373 - In the Millions

As discussed many times, our main job in this world is to grow in our emunah, our belief in Hashem. And one of the branches of emunah is to believe in the potency of the words of the prescribed prayers. If we were to see the spiritual impact of the words that we say, we would not have the free choice anymore whether to say these prayers and how to say them, whether we have devotion, intention and meaning. because the potency of the prescribed prayers would be obvious to all of us and none of us would choose to forgo that opportunity. 

Imagine when I am about to say the bracha over a glass of water, that there is a score card out of ten, one being the lowest and ten the highest. Whatever I score for that bracha is the reward I receive in the millions. So, if I had only a little bit of intention and let's say I got a three, I'll get three million dollars for that blessing. If I had full intention, I'll get ten million dollars. If that would actually be the result we experience in this world, most of us would get ten quite often because we want that ten million dollars. But again, our job in this world is not to see, it's to believe. We are taught that the reward that we will receive for each bracha is much greater than one million dollars, much greater than ten million dollars, much greater than all the money in the world. But we don't see that. We have to build that belief and that is our job in this world. 

And in the same vein, when I arrive at shul and see that the leader is praying at a very fast pace. Sometimes I might feel, that's great, today I'm going to be able to get an earlier start and that makes sense based on one's logic. But again, our logic can be mistaken if it's not on par with Hashem's perspective. The Emunah approach teaches us that we believe that the potency the prescribed prayers will have in bringing us success is much stronger than any of the practical efforts we might be rushing to. Let's say that after davening today, I plan to go to a business meeting. It very well could happen that I go to this business meeting and it could be a long process of many phone calls, emails, discussions and negotiations before we're able to move forward. And it's also possible that I'll wake up to a situation where I go have a meeting and can close the deal almost instantly without having to go through the hassle of phone calls, emails and many other things. When we build our belief that Hashem is the one running the show, absolutely “ein od mil vado”” - there is nothing else in the world, and Hashem is the one who pulls every string - He can make it that I will approach a situation that could have taken me 10 hours of effort and instead will take me 30 minutes. Because if I am able to build that belief and also internalize the belief that the same words and letters that created the world, the letters of the alphabet, were prescribed by the great sages using certain formulas and combinations of these holy letters to bring out tremendously potent results that lead to blessing, salvation and all of our success, although we might be enticed, based on our logic, when in the middle of the final prayers of the prayer services, such as in the prayer of Aleinu Leshabeach, to finish up the prayer while walking out shul rushing to my business meeting, it would be much wiser to spend a few extra moments saying those words with real meaning and intention and by doing so, reaping much more benefits than any of our personal efforts could reach. 

“Thank you Hashem for the gift of personal prayer with you and the opportunity to do so at any given opportunity. And thank you Hashem for the opportunity to pray your prescribed prayers, to say your blessings throughout the day, every single day and tap into these holy, powerful letters and words which I believe and want to believe are much more potent and powerful than anything else I could imagine doing on my own accord. Thank you Hashem for the gift of tefillah.”