This
coming week the theme at Camp Nesher is Mitzvot and Meaning. One of the mitzvot
that we engage in 3 times a day is Tefilah.
What are things we can do to make our Tefilot more meaningful and more
powerful?. The main reference to worshiping is from Devarim 11:13 ולעבדו בכל
לבבכם “ If you serve the Lord your God with all
your heart.” What is avoda shebelav,
service of the heart? The Sifrei quoted by Rashi tell is “this is Tefila”
. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks points out
in his introduction to the Koren Siddur that there are two forms of worship in
the Torah, Prayer and Avoda. Prayers
like the ones by Avraham for the city of
Sodom, Jacob before his confrontation with Esav, and Chana praying for a child
are simple, direct and in response to a concern. Moshe prays to Hashem on behalf of Jewish
People for 40 days and he prays for healing of Miriam in a five word sentence.
We see from these examples that there is no set time, no set text, and no
set place to pray. It is a spontaneous often emotional reaction to a
situation. Any where. Any time. Any place.
The other
form of worship is known as Avoda , Kornanot. The sacrifices need to be brought
in the Beit Hamikdash at certain times a very comprehensive way and only by
certain people. They are offered 3 times a day and on special days. If you
offer a Korban at the wrong time or place it is not accepted. There is a set place, set time, set
procedures and set people. There is no room for improvisation. This is the direct opposite of prayer.
In the
absence of the Beit Hamikdash we have combined these two forms of
worship. The words of Tefila and time of Tefila are set for us. We are left
with very little room for our self expression.
The emotional response of prayer, like our Avot, is important how
can we still have it in our “set” Tefilot. Rebbetzin Peshy Neuberger spoke at our school
a few years ago and shared with us a 12th grade tefila
assignment that I think could help us. The assignment was to pick a concern or
topic that was very close to your heart and attempt to find reference to this
topic in the tefilot that you read. It transferred the very structured tefilot
into a new canvas of meaning for each of her students. Over the past month we have all been feeling
the situation in Israel and looking for a ways to make our Tefilot more
powerful, meaningful, and emotional. We
should attempt Rebbiztin Neuberger's idea. Try to look for words that talk to
you about the situation in Israel. I did
it with one of my chinuch classes and there were so many word, different words, that were
selected by campers. It is very hard to
understand every word of davening but we can search for the ones we understand
and the ones that speak to us. Like is says in Pirkei Avot 2:18 “When you daven
do not make it fixed routine.” Try it and you can transform your tefilot into a
powerful and meaningful plea to Hashem. A Tefila that is really from the
heart, a true Avoda Sheblav.
