Kavanah L'Mitzvos: How to Pray with More Joy with Rabbi Asher Baruch Wegbreit

[Music] a bait knesset midrash and to the cavanaugh mitzvos foundation klm for those you from holland so tonight again we're going to work on a mitzvah evdu to serve hashem with joy it's not only into hilum a commandment the it's a torah commandment according to rebecca and how does he learn that out it's maybe fairly famous that hashem says in parties kitavo that the reason for all the curses and difficulties the reason because you didn't serve hashem of joy that's a big comment so besides the fact that it's a torah commandment and it's also what's called divre kambola from tehlem a commandment from talem i want to discuss why serving hashem is so important now in these days secondly i want to discuss why it's very difficult at times especially with prayer and thirdly i want to discuss how can we succeed that's the plan all right so let's start with why is it so important this is let's say a new reason there are many reasons why serving hashem basimka is important but this one is very important two words jewish continuity if we want the torah to go from our generation to the next generation this is critical and i'm afraid to say we're having continuity problems you know a lot that's an understatement but uh unfortunately a lot of children are not remaining it's really a big challenge and a big problem and not only that and i spoke to a rabbi who's been involved in kiruff right in outreach and he says not that many people are coming in is not as much as as it was so if that's the case i suggest that it is really important we know how to do that my rebbe's rebbe my grand rabbi said that a very important principle if you want to be a positive influence spiritually he says if you want someone else to have a spiritual experience have a spiritual experience in their presence that's gonna be the trick the snot trick the secret the important principle we need to be spiritually excited we need to be serving hashem with joy if we want it to go further okay that's why it's important now let's see why it's often times difficult what's difficult about serving hashem with joy and let's focus on a perhaps the most challenging place is the structured prayers that's part of serving hashem what makes it difficult so let's look at that first and then we'll look at how to succeed okay the first thing is when it comes and by the way for this work let's focus on the morning prayers this applies not just to prayer applies to misses but let's focus on the morning prayers and pasuke de zimra right which are the set of prayers or tahil and we say in the first thing in the dhavaning okay so let's see what's difficult the first thing these this is a fact we know we are reciting the words again and again there's your sitter again and again and again every day you know that uh the shmona esri is is three times a day but pazuki's every single day the same words again and again i thought well and by the way where did uh the decision of how we pray come from came from great rabbis the ancestors of godola very some of those rabbis were first they were leaders of the sanhedrin and prophets now if i i don't neither [Laughter] but i would have thought let's have a little rotation you know in the t a lot of the pursuit is simran is tahilam so in the tahillim there is a hundred and fifty tillam so how about this right uh day one uh this set day two this let's say a weekly rotation and you go through the tell me you have something new but no we know we're receiving the words again and again the same words again and again this can create difficulties let's see what that can lead to here's an assumption that's a fact we're saying the words every time the assumption we make is we believe the following repeating the same thing is boring okay no one would say that about our holy prayers but still we have to this is a challenge if we rush if we go through on some level we don't like repeating the same thing it seems to be god forbid boring so right now so again let me ask you a question these were prophets and the greatest rabbis amongst the greatest rabbis of all time were they setting us up to fail god forbid why why is it that they instructed us to repeat repeat repeat repeat and again we kind of feel or say we have the assumption repetition is boring so what does that lead to well it's probably obvious when we pray we often feel like a robot you see the robot now if again certainly if you feel that prayer is not stimulating because you're saying the same thing it's going to be natural that it'll be robotic and there's another thing that's part of the issue when you do the same thing and it's a routine or what we call wrote so what happens you why is robot a good analogy because you do things automatically without thinking now i don't wa i'm most of the time with the cavanaugh mrs foundation i am in a war against rote i'm in the battlegrounds i'm trying to get everybody to join me to fight road however let's be honest sometimes rote is outstandingly helpful i'll give you one example right it's sometimes really good to not think and to be working this by road uh let's say in the military right they're training the soldiers to use their weapons do you know what they do they go over it so so many times they keep repeating the same procedures they even let's say the the the gun jamming so the gun jamming they repeat that thousands and thousands of times i don't know the exact numbers but why because you can't think in certain situation there's no time to think so in in certain uh you know this is in athletics as well the the ability to just muscle memory they talk about it to have the muscles do the thinking and not you that's great but you know where road is terrible with relationships that is not the place okay you know that if if your relationships are rote with people you know that's not good and what is prayer we have to we forget sometimes because it's a mitzvah something i'm supposed to do all the time prayer is a relationship with hashem so the the rote is a big threat right the repetition first of all we have an assumption that's boring and secondly when you do things so much you tend not to pay attention and think and that's a problem when you're trying to relate to someone okay so that's that's the uh spin-off problem and that's why sometimes it's robotic yeah you know it says they have to ask you on the computer you know please identify that you're not a robot right what if they asked you after you prayed god forbid not really i'm not a robot no so we this is obviously a challenge that we have to deal with and what's the result okay we're saying the same words again and again we believe that repeating the same thing is boring we feel like a robot and then guess it's no surprise we pray without joy right we're supposed to serve hashem with joy and as i said this is super important not just for ourselves you know we're we want to be we said we're passing the torch right the in a relay race you have you pass over a torch right so if you're going to pass the torch over to the next generation well if it's extinguished because there's no joy in the process they're not going to take the they're not going to take the uh the torch from you right also i just want to point out we're supposed to be a light unto the nations and you know somebody a friend of mine who knows american history very well evidently john adams i think the second president john am i correct okay he uh went to a jewish wedding and and he wrote about it you know he had jewish friends i guess he would he was you know okay and anyhow he said you know they started to pray the evening service and he commented that some of them went very quickly through it so that wasn't the greatest impression we're supposed to inspire the world to reach out and pray to hashem so if we do if you hear why it's so important we must do that with joy it must be infectious and we say we want to be a light into our children and also we want to be in a light into the person sitting next to you when you're dabbing if you're warming you're diabetic at home you know the children may see you and if you're a troll let's be a light to the guy next to us okay you hear this is the challenge and now let's look at how we can succeed to service him with joy and i'm going to tell you we're going to take two approaches number one is we said that this is a fact the fact is you're repeating the words every single uh every repeating the words again and again this is not a fact the idea that repetition is boring is not a fact it's an assumption and it's a destructive assumption and we need to destroy it and replace it with a better assumption okay so the solution is going to come number one from the uh getting rid of the assumption that repetition is boring and replacing it with a much better and true assumption secondly is what i call visualizing the spiritual reality you have the physical reality and then the spiritual reality let me give you an example and where this is very costly okay if you look at things in from a physical standpoint what is the one of the main things the torah is realized is revealing to us you're in a whole other world in this world you're in a whole other world potentially it's revealing uh just a different universe now let's take circumcision right the the midst of circumcision how does it look to the world outside that sees the physical procedure or knows about it what's the word they say barbaric right terrible right so that's if you look at it physically you could have such a perspective but if you know what's going on spiritually you know what a circumcision you know what that does that gives a child a chance to have free choice when it comes to the tremendous pull of lust and negative use of physical passion that's what it does so that's the spiritual reality we have the physical reality cutting the flesh of a little baby we have the spiritual reality is you're equipping this child for tremendous spiritual growth okay so to repeat the solution that you're going to about to see is first of all we're going to destroy the assumption that repeating the same thing when you're praying is boring and we're going to replace it with a better assumption and then we're going to visualize the spirituality when you do mitzvahs okay with no further ado here we go so first is this uh assumption okay we okay we bel we bel some believe that repetition is boring i'm going to summarize this replace it with repetition leads to greatness okay repetition can make you great and how is that true with prayer repeated prayer does two things it makes us deeper and wealthier okay and i really want to focus on the deeper so the thing is this what you have you have stimulus and then response right so when is a stimulus stimulating when your first exposure right repeated uh exposure to the stimulus you become less stimulated but that's not the jewish way rav sadika cohen said something that when i first heard it i felt very indicted to be honest he says you can tell the depth of a person by the depth of their prayer in other words if your prayer is superficial on some level that means you are superficial if your prayer is deep you are deep now what's this what's the explanation is here's this the a person who's on a more superficial level depends on the stimulus he depends on the event you know that's why the honeymoon is the highlight of the marriage right it's new it's fresh it's exciting right so that's that's the now we're gonna see the rabbis didn't make a mistake they they understand that hashem wants us to become as deep and evolved and beautiful as we possibly can as human beings so what what how do you do that you take the same thing and you put yourself into it you reflect on it and and here's why repetition is great right for example i'll give you a couple of examples there's uh one one friend of mine who's a businessman says that you know a new sales person has a really hard time doing a good job selling why because he's just he's not so familiar with the product he's just getting to know the product right experienced salesman knows the product cold and now he can just have all these interesting insights into it and talk about it etc here's another ring what does an actor have to do an actor has to first memorize his lines right you have to know your lines then you can play with them you know this is amazing sir alec guinness very famous actor you know old times so one time he made an acceptance speech he won award for acting and to do he did a virtuoso and what was his virtue oh so i don't remember how many i'm gonna throw out a conservative estimate he said good evening 50 different ways do you hear that because that's someone who realizes that depth is developed and and if you can see that's the thing we also do this with the torah we're going over the torah every year the this the parsha again and again and again and we can become very deep people right so here's the new recep repeating is not boring repeating leads to greatness repetition can create greatness okay that's the the first way to now to serve hashem basimcha right to pray to do the structured prayers you're doing all the time right realize you can become great by taking that same text and saying good evening good evening in another nuance in another way each time okay solution number one solution number two is visualizing the spiritual reality so this what i'm sharing with you is based on a very very famous commentator on the sidder named the siak yitzhak i believe he's in the times of the villenegoan classic classic commentary and he brings a zohar to explain uh why or how we can serve a shemba simcha so listen to the zora in its actual text i looked it up it says like this um ira la a poor person shows up and it says the tsar contingencies this poor person is a gift that hashem is sending to the recipient to give charity to give to dhaka it's a gift sent from hashem to you right so what is he saying he says that's not just when a poor person see we really need help there because we say oh i'm gonna have to give my money or he's just god forbid disturbing me right so it's a gift sent from hashem you received a gift right imagine how much that would help in your charity giving but ready says the sia all of the mitzvahs are heaven-sense gifts right every mitzvah when you get a chance to pray sukiyama tomorrow morning guess what hashem sent you a gift he sent you a gift from the heaven so what is the reaction to a gift here's what we can feel we can feel like a child on their birthday right also i think of hanukkah too you know you get it it's wrapped up you think of the excitement of a child when they receive a gift right so we can we can take the this experience what are we doing here we're visit visualizing the spiritual reality the physical reality is you're saying the same prayer again and again the spiritual reality is you're being uh sent a gift from heaven right from the cottage and you can feel like a kid now let me let me bring a big encouragement of feeling joy when you receive the gift of a mitzvah and of davening in this case ready i i have to tell you what the zora says next it says as follows the zorro says one who receives this gift from hashem the savor panim with a pleasant joyous countenance it says i'm translating it first it'll say his portion is so good let me just say it the way the best way to translate he won the lottery okay so when you receive the gifts of the mitzvahs and the prayers from hashem and you receive it with a joyous pleasant countenance you won the lottery right we said you're going to be very wealthy the the actual response of joy is rewarded handsomely you hear this so that's why and and what i want to point out to you this can really really this is an act of spiritual greatness because it makes you god conscious if you have if you relate to the tephila or the mitzvah that you're doing and you really you here's the thing is you first think to yourself you visualize this is a gift sent to me from from a kardash and then you say and i am being observed on how i'm going to receive it i was thinking let's say the uncle comes by and he gives the gift directly so if you're a smart kid you're going to have a you're going to be beaming smile and filled with excitement when he gives you the gift right he's going to be inspired to do that again right so what i'm saying to you is if you put a smile on your face realizing the shamayim in the heaven that kaddish borojo they're watching how i receive this gift of praying three times a day or any other mitzvah giving charity if you realize that and you realize and you put on an extra smile because you realize hashem's watching you that is the mitzvah derice of the first commandment of a muna in hashem is realizing you're in the presence of hashem so it's a tremendous thing to develop beside the mitzvah of serving assem all right so let's see the final result okay so if we change the assumption we destroy the assumption that repetition is boring and we replace it with repetition leads to greatness and then we realize and visualize that mitzes are heaven-sent gifts and we respond like a child on his birthday the uncle gave him the gift because we realize if you receive the gift graciously and with joy envious what your portion is okay that that's the formula to serve as some of joy but now here's the the last point i want to make and perhaps in a certain way it's the most important point the midst of serving hashem with joy besides being the torah commandment it's in my humble opinion the key to keep the torah alive and going on to the next generation it's so important that we're inspired we that's what we said it's hard at times because a lot of the um service is repetitious especially the prayers that's the challenge and and we said that the way out of this is by changing our assumption from repetitions not boring repetition can lead to depth and greatness that's why we're here okay and then we also have this other revelation that every mitzvah and your prayers are heaven-sent gifts and you're going to be they're going to watch how you respond to it so you respond with joy i let i say the last most important thing for the end kavanagh mitzvos right mitzvahs require intention before you do them and the mitzvah of serving hashem with joy is no exception and i just want to make this let's say you take this class please god very seriously and you work on it and you're smiling but you didn't have in mind i have in mind the mitzvah to to serve hashem simcha as he's commanded you know what it's a big shame because your mitzvah is not in the same place it's like i'll give the famous metaphor if you have a check if you have zeros right zeros not adding much put a one in front and then you start adding zeros it's great so having an intention for the mitzvah is the one okay then when you start getting to work and and developing yourself and doing it with simcoe all that effort's going to be another zero and another zero and another zero that's a spiritually speaking truth okay i also speaking of mitzvahs and doing them basimka it's the end of the fiscal year which provides a spiritual opportunity and that's to use your you know opportunity for tax reductions etc to support torah and i highly want to recommend that yebene is having a campaign right now and it would be great to to help them flourish because they're helping jewish jews all around the world and also interested non-jews to flourish and and so i encourage you to see the link on that and also the cavanaugh mitzvos foundation um we're trying to spread awareness of this very life-changing mitzvah and we'll have a link also that you can press if you'd like to contribute to that and should all have a lot of simcha [Music] it's