This Tefillah series will B”H be devoted to exploring the deeper meaning of prayer and its critical role in our personal development. Each week, we will address a different prayer-related topic, beginning with general observations about the significance of tefillah and then focusing on specific texts of prayer and their importance. With the permission of her family, we are dedicating this learning to the memory of Dorina Kalaty, Esther bat Eliyahou A”H, a beloved Torah teacher in our community who left us too soon.
When we think of prayer, we typically envision a person in crisis, begging the Almighty for help or for mercy. However, the Hebrew term for prayer, tefillah, comes from the root פ.ל.ל (p-l-l) which means not “to beg” but “to judge.” In fact, to pray is “lehitpallel”, the reflexive form of the verb, meaning “to judge oneself.” The focus of tefillah, then, is not on presenting our concerns to God, but on some special form of self-assessment.
What exactly is “judgment”, and how is “self-judgment” related to the experience of prayer? Consider the way a judge rules on a legal case brought into his or her courtroom. The judge must be familiar with all the relevant laws, statutes and regulations, and then must decide how those general principles relate to the specific, concrete details of the case before them.
For example, let’s imagine that someone is accused of stealing a car. The law prescribes specific consequences for theft based upon the intent of the perpetrator, his or her prior criminal record, and the value of the object stolen. The role of the judge is to determine whether the defendant is, in fact, guilty, what his or her intent and criminal history is, what the value of the vehicle stolen is, and then to render a fair verdict by applying the principles of the law to the particular case.
Justice is served NOT when the outcome of every judgment is the same – after all, a defendant with a different record or who stole an item of different value may receive a different sentence – but when clear, consistent principles are the basis for every decision. The key is that judge should view the details of the case purely through the objective prism of the rules established by law.
When we engage in “self-judgement” or tefillah, then, we are supposed to be applying some set of broad principles to the circumstances of our lives. Another way of saying this is that we should look at ourselves through the prism of Hashem’s wisdom, the same way a judge views the cases in the courtroom through the lens of the secular legal system. When we fulfill the mitzvah of tefillah properly, we do not merely recite words with our lips. Instead, we shift our inner perception of ourselves, transitioning from a self-centered view to a Divinely centered view.
For this reason, tefillah is invariably made up of three components: praise of Hashem, requests from Hashem, and expression of gratitude to Hashem. Praise of Hashem entails recognizing that He is the Source and Master of all creation, and that all of existence is designed to achieve His purpose and His purpose alone.
This general concept, when applied to ourselves, means that OUR existence – our lives, our abilities, our strengths and weaknesses, our relationships, our minds, our bodies, our emotions and our possessions – everything we are, and everything we have, is designed to fulfill a sacred, transcendent purpose. This awareness is the foundation of tefillah, of self-judgment, and this is the reason why concentration and understanding of the meaning of the words of the first blessing of the Amida prayer, the beginning of the “praise” section, is indispensable for the fulfillment of the mitzvah.
The second component of tefillah, making requests from Hashem, is only meaningful when it follows the first part. Once we have established that the totality of our existence is designed for a holy purpose, the implication is that WHAT we want, and WHY we want it, must fit in with this purpose as well. We do not seek wisdom because we wish to be smarter than others, but because it is Hashem’s will that the world be filled with knowledge of Him, and we yearn to become vehicles of that knowledge. We do not ask for the ingathering of the exiles or the rebuilding of Jerusalem out of nationalistic fervor, but because it is Hashem’s will that the Jewish people unite to sanctify His name in the Bet Hamiqdash, the Holy Temple.
Even when we ask that our prayers be accepted and answered, we do so not for selfish reasons but in order that His response to our prayers will help us better fulfill our mission of serving Him, and will show the world that He indeed hears prayer and intervenes on behalf of His creatures. The requests we make from Hashem, then, help us to see our ongoing process of material, intellectual and spiritual growth in light of the Divine plan and not as expressions of our own petty ambitions.
The final component of tefillah is the expression of gratitude. While requesting blessing from God reminds us where we are headed in life and why, giving thanks reminds us how far we have come already, and how little of it has been the result of our own conscious efforts. This is not a simplistic “thank you” to the Almighty, but a deep and sincere reflection on the many factors beyond our control that have contributed to making us who we are today.
The circumstances into which we were born, the environment in which we were raised, our DNA, the incredible anatomical and physiological makeup of our bodies, our culture, the education we received and, of course, the entire history of generations of Jewry and of human civilization that laid the groundwork for the lives we now live and the world we now inhabit…All of these elements have shaped and continue to exert their influence over every moment of life as we know it. Ultimately, they are traceable not to any choice or merit of our own, but back to the Divine plan of which we are simply the latest, or one of the latest, products, the outcome of millennia of biological and spiritual development that preceded us. When we express gratitude, then, we once again “judge” ourselves, viewing our modest, finite existence through the lens of the totality of God’s creation.
Simply stated, tefillah goes far beyond the reading of prayers or Psalms from a siddur. It is not about reciting a secret, magical formula that will persuade God to adopt our way of thinking and compel Him to fulfill our requests. On the contrary, genuine tefillah is successful when it does precisely the opposite – when it persuades US to adopt God’s way of thinking, so to speak, and to let go of the self-centered perspective that holds us back from actualizing our Divinely-ordained potential. Through tefillah, our sense of the purpose of our lives and the meaning of our existence is elevated in light of Hashem’s infinite wisdom. Then, and only then, do we truly become worthy of receiving His blessings.
Much more remains to be said about tefillah and we hope, in upcoming shiurim, to delve more deeply into the subject. Next week, we will turn our attention to some classic examples of tefillah by characters in Tanakh and what we can learn from the manner in which they prayed.
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