In Its Stead    

Yearning for the Beis Hamikdash is a core aspect of authentic Judaism. We mourn its destruction for three consecutive weeks a year, invoke its absence at every wedding, and grieve its demise after festive meals. Allusions to our epic loss feature so prominently in the landscape of Jewish life, we may be forgiven for overlooking an obvious daily reminder of it: our tefillos.

“Rabi Yehoshua ben Levi teaches, [the Anshei Knesses Hagedolah] instituted tefillah in place of the Korban Tamid” (Berachos 26b).

It’s been two millennia since we’ve offered the last morning and afternoon Korban Tamid, and as many years of practicing formal tefillah — enough time to occasionally forget the correlation between the two. We strive for connection to Hashem through the words of Shemoneh Esreh and struggle for greater kavanah, forgetting that it’s actually a stand-in for the genuine article, the avodah in the Mikdash.

At first glance, Retzeh, the prelude to the final three brachos of Shemoneh Esreh, is highly redundant. In the previous brachah of Shema koleinu, we ask Hashem to heed our voice and accept our tefillos. Retzeh Hashem Elokeinu b’amcha Yisrael u’visfilasam, is an almost identical request.