By Chaim Herrera
Special to The Jewish State

There was a person in the synagogue who, after prayer services, used to exhort everyone to attend the next service to ensure that the quorum of ten male Jews would be achieved. He would say, “We need people for tonight or “We need people for tomorrow morning.” It is good to remind everyone that they might be needed to make the next minyan. Live bodies are practically all that are needed to be able to have a communal tefilla, and reminding people is one way to help make sure that they appear.

However, bodies are only the containers from which prayers emanate.

If we are conscious that praying is in fact elevating our praises, supplications, thanksgivings, and requests to Hashem, and that He is really attentive to everything that we do, then we would conclude that much more than our “bodies” are necessary for our prayers. It is very possible that many of us are unaware of this, and perhaps need to be reminded. To pray to Hashem is a holy thing.

Three important mitzvot should be fulfilled when we pray to Hashem, alone or in a group: (1) to love our God, (2) to love our fellow men, and 3) to serve God with all our heart.

To love God must be included because the commandment says “You shall love Hashem, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.” We need to show Hashem our love to Him in every aspect of our life, including when we pray, by being conscious of His presence and bringing our humble attitude before Him. He is our treasure, and our mind needs to focus on Him with all our might and concentration. Of course, our mind and body may get tired, and then we may need to have a rest by listening the Chazan, or by meditating silently without interrupting others or ourselves.

Listening is another important element when praying to Hashem. Listening is a sign of interest and respect, an indication that we care. We listen to the words we are praying, and we listen to our hearts, but most of all we listen to Hashem, as Samuel did when he was a child and in the house of the Lord. Hashem called him by his name. When Samuel responded, then Hashem gave him the whole message. Listening also means to obey. Hashem commanded Samuel to do something--to give a message to Eli, the cohen (priest)--and even when it was difficult for him to do it, Samuel obeyed. And because Samuel was faithful, more was given to him.

Faith is another important element that needs to be included when engaged in tefilla. I would say that faith is our connection to the invisible God. It is a virtue that a God-fearing man develops as he gets closer to Hashem. Ultimately, it is a gift from Hashem to us. Many of our ancestors, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakob, Moshe, King David, the Prophets, and many others, lived a life of faith and it is expected that we also do so. The prophecy says: “but the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). We are all called to, and expected to be righteous (Yeshayahu 60:61). We are called to live by faith, and we are doing so to some extent, but we are challenged to have an even (increasingly) stronger faith in Hashem, and to expect big things from Him because he is a great and awesome God, doing wonders. If we have no faith, then we are in trouble, because we are not believing the loving and living God.

How can we apply faith to our prayers? First, we need to know a bit more about what faith means. Faith is defined by a regular dictionary as, among other things: (1) confidence and trust in a person; (2) belief in God: (3) belief that is not based on proof; (4) trust in God and in His promises; (5) the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person. I have chosen these as important to the theme of this article.

1. To have faith really means to have confidence and trust in Hashem. It means that no matter how bad things are, Hashem will take care of us all the time. This is clearly reflected in the book of the prophecies of the prophet Habakkuk. This prophet could not understand why Hashem allowed some bad things to happen to Israel, His people, and how the evildoers remained unscathed and were even allowed to afflict Hashem’s own people. Hashem responded to him that the righteous by his faith should live. The prophet understood Hashem to be telling him that he needed to trust his God. No matter how bad he foresaw the coming days to be, he needed to trust God. How often it is that we do not know what it is happening with us, and we do not get a direct answer from Hashem as we would like to. Hashem then asks us, as He did with Habakkuk, to trust Him. Habakkuk understood God’s message to him, and he accepted the reality of his time, and awaited the coming bad days with faith, perhaps saying to himself, and to others, “No matter how dark the coming days are, I will still rejoice in Hashem. I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” (please read Habakkuk 3:16-18). And because he was a prophet, this message was also for whoever was willing to trust in Hashem’s kindness -- the God who can turn darkness unto light.

2. Following the above definition of faith, we do not only believe in God, but we know that God exists. This is the first principle of the Jewish faith (Rambam). We pray on the assumption that God exists and that He is the Creator of all visible and invisible things. To believe in God, or to know that God exists is one thing, but to believe God is one further step, a big one. Avraham avinu believed Hashem when Hashem asked him to leave his land and his people and to go to a land that Hashem would show him. Avraham did not know where he was moving to, but he obeyed Hashem and was rewarded for his obedience with a number of big promises, which he also needed to accept by faith, because he did not immediately see the fulfillment of a number of those promises, no in his earthy life. Avraham just trusted the God whom he knew. He trusted the Almighty.

3) When we have no faith, or our faith is weak, we need proof, and we keep asking for signs and answers. We do not trust in our God. This is what happened when King Achav accused Eliyahu, the Prophet, of being a troublemaker. The prophet argued with the King, saying that the King and his advisers -- those who ate from the King’s wife’s table -- had misled the people of God “by abandoning the… mitzvot and following the Ba’alim” (Ba’als, or false gods: 1 Kings 18). The Prophet challenged the King to gather the people and the false advisers to assemble before him on Mount Carmel. There, each side -- the Ba’alim’s prophets and Eliyahu should pray -- the false prophets to the Ba’alim and Eliyahu to Hashem. The one who would respond with signs would be acknowledged as the real God. An altar was built, animals were sacrificed, and everything was ready (show time, for many). These were people who need proof of God due to lack of faith. Avraham avinu did not ask for big signs to follow Hashem and to live close to Him. Most people know how the story of Eliyahu ended. The Ba’alim’s prophets prayed and nothing happened. Eliyahu prayed a few words, and fire came from Hashem and consumed what was offered and more. Of course, due to the sign the people believed, or turned to Hashem again, but for how long?

So, faith is important when praying. Hashem is good and is ready to listen to our tefillot when we humble before Him. I see Hashem more as a Father than as a Judge when we have faith, although He certainly judges the whole earth all the time.

4. We trust God, and in His promises are ours. “Call out to me and I will answer you” (Yirmiyahu 33:3). We people have our own opinions, and some people are wiser than others, depending how much they managed to learn. However, when the words come from Hashem we cannot say it is this man’s or that man’s opinion and discard them to show we are right. It is more important than to be right to listen to Hashem and to do His will, no ours. Men or angels are only the messengers. When Hashem sends his words, those words are firm, as it is written: “The grass dries up, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever” (Yeshayahu 40:8). Hashem’s promises to Israel are many and beautiful. We need to learn them, to accept them, and to live according to them.

But—and this is very important-- we need to pray according to them, even to remind them to Hashem when we ask for help and blessings. We can also expect their fulfillment when we pray and at all times. We can insist strongly on Hashem’s blessing on us, trusting in His kindness, as Yaakov avinu did when he was alone praying at night, and he told the messenger: “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.” And he was blessed, and Yaakov’s name was changed to Israel. It may not be clear who the “man” was who fought Yaakov, but he called that place P’ni’El (face of God) because he saw God in that experience. The idea is that we should believe Hashem is good and that he will bless us when we trust Him fervently in our prayers. Do your part and He will do the rest.

5. The obligation to be loyal to Hashem is more evident to us than to the rest of the world, because (to us were given, as a people, God’s words of revelation, and we have been chosen to be His people, a people who, as Moshe avinu remind us “heard the voice of God speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and stay alive?” (Devarim 4:33). We are a people for whom Hashem opened the sea to save them from the enemy who wanted to destroy them when coming out of Egypt. We are the people for whom Hashem stopped the waters of the Jordan so Israel could possess the Promised Land.

Can we just forget all the wonderful things that Hashem has done for us now and in the past? Even before we ask for something Hashem knows what we need, and is ready to listen to us. Can we hear the voice of Hashem on these days? Hashem does not sleep, as the Ba’alim do. He has no need for that. He is not far from us. He is near to those who seek him, all who sincerely call on Him.

Can we relax when we pray before Hashem? Of course we can, but we do not need to lose concentration to relax when praying. Relaxation is different from socialization and distraction. We can rest in Hashem, meditating on the words that we pray or we hear from the Chazan. We need to learn to listen to Hashem’s voice when He talks to our hearts. Of course sometimes we want to solve all of the world’s problems, but chatting about them when praying is wasting our time. Only Hashem can solve our and other people’s problems, and He can work on us when we come humbly before Him in prayer and are ready to obey His voice and His will. Hashem is our God and wants to work on us, but we must let Him to do it. He wants to walk among us and shape our lives. Oh, If we could just hear His voice! He is a marvelous God to us.

The Mishna said: “The original Chassidim used to wait for one hour before praying, in order to direct their minds to God” (Berachoth Chapter 5, Mishna 1). Of course, today many of us do not have one hour to wait before praying. But this Mishna teaches us how seriously people in the past took praying. If we do not have one hour to wait before praying, we can still have a similar attitude and reverence when praying. If we do have time to wait, let us use it properly. Do not be afraid of having holy conversations before prayer starts, but most of all honor and praise Hashem in your heart.

Tefilla requires work, a constant effort coming from the heart. It is a service to Hashem when we pray for ourselves and others, especially for others. Why? Because it is easy to care for us that to care for others. To care for others require extra effort, extra work. Hashem wants to be Lord (Master) of our hearts and King of our lives. The problem is that we have difficulty let Him to take control of us and to make corrections. That has been my fight with Jacob’s messenger since conversion to Hashem. In a sense, we fight with our God, many times, and we do not realize it. But the more I give to Him, the more I grow and see His splendor. We are asked to “Broaden the place of your tent, extend the curtains of your dwelling; do not hold back, lengthen your cords, and strengthen your pegs firm.” (Yesha’Yahu 54: 2). Hashem insists and invites us to grow, to go to a deeper, wider, level in our relationship with Him, so we can do His avoda (work). He is ready to reconcile us with Him and to show us “things you do not know, hidden things of which you are unaware, great and mighty.” (YirmeYahu 33:3).

Pray for the peace of Yerushalaim!