Description: Preparation for Tefillah 03
She’arim BiTefillah
Preparation to Tefillah 03
Another halachah about how to daven, which isn’t that familiar, comes from a Mishnah in Maseches Brachos. The Mishnah says, Rebbi Eliezer says, someone who makes his tefillah ‘kevah’, his tefillah is not tachanunim. What does this mean? The Gemarah gives two explanations. One, someone who davening is like a weight on his shoulders that he is trying to be rid of, that’s kevah, and his tefillah lacks the quality of tachanunim, of beseeching, which it requires. The second approach is, if you don’t say the tefillah as if he really needs something, which true beseeching tones, his tefillah lacks the quality of tachanunim.
Both these approaches are brought in Shulchan Aruch. ‘Yispalel derech tachanunim kirash hamevakaish bapesach,’ daven with a beseeching approach, like a poor man who is begging for a donation at your door. That’s one pshat, and it continues, ‘vishelo yirah alav kimasah u’mevakaish lipater mimenah.’ It shouldn’t seem like a weight on your shoulders that you are just trying to be rid of.
The Mishnah Berurah explains that even if you do phrase your language as a poor person begging for something, but if your main motivation is simply to be yotzei your obligation to pray, that’s not correct! He continues to say that even if you weren’t careful about this, you don’t have to daven again, but you should be very careful about this!
It’s amazing to think, that we might never ever truly focus on the fact that we have to daven because we want to daven, not simply to become absolved of our obligation! It’s a very different approach to tefillah, and according to many opinions it’s absolutely imperative!
Now let’s begin understanding the first of the the approaches to tefillah, known as ‘bitzur.’
Bitzur comes from the pasuk, ‘batzar li ekrah Hashem,’ when I am in pain or suffering, I cry out to Hashem.
This is the most basic form of tefillah, when we cry out in need, bi’ais tzarah, when it’s a time of great need. This frames how tefillah needs to be davened, as we just mentioned from the Mishnah, that tefillah needs to be approached like a poor man begging at the door, where we have the most extreme need, and are calling out for help.
This is what sets a human apart from an animal. Once an animal’s needs have been filled, when a cow has eaten it’s fill, it’s content. It has no worries or needs. But a human always worries about the future. He can never be satisfied, because he understands he still needs and will always need. He feels what he is lacking. The greater his understanding is, the greater he feels that he is lacking. If a person’s concerns are all physical, gashmiyos, then he has concepts of wealth, and he realizes that he needs money, and even if he has some money now, who says he will have it tomorrow, his peace of mind is transient, we see people constantly lose their money, and there’s no guarantee. He worries that in a moment’s time he could find himself in a tzarah!
If a person is a tzaddik, he might not worry about all these physical issues, and not want money, and be content that Hashem will take care of him, but he worries about something else. He worries about his own failures, his possible avairos, his lack of ability to serve Hashem properly and so on. So, every human being on this world is by definition in a position of tzarah, of extreme need, and Hashem engineered it that way so that we should daven!
She’arim BiTefillah
Preparation to Tefillah 03
Another halachah about how to daven, which isn’t that familiar, comes from a Mishnah in Maseches Brachos. The Mishnah says, Rebbi Eliezer says, someone who makes his tefillah ‘kevah’, his tefillah is not tachanunim. What does this mean? The Gemarah gives two explanations. One, someone who davening is like a weight on his shoulders that he is trying to be rid of, that’s kevah, and his tefillah lacks the quality of tachanunim, of beseeching, which it requires. The second approach is, if you don’t say the tefillah as if he really needs something, which true beseeching tones, his tefillah lacks the quality of tachanunim.
Both these approaches are brought in Shulchan Aruch. ‘Yispalel derech tachanunim kirash hamevakaish bapesach,’ daven with a beseeching approach, like a poor man who is begging for a donation at your door. That’s one pshat, and it continues, ‘vishelo yirah alav kimasah u’mevakaish lipater mimenah.’ It shouldn’t seem like a weight on your shoulders that you are just trying to be rid of.
The Mishnah Berurah explains that even if you do phrase your language as a poor person begging for something, but if your main motivation is simply to be yotzei your obligation to pray, that’s not correct! He continues to say that even if you weren’t careful about this, you don’t have to daven again, but you should be very careful about this!
It’s amazing to think, that we might never ever truly focus on the fact that we have to daven because we want to daven, not simply to become absolved of our obligation! It’s a very different approach to tefillah, and according to many opinions it’s absolutely imperative!
Now let’s begin understanding the first of the the approaches to tefillah, known as ‘bitzur.’
Bitzur comes from the pasuk, ‘batzar li ekrah Hashem,’ when I am in pain or suffering, I cry out to Hashem.
This is the most basic form of tefillah, when we cry out in need, bi’ais tzarah, when it’s a time of great need. This frames how tefillah needs to be davened, as we just mentioned from the Mishnah, that tefillah needs to be approached like a poor man begging at the door, where we have the most extreme need, and are calling out for help.
This is what sets a human apart from an animal. Once an animal’s needs have been filled, when a cow has eaten it’s fill, it’s content. It has no worries or needs. But a human always worries about the future. He can never be satisfied, because he understands he still needs and will always need. He feels what he is lacking. The greater his understanding is, the greater he feels that he is lacking. If a person’s concerns are all physical, gashmiyos, then he has concepts of wealth, and he realizes that he needs money, and even if he has some money now, who says he will have it tomorrow, his peace of mind is transient, we see people constantly lose their money, and there’s no guarantee. He worries that in a moment’s time he could find himself in a tzarah!
If a person is a tzaddik, he might not worry about all these physical issues, and not want money, and be content that Hashem will take care of him, but he worries about something else. He worries about his own failures, his possible avairos, his lack of ability to serve Hashem properly and so on. So, every human being on this world is by definition in a position of tzarah, of extreme need, and Hashem engineered it that way so that we should daven!