Torah portion of the week - from the OU
Robert Kaiser
Torah Insights for Shabbat Parashat Ekev
August 23, 1997
Prayer is essential to the Jewish experience and is, moreover, a fundamental human need. Every culture has some type of
prayer, but Jewish tefillah differs substantially from what the world perceives as prayer.
The Biblical basis for the mitzvah of tefillah is found in Parshas Eikev, in the verse read twice daily in the second paragraph of
the Shema: "If you pay careful heed to My commandments...to serve Him with all your heart." What is avodah shebeleiv,
service of the heart?" ask our Sages. "Prayer." What is the purpose of prayer? In what sense is it "service of the heart?"
Prayer is most commonly perceived as an outpouring of feeling and emotion, a turn to G-d in times of personal distress and
suffering and, certainly, tefillah incorporates this aspect of prayer. Most of the tefillot by individuals recorded in
Tanach-Avraham on behalf of Avimelech; Moshe on behalf of Miriam-were supplications.
But to construe tefillah as merely petitions and requests, as beseeching the Almighty for salvation from trials and tribulations is
to render tefillah unrecognizable in a uniquely Jewish context. This is borne out by one observation and one halacha.
Our daily prayers consist mainly of praises of G-d, not petitions. The morning blessings and the paeans of Pesuke Dezimra
contain no personal requests, but rather extol the qualities of the Creator. And the quintessential prayer, the Shemoneh Esrei,
similarly values blessings of praise more than petitions, for while supplications predominate, the halacha is that if one fails to
concentrate during the first blessings of praise, the entire tefillah must be repeated. This halacha applies to no other beracha,
suggesting that the primary blessings are those of praise.
Furthermore, the Rav, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt"l, once explained in the name of his grandfather, Rav Chaim
Soloveitchik, that the loss of concentration referred to above means a lack of focus on the meaning of the words. If one's
concentration is so deficient, however, that one is not even mindful that he or she is standing before G-d in prayer, then there is
no act of tefillah at all-and the prayer requirement has not been fulfilled.
It would seem then that the purpose of tefillah is, ultimately, to stand before G-d and recite His praises. Tefillah thus affords us
the thrice-daily opportunity to reiterate truisms about G-d, the world He created, and our place in it. We ask for our needs only
insofar as they will facilitate our service of G-d. Paradoxically, the existence of our personal needs forces us to acknowledge
G-d and make us even more aware of His presence. It is therefore understandable that many rishonim define avodah shebeleiv
as "service of the intellect" and not " of the heart," because tefillah removes us from the world of the mundane and petty and
brings us into the world of objective ideas and values, and the recognition of G-d.
Through the repetition of these ideas, we perfect our minds and soul, we learn "what G-d asks of us, " and we become His
beloved servants.
It behooves us to appreciate the opportunity of prayer, to enhance our moments of prayer, and to beautify our places of
prayer. Prayer is our link to the Divine Creator and His world of truth. Conducted properly, prayer ennobles our people and
makes us worthy of His protective hand and ultimate redemption, speedily and in our days.
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky
Rabbi Pruzansky is rabbi of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, NJ.
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