Feeling The Utmost

“The focus of prayer is not the self…. It is the momentary disregard of our personal concerns, the absence of self-centered thoughts, which constitute the art of prayer…. Thus, in beseeching Him for bread, there is one instant, at least, in which our mind is directed neither to our hunger nor to food, but to His mercy. This instant is prayer. We start with a personal concern and live to feel the utmost.”

We often get caught up in our chronic narcissism and relate to Hashem in ways that are totally foreign to His will, thereby ensuring that the tfilla will not be received with pleasure. When we daven we are supposed to be primarily focused on connecting to Him and on bringing goodness and light to all of creation. That is why we begin with praise [the first three brachos of shmoneh esrei] and conclude with gratitude [the bracha of modim - how sim shalom fits in is another question]. That is in order to suffuse us with the knowledge that it's all about Him - even the requests we make. The tfilla is also said in the plural form to teach us that we are davening for the community. The Arizal [born on my block!] teaches that before you daven you should accept upon yourself the mitzva of ואהבת לרעך כמוך.

Sweetest friends! There is so much more to explain but due to the limited framework of the blog and my somewhat narcissistic desire to return to my learning, I will conclude here.