371 - Unlocked Prayers

The Gemara teaches us that tefillah, prayer, is one of the highest things in the world, and nevertheless, the usual tendency of people is to undermine the power and potency of tefillah. As with many areas, when a certain action is spiritually potent, the evil forces make their maximum efforts to try to deter us from tapping into these holy endeavors. Specifically, because tefillah is one of the highest spiritual endeavors within our reach, as the Gemara outlines, the evil forces in the spiritual realms cause our natural tendency to undermine the potency and power of tefillah.

In times of old, before any of the prescribed prayers existed, it was common practice for a Jew to talk to Hashem in their own words, as clearly seen throughout the Torah and Tanach. And even after the prescribed prayers were enacted, it was common practice throughout the generations for people to converse with Hashem in their own words, as outlined by many Torah commentaries. We are so privileged to have both forms of prayer available to us on a daily basis, both the prescribed prayers, as well as the opportunity at any given moment to talk to Hashem in our own words.

When it comes to the prescribed prayers, we are encouraged to articulate the words that have been formulated in the correct way, as well as do our best to mean what we are saying. And we are permitted, at certain parts of the Shemona Esrei, to add in our own words to make the tefillos more personal. And as taught by Halacha, in particular by the final paragraph, Elokai Netzor, there is a green card to talk completely in our own words to Hashem about anything and everything.

A motivating teaching in Torah literature is that when it comes to our prescribed prayers, in a sense, the evil forces are expecting the prayers to be said because we are prescribed to pray three times a day, and therefore they have the jurisdiction on a spiritual level to prevent our prayers from going up, if perhaps we didn't have the right intention or for many other reasons. Of course, much of the time, our prayers do make it up, but they are on guard expecting our prayers, and therefore if there is an opportunity for them to prevent them from making their way up, they do so; whereas when it comes to our personal prayers, they are unexpected by the evil forces in the spiritual realms. Because we do not have a specific law outlining exactly when we are supposed to talk to Hashem in our own words, and therefore because it is our personal relationship with Hashem and varies from individual to individual, the evil forces in the spiritual realms are not expecting our personal prayers in order to try and make efforts to prevent them from reaching Hashem. 

“Thank you, Hashem, for the opportunity to talk to you at any given moment without even requiring me to prepare myself in any particular way. I never feel alone, Hashem, because wherever I go, I always can talk to you, and I believe that you are listening to me. Thank you, my Father, for always being my companion and walking together with me, no matter what I am experiencing, both through the sweet times in my life as well as through the difficult and challenging times.”