How can we inject renewed energy and vibrancy into our tefillos?
But as we approach this task, we might have an uneasy relationship with tefillah. After the year we’ve all had — the agony, fear, and distress over the war in Eretz Yisrael and events around the globe — and all our months of davening and saying Tehillim, we might be harboring feelings of ambivalence, fatigue, and disappointment toward tefillah. We might feel our tefillah is not in the right place and desperately wish that we could rejuvenate and refresh our relationship with it at this critical time of year.
How can we inject renewed energy and vibrancy into our tefillos? This is something we all crave. If we explore the foundation of tefillah and its purpose, we may find a new appreciation for this special gift in our life.
The very first prayer in history conveys a critical lesson about the nature of tefillah. When he heard that Sedom was threatened with destruction, Avraham Avinu repeatedly poured out his soul for the city to be saved. Ultimately, his tefillos seemed to be insufficient, and Sedom was destroyed. Yet the very next day, it says about him, “And Avraham returned to the place where he’d stood” — he davened once more.
About this episode, the Gemara (Berachos 6b) says: “If one sets a fixed place for tefillah, the G-d of Avraham will assist him. When he dies, they will eulogize him by saying, ‘Where is the humble one, where is the pious one of the talmidim of our father Avraham?’ ” Those who make makom kavua, a “fixed place,” for their tefillah, like Avraham did after Sedom’s destruction, will be considered humble and pious. A question arises about the Gemara’s terms, though: We can easily understand the piety that Avraham displays in this story, but where do we see Avraham’s humility in his efforts to save Sedom?
Create a free account to keep reading.
