Recently, at a convention of a prominent Orthodox organization there was a session entitled "From Burn-Out to On-Fire", in which a Neo-Chasidic leader emphatically told the audience that there was no such thing as a Yid who is burned out (around 5:18 into session recording). Well, semantics aside, we know that it is a great problem, and tefillah, the challenge of meaningful davening, is a big part of it. If we could somehow take davening, which to many people is a terrible challenge and a drag (let's not beat around the bush), and transform it into a growth experience, that they might even enjoy, a great advance will have been made, which will have great positive ramifications on people's days and lives.
With regard to that, I was looking through the weekly Toras Avigdor and saw some very important things, some of which spoke to this matter, addressing it head-on, which I would like to share with you.
Chazal described davening as being in the category of דברים העומדים ברומו של עולם ובני אדם מזלזלים בהם, things that are very exalted, yet people do not treat them with proper respect (they stated that eons ago. What would they say nowadays, when newer distractions abound, making it even more challenging, and people are routinely said to have shorter attention spans than in the past?).
So what is the solution? To scream the words out loud, as some do? To dance? Take out a guitar and have a musical minyan?
Rav Miller gives a simple and easy solution. He tells us,
1) To say a little and think about what you are saying is much more valuable than to just speed through the whole davening.
2) Take your time.
3) It is a cancer, this sickness of what we are doing with our davening today, one of the greatest failings in Jewish life.
(Toras Avigdor, Vaeira, p.15)
Strong words indeed. But so necessary to combat this deadly spiritual disease, this soul-threatening emergency.
It seems so simple that some have difficulty accepting it. It seems to be good to be true, too easy (seemingly, on the surface). But it is the way to go. Nowadays there are so many different types of סידורים and פירושים (commentaries) available, that can be consulted to assist in understanding the words of תפילה, if necessary and desired.
Ignore those who claim that you must recite every word in your siddur, because some modern-era printer canonized his own product. They have added on to davening in a way that has been counterproductive for so many. As when the commandment of Hashem was added to in גן עדן, leading to a terrible downfall.
Listen to the Tur, R. Yosef Karo, and Rav Miller, זכר צדיקים לברכה, who all gave this fundamental instruction, that quality > quantity of davening, and you will be well on the road to a new חיות (vitality), a new געשמאק (pleasure), a new טעם (taste, flavor) in davening, Yiddishkeit, and life.
הצלחה רבה
There's a financial services company whose motto reads,"No one plans to fail, they fail to plan." This can be applied to davening. We've all seen old men in Shul with their Tefilin she'll Rosh on their noses and we think,"How sad. They'll never get Schar for putting on Tefilin." But how do you think we'll feel if, at 120 we're told that we never actually davened. It's not a joke at all. So Rabbi Miller is certainly correct that we must stress quality over quantity when it comes to davening. The point is that if one approaches davening mindlessly that's the result he'll end up with. The problem is that very few people and I mean frum people would even pay this any mind. A few years ago I was with some friends and I mentioned that hundreds and perhaps thousands of Observant Jews have joined the Daf movement even though they basically know nothing. One of the guys remarked,"It's better than nothing." This fellow spends at least 30 hours a week studying the stock market. Last week John Madder, the famous football coach, passed away. After he stopped coaching he became a big name in computer football games. About 20 years ago he was given the opportunity to buy stock in the company which used his name but he declined the offer. Coach Madden called this the biggest mistake he ever made because that stock would have made him a billionaire. Nebach he had to settle for the gift of 150 million for using his name. Of course it's all so meaningless. these are gentile values but for too many Orthodox Jews they've become our values. Listen to what people talk about in Shul.
ReplyDeleteRecently someone wrote a letter to the FJJ decrying the fact that people are always in attack mode when they write. I'm quite certain that no one other than myself will comment on this post because people are trained to find errors and criticize them, but there's nothing in this subject to challenge. It would be nice, for once, to see the naysayers say something positive, but I'm not holding out hope for that.
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