות וקילוסין של יציאת מצרים.

A person as it were kavyachol should draw Hakadosh Baruch Hu close to him and should try to find favor with Hakadosh Baruch Hu by saying words of praise and specifically about yetzias Mitzrayim, v'hu miskarev eilav and that achieves the desired effect that again kavyachol it narrows that distance, it brings us closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu ובעודו קרוב אליו יש לו לדבר צרכיו and then given that closeness, given that proximity so now we're positioned to ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu for what we need. So it's clear that the essence of the tefillah is the bakasha and the shevach is the preliminary. A person can't just barge in kavyachol to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and say Hakadosh Baruch Hu: "this is what I want." A person has to begin with words of shevach, but the essence of the core of tefillah, the central element is the bakasha. The question is why is that so religiously significant? Again tefillah Chazal tell us is one of the things which is omed, one of the דברים העומדים ברומו של עולם. Tefillah is one of something very very exalted. Within tefillah the central element is bakasha. But why is that something so exalted? It just looks like we're looking for self-gratification. We come to Hakadosh Baruch Hu here's my shopping list and please I want free delivery also not only do I want shopping but I also want free delivery. It would seem if anything that the shevach and hoda'ah without bakasha would be more should be more meaningful. If one praises Hakadosh Baruch Hu and then there isn't a follow-up bakasha, okay it seems to be a more altruistic praise. If one thanks Hakadosh Baruch Hu not on the heels of asking for more, that would seem to be more altruistic. So why is it that bakasha, the asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu is central, is so central and why is that something so exalted? So משל למה הדבר דומה, not sure it used to be around here, I think it may have closed down a few years ago, I may be behind the times, used to be this famous toy store FAO Schwarz. Is it still here, or closed down? Closed, yeah. So it was sort of legendary toy store. So imagine משל למה הדבר דומה imagine a child goes with his or her parents to the toy store and they're going up and down the aisles and predictably so the child keeps tugging on the mother's sleeve, on the father's sleeve, can you buy me this? Can you buy me that? Let's get this, let's get that. So the question is why does the child just take things into his or her own hands? Let the child buy buy the toys. Why does the child have to try to persuade and and win over the parents? So the obvious answer is that if the child had one of those magic plastic cards, so then he or she would, but the child doesn't. The parents have the card. So when you ask, there's an acknowledgment that one isn't self-sufficient. The significance of asking, which is why when we need to ask from each other, if a person Rachmana litzlan ever has to ask for tzedaka, it's so humiliating, because it's an expression of not being self-sufficient. So ונא אל תצריכנו לא לידי מתנת בשר ודם where we ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu that we should never be needy vis-a-vis each other, that vis-a-vis each other we should be self-sufficient, but when we turn to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and we ask, the reason that's so important and that's so exalted is because there's an acknowledgment there, Ribono shel Olam, if I could ensure my own understanding, intelligence, I wouldn't have to ask you for it. Were it not for the fact that אתה חונן לאדם דעת ומלמד לאנוש בינה, I wouldn't be petitioning you for the חננו מאיתך חכמה בינה ודעת. If if I spiritually didn't need siyata d'shmaya, I wouldn't be asking you for help in doing teshuva, I wouldn't be asking you for selicha u'mechila, I wouldn't be asking you to preserve and or restore my health, I wouldn't be asking you for parnassa if I could take any of these things into my own hands, I would. So bakasha is so important, bakasha is something so exalted because of what the bakasha reflects. The bakasha is an implicit acknowledgment of a person's total total neediness, helplessness ultimately and vulnerability. And that's what's so significant about bakasha. But when you think about it, I think most of us, sometimes we're zocheh to see people who have conquered this challenge, but most of us struggle to have kavana when we davven. I think that's probably a fair statement, maybe it's just I'm projecting, maybe there's some truth beyond that as well. And sometimes we wonder whether we really even have the capacity to have sustained kavana for davvening. And objectively there is a challenge, there's no physical focal point when we davven. It's always easier to concentrate, to have some physical focal point. Okay, so the Nefesh HaChaim says that there's a segula for kavana in tefilla that even if a person is davvening, if a person is comfortable davvening by heart, that a person should visualize the words in his or her mind's eye. But l'ma'aseh, again that too, a person has to take the initiative to do that. There's no physical focal point. Kavana is a challenge. So I don't know, so are we even capable of it? So sometimes sometimes we wonder whether we are. But try to think too and I think everyone's had such occasions in his or her life. Think of an occasion where Rachmana litzlan there was a close family member or close friend who was very ill and one was saying Tehillim on that person's behalf or Rachmana litzlan after a pigua in Eretz Yisrael. And what happens then? There's no physical focal point for tefilla then either, but somehow or other we do muster the kavana. We do have kavana and it's not just because the Tehillim's only for thirty seconds. No, sometimes we say Tehillim for a more extended period and we are able to sustain the kavana for that extended period as well. So what is it that we're tapping into then, that I don't know, on a daily basis we don't access? So the answer is that then We feel there's an awareness of our neediness. And when we feel and when we have that acute awareness and feeling of the neediness, so then we're able to meet the challenge of having kavanah and sustaining kavanah. And what happens apparently on a daily basis when our mind wanders anywhere and everywhere but to the siddur during davening, it's because apparently we don't feel any vital need, we don't feel any neediness, we don't feel any vulnerability. The reality is that we're always totally vulnerable. A person can't assure his or her next breath, a person can't assure anything. We're always totally absolutely dependent upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We're always totally completely vulnerable. We're always again we're told to take initiative, we're told to do our best, we're told to make hishtadlus but at the end of the day that's all it is, it can't assure, it can't guarantee results. It's never we're never in a position to unilaterally generate results. רבות מחשבות בלב איש ועצת ה' היא תקום. If we would be aware, if we would have that self-awareness every time we davened, so then we would be able to have kavanah. But the lack of kavanah is when we're not attuned to what lies at the core of tefillah which is this recognition, this acknowledgment of our neediness and our total dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's why it's also our behavior at times is very ironic. Life is often very busy and often it seems like there's 26 hours worth of things that need to be crammed into 24 hours. And sometimes we feel rushed when we davven and it translates and expresses itself as it does. But when one reflects on it for a moment, it's just so ironic. What am I rushing for? Why am I rushing for shacharis? I have to, I don't know, maybe I have to get to the office for an early meeting, maybe I have to get to the beis medrash, maybe I have to meet someone, maybe I'm just trying to beat traffic. I'm trying to do something, trying to accomplish something, that's why I'm rushing. Why am I coming late to mincha? I was busy with something else, I have a responsibility or non-responsibility, whatever it is, I'm trying to do something, trying to accomplish something, trying to use my time. Ultimately everything needs Siyata Dishmaya. Everything needs Siyata Dishmaya. That we'd cut corners on tefillah to make time for other things in life for what we're trying to do, what we're trying to accomplish, what we're trying to accomplish in the office, etc. So for any of those types of reasons it's just when one thinks about it, it's really self-contradictory. I'm not coming to you know there is halachic discussion whether a woman's obligation is to davven only once a day, whether it's to davven twice a day, whether it's to davven three times a day, and I'm not coming to I'm not qualified to pasken in any area and that's not what I'm presuming to do here either but without commenting on what the halacha is, it's very important that everyone davvens. whatever we're trying to do in life, whatever we're trying to accomplish in life, the self-awareness and self-image that a person is supposed to have going through life, all of that is compressed into tefillah. The Gemara in Berachos, it's the last source that you have here, it's on the second side of the page, says that there are many many great halachos, halachos gevorosah, many many great important halachos of tefillah that can be derived from the description of Chana davening. So presumably it's not coincidental that the Navi, when the Navi wants to offer us a paradigm and illustration of tefillah, that it chooses a woman. The message between the lines is that nashim have a, they're endowed with a special koach hatefillah that they can draw from. The Rambam goes on to tell us, he traces the history, maybe before we move to that just one to reiterate one point here, when the Rambam in halacha beis, in source number one, when the Rambam describes again the format of tefillah, so he says towards the end of the first line of halacha beis that מגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, a person recounts the praise of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, ואחר כך שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להם, then a person again petitions Hakadosh Baruch Hu and finally ואחר כך נותן שבח והודיה להשם. So that phrase ואחר כך שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להם, so isn't that just a tautology? I mean tzrachav, a person's needs are those things that he needs, right? So what does the Rambam mean with that double phrase? He should have just said ואחר כך שואל צרכיו or דברים שהוא צריך להם, but a person asks Hakadosh Baruch Hu to respond to his needs that he needs. So the answer is that what the Rambam is saying is ואחר כך שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להם, it shouldn't just be that I know intellectually that I need this. It should be also shehu tzarich lahem, that a person feels the need. It's not only again that objectively these are my tzrachim, objectively these are my needs, but it should be shehu tzarich lahem. By adding the verb as well, not just the noun of tzrachim, but the verb shehu tzarich lahem, that the person feels the need. Again because that's the essence of tefillah, recognizing, experiencing the neediness, dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that's why bakashah is the central element of tefillah. The Rambam then goes on to tell us what we know of course, that today we have a set text of tefillah. The Rambam describes that the thirteen middle brachos of the Shemoneh Esrei have bakashos which are super-categories for כל צרכי איש ואיש for all the individual needs we have, as well as the tzorchei harabim. So one of the questions which naturally arises is how can Chazal, especially the point we just said, that bakashos are supposed to be that a person petitions Hakadosh Baruch Hu for what the individual feels a need for. So how can Chazal give us a set text for tefillah? How doesn't that seem to interfere, if not prevent, again the tefillah is supposed to be צרכיו שהוא צריך להם? It's supposed to be something that a need that I feel. So how Chazal are telling me how I feel? So here's a mashal. Here's a mashal. So imagine... Imagine an elementary school, high school, whatever, and the the students are told that Bill Gates is coming to visit the school and he's bringing his checkbook and you can ask for whatever you want. And so the first, I don't know, let's make it an elementary school, so the first boy goes in and says that he wants a new bike. Fine, so Bill Gates takes out a check, writes out a check for a hundred dollars, whatever the bike costs, gives it to him. The next boy comes in, says he wants a new baseball glove. So Bill Gates says okay good, whatever, look up in Google, he finds out whatever the going rate is for a baseball mitt. The principal hears what's going on, so he asks Bill Gates, can we take a little break? He calls all the children in for an assembly and says, listen here, this is an opportunity of a lifetime. He'll give you whatever you're asking for. If all you ask for is a bike, so that's all you'll get. You can ask for that he should give you money to go to college. You can ask that he should give you money to go to college and then to when you get married to buy a house. You can ask that he should give you money for that and then he should give you money to be able to fund your children's college tuition. Don't be petty, don't squander the opportunity that you have, ask for the right things. So tefillah, the set text of tefillah should be descriptive, it should match what we need, but if it isn't, so then it's prescriptive, then it serves as a prescription. And what Chazal and we can learn from tefillah, if when I open the siddur and I daven Shemoneh Esrei, the bakashos that Chazal formulated don't, don't articulate what I need, so then I need to look into the siddur to learn about what's important in life. So again, halevai that the text of the Shemoneh Esrei is descriptive, but at the very least it's prescriptive. So maybe let's look and just notice two things about the brachos of bakashos that we have in the Shemoneh Esrei. Number one, we begin with the spiritual and only later do we ask for the physical. We only ask for health, we only ask for parnassah after we first ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu give us the knowledge, give us the understanding. If there was ever a time when that was important, it's today's day and age, we live in such a confused and therefore confusing world where people are so mixed up about values and they're so mixed up about morality and they're so mixed up about right and wrong and a person can can be farbrent about something that's totally wrong and totally immoral. Ribbono shel Olam, the first thing is, the first thing is, Chazal say אין דעה הבדלה מנין. If a person doesn't have understanding, if a person doesn't have discernment, if a person doesn't have insight, so a person can't draw distinctions, a person can't distinguish between kodesh and chol, between good and bad. Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the first thing is give us chochmah binah va-da'as. Again, what's next? Again, not to belittle, not to downplay the importance of health, the importance of having a livelihood, but that's not what we ask for, that's not front and center. What's next? Hakadosh Baruch Hu, help us come back to you. Help us come back to you, help us reconnect with Torah, help us become more involved with avodas Hashem, help us do teshuvah, Ribbono shel Olam forgive us for all our sins. Most important of the spiritual bakashos. Again, not to dismiss, not to belittle the physical and mundane, but still we need to have perspective and again if for whatever reason the Shemoneh Esrei isn't descriptive for us. that it should be prescriptive for us. And it tells us, you know, a person looks into the Siddur and then, you know, we can then look into our lives and see whether or not that there's a congruence or or or lack thereof. Is is my life focused primarily, axiologically on on the spiritual the way the Siddur, the way the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah teach us or is that sort of a sidebar? Is that something which is more peripheral in in my life and my life centers more around the Baruch Aleinu, around the the Parnassah? The other striking thing when when you look into the Siddur and and think about it, probably something we should spend more time doing than than we do, is how many of the Bakashos are focused on the Klal and specifically the Geulah Ha'asidah. By the time we get to Teka B'shofar which is what, the seventh of the the middle Bakashos, right? So the first six, say, are are meaningful individually as well. I mean, we're always supposed to Davven Bilshon Rabbim, we're also always supposed to be Davvening not only for ourselves but for others as well, but the point is it's meaningful on an individual basis as well, each of the first six Bakashos. But after that, the תקע בשופר גדול לחירותנו, asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu again to to Kibbutz Galuyos, asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu to restore the Sanhedrin, asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu for the Binyan Yerushalayim, asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu for Moshiach, for the re-establishment of Malchus Beis Dovid, A, we're focused on the Klal and B, specifically, specifically looking towards and and asking for the Geulah Ha'asidah. So clearly again what Chazal were helping us do is articulate what's supposed to be on our minds, what's supposed to be on our minds. And there too it then the Siddur then generates two questions for us. Number one, how Klal oriented am I? Sort of again in terms of my thoughts, my focus, my energies in the Shemoneh Esrei, so half of it is is dedicated to to the Klal. Is that, does that tally with how my thoughts and energies are are focused in in life? And secondly, am I really longing for for the Geulah? Chazal say one of the questions that that a person is is asked L'asid Lavo is Tzipisa L'yeshuah. Did one long, right? To Tzipah means to long for something, to be waiting expectantly for for something. Tzipisa L'yeshuah, was one Metzapeh L'yeshuah? And that's again what the last group, the last cluster of Brachos in the Shemoneh Esrei is about. Again, it generates the the question, it prompts the the introspection and self-reflection, how much of the how much is that present in in my life, the Tzipiah L'yeshuah? Maybe to comment briefly on that, it deserves its own its own Shiur, its own its own time, but just to comment briefly on on Tzipiah L'yeshuah. The only way one can have a sense of longing is if there's a sense of missing something, if there's a vacuum. If if two siblings, if a parent and child, if a husband and wife are separated for an extended period of time, so they they miss each other, there's a sense of longing so there's a Tzipiah. If nothing's missing in my life, if basically life is good, basically life is good, I'm not missing anything so I'm not going to be longing, I'm not going to be longing for anything. Tzipiya l'yeshua is only possible when we have a sense of a void within our lives. And again, that relates again to the spiritual focus, to the role of Avodas Hashem within our lives, to the concern for Kevod Shamayim, to the profound anguish at chilul shem shamayim. So all of those need to be cultivated when a person is spiritually oriented so then a person can recognize the objective void that exists. But as long as we're more focused on the mundane and the material, things have never been better in terms of life's comforts, so life gets better and better as time goes on. According to most opinions, when the Mishna in source four in the source sheet in front of you says that women are obligated in tefillah, it means that they're obligated to daven two or three times a day, according to most opinions. There is a novelty reflected there because one would have ordinarily expected the rule of מצוות עשה שהזמן גרמא to be applied, in which case women should have been exempted. And that isn't the case. Again, according to most authorities, what the Mishna means is that zman grama notwithstanding, so this is an exception to the rule, one of the exceptions to the rule, and women are obligated. The Gemara says why is that? Because tefillah is rachamei. The Gemara right underneath there in source four, tefillah is rachamei, a person is petitioning Hakadosh Baruch Hu, a person is imploring Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So what does it mean? So Rav Soloveitchik has a very, very beautiful explanation. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah and elsewhere tells us that מצוות לאו ליהנות ניתנו. That one is not supposed to look to and one is not supposed to classify, al pi din, mitzvos as a source of enjoyment, rather Rashi fills in the counterpoint עול על צואריהם מצוות. When a person fulfills a mitzvah, so a person is supposed to acknowledge Hakadosh Baruch Hu is in charge, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the metzaveh and I'm the commanded. Obviously that doesn't mean that mitzvos don't, mitzvos certainly do bring us closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, they bring us to personal fulfillment, but what we're supposed to, that's Hakadosh Baruch Hu's cheshbon. What we're supposed to emphasize is we recognize Hakadosh Baruch Hu that briyasecha anachnu, we are your handiwork, we're your creation, you're the metzaveh, we're the metzuveem. You're the one who commands, we're the ones who are commanded. We're supposed to feel a sense of tzivui of commandment in the mitzvah. That's part of experiencing kabbalas ol mitzvos, part of fulfilling kabbalas ol mitzvos. There is however one exception to this rule. There's one mitzvah where the obligation does exist, but that's not what a person is supposed to focus on. If anything, it's ke'ilu a person is supposed to be oblivious to the obligation. And that, says the Rav, is tefillah. How do we know that? Because the Mishna in Pirkei Avos, in the second perek of Pirkei Avos says,

כשאתה מתפלל אל תעש תפילתך קבע אלא תחנונים לפני המקום,

something like that, didn't quite get it right. But when you daven, your davening shouldn't be something which is kavua. It shouldn't be something which is fixed, but it should be rather again, just a spontaneous plea imploring Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Says the Rav, what that means is that davening, a person is not supposed to feel like I'm davening because I have to daven. There is an obligation to daven, an obligation that we can't neglect. But that's not supposed to inform what defines one's mindset and one's experience of tefillah. Because again, think about it. Imagine, rachmana litzlan, someone is ill and they're trying to get a consultation with the biggest specialist, and finally they get it. So do they feel a sense of obligation? No, they feel a sense of opportunity. They feel a sense of blessing, they feel a sense of relief. Here's the person who may have the keys to chart my path to good health, to chart the path to recovery. So a person doesn't go begrudgingly feeling, well, I'm doing this because I'm commanded to do it. It's a blessing, it's an opportunity, it's extraordinary. So that's what the experience of tefillah is supposed to be, unlike all other mitzvos where the mitzvah is an occasion, a person, it's religiously correct that a person should feel an ol, a person should feel that yes, yes, I bear the ol, I bear the yoke of mitzvos. I recognize that it's Hakadosh Baruch Hu's prerogative to be mitzaveh and that it's my obligation to comply, to listen, to be a metzuveh. But when it comes to tefillah, that's not supposed to, again, the obligation notwithstanding, that's not supposed to be the mindset. Says the Rav, that's what's reflected in the din that the rule of מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא doesn't apply here. מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, again, so I'm again, I'm focused on the obligation, the obligation, it's time-bound, so the rule is that if it's a מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, so an ishah's peturah, that's all when you're focused on the obligation. Here, obligation notwithstanding, it's almost antithetical to tefillah to be thinking of tefillah as a yoke. Tefillah on the contrary, it's think of that moshal, tefillah is an opportunity, it's a blessing. Perhaps just to conclude with one thought. Formal tefillah takes the form of Shemoneh Esrei. Again, something that we engage in three times a day. If one wants to say additional Shemoneh Esreis, what the halachah calls tefillas nedavah, so there too there were formal, there was a formal requirement of chiddush davar. One can't simply say a fourth Shemoneh Esrei, there has to be some added bakashah which sort of serves as that justification for an additional Shemoneh Esrei. But the formal requirements and details of tefillah are not intended to limit or to exhaust our communication with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Person's about to do something. Walking into a class, I'm about to take an exam. A person should say, doesn't, no one else has to hear, whatever one can do without anyone else noticing is always a hundred times better if it can be done without anyone noticing, it should be done under the radar. Person can whisper a silent tefillah: Hakadosh Baruch Hu help me, Hakadosh Baruch Hu please help me. That tefillah as an expression of our neediness, tefillah as an expression of our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't have to and shouldn't be limited to the three times a day of Shacharis, Mincha, and Maariv. It should be something which is, which is always there. I'm about to do something, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, help me. Help me. It doesn't have to be necessarily the most important thing. Remember the Rav once commenting that what does a person ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu for? Whatever it is that a person wants and needs. Lemaiseh, maybe what I'm doing now isn't the most important thing, but I'm doing it for a reason. Okay, so maybe in the larger scheme of things this isn't the most important thing. Obviously it has some, albeit low-level, importance, some importance, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. Ribono shel Olam, help me. Ribono shel Olam, be with me. Help me, help me succeed. That's what, what one of the lessons of tefillah again, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should be present in one's life, that a person should be thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that a person should recognize his, her constant need for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now that can be expressed not only in the formal three times daily occasion for tefillah, but informally all the time.