Parashat Ekev - Why do we need to pray? - Rabbi Alon Anava

[Music] a few weeks ago I went on a trip to America and before I went on my trip then my son came and asked for a certain present he wanted me to buy him a video camera so I said okay let me think about it and I'll let you know and after a few hours he came and said no can I tell you which one I want I said no I told you let me think about it and uh I will let you know the next day in the morning can I send you the link I said no I didn't think about it yet I was busy but I know you want the video camera let me think and I will discuss it with your mother and I will let you know a few hours later he comes again stands next to me what do you want no did you did you come to a decision already I said him listen the more you ask the less I want to give it to you you asked once you told me what you want I I my memory works you don't have to drill it in I know you want the video camera I will think and I will let you know there's no point of you pushing it I know what you want we have a rule in our home the more you ask the less you get ask once I know what you want and I will I will think about it and it made me realize that that's what what we do to Hashem no no no no no we mag all day long and Hashem if he would be able to oh I should more say Hashem is obviously able to do whatever he wants if he would want to he would tell you I heard I know what you want relax don't need to every two minutes to come and push so which brings us to a question if this is the case then why do we pray why do we have to pray if hasem knows what I want and it's enough for me to tell once I need a wife I needa I need kids whatever it is or even I don't have to tell what hasm doesn't know so why do I need to pray why this whole system of praying technically I mean really when you're thinking about it the majority of the of the observant people they don't like praying if you will now interview people outside of a synagogue you will find out that people don't really like like it if somebody would come now and say you know what let's cancel prayers on Mondays we'll skip a day I can guarantee to you that if somebody will come and say you know what and Monday is just a it's not an obligation if you want you come if you don't want you don't come only Mondays I can guarantee to you that Monday will be empty nobody will come if you give the option of that it's not an obligation and I'm notom saying about anybody but the real is that most people don't like praying every day the same text three times a day and and forget about that if I like it or not that's not the question why why is our our main part of the day is around prayer every day I mean women pray much less but men have to pray three times a day and then when they eat they have to say and then and Shabbat and all everything Shabbat you would say give me a day rest why you have to keep me in scha for 3 4 hours and women also have to pray by the way if somebody comes and tells you that women are exempt it's wrong women have to pay at least one time a day they can choose which one they're not bound to time but they still have to pray at least once a day so the question is why do we have to pray where does it come from now not only that the question is why do I have to pray is why do I have to repeat repeat it all the time so I understand prayer let's do it once a week let's meet once a week in the school with a list of Demands okay AEM I need and that's it why do I need every day what's the repetition now the question is it doesn't say in the Tor that I have to pray three times a day you will not find anywhere in the Torah that it tells you that you have to pray three times a day not only that it's not going to tell that it doesn't tell me that I don't have to pray three times a day it just tells me that I have to serve Hashem with all my heart that's it that's what it says it doesn't say the word pray it doesn't say three times a day it doesn't have say a just says that I have to serve Hashem with all my heart and last week we learned about uh a very dominating Mitzvah in our life which is sh is last week in we we learned that we have to say sh Isel and we have to say twice a day when you get up in the morning and when you go to sleep that's why we know we have to say twice a day everybody has to say twice a day but this week comes the next part of the shma that is called and if you should listen and in that part it's talking that that I have to serve AEM with all my heart now what does it really mean that I have to serve hem with all my heart what does it mean serving with my heart last week we presented the question how is the Torah expecting me to love AEM says you have to love so last week we talked about how is the Torah expecting me to love hem I never met him I don't know him I I don't see him and even if I do see the miraculous acts of hasem and how can I develop love you can't develop love it's either there it's either not there so now the Tor comes and tells me that I have to serve AEM with all my heart but what does it mean serve AEM with all my heart maybe for me sleeping is serving Hashem with my heart so basically when it says to serve a with all your heart it means you can do it however you want whenever you want that's basically what it's saying so technically the the Torah is telling me that I can pray to Hashem 100 times a day or I can pray one time a day and I can pray for one minute or I can pray for 50 minutes you don't find in the Tor the no that is a a type and blessings and all that the only prayer that we actually find in the Tor you should eat if you fool then you say a blessing that's it but all the rest of the prayers it just tells me in a very general way that I have to serve Hashem with all my heart that's it now comes R and he wants to explain it what does it mean so R says that I have to pray one time a day and I say whatever I want whenever I want for as long as I want I can just say once a day hi this is considered that I I serve theem I prayed this is an opinion that Raman brings later on he explains it obviously don't take that that that the ram says that you once a day have to say hello but when he starts talking about it in the book of Mitzvah then he says means that I have to pray once a day minimum and I can say what I want whenever I want and if I want to pray 100 times a day I can pray 100 times a day and the prayer can be from my heart so if this is the case that the Torah is not coming and telling me that I have to pray it's just telling me and this is found in our Paras the name of the Paras is e but I find in this Paras this this a Commandment that I have to serve hasem with my heart so if this is the case then where do we come up with this concept of praying three times a day where where do we find that to a point that a dominating part of my life is prayers that people they run their day according to their to where am I praying what time am I praying you going to vacation where's the sh I'm going to spend Shabbat somewhere how close it is to the synagogue what are the hours I I run my day based on my prayer but where do I find in the Torah that it says that I have to pray three times a day and lot not only that why three if I can already find in the Torah where it says that I can pray but why three where does it say in the Tor I have to pray three times a day now one thing that it's important for you to understand a man has to pray three times a day a woman has to pray once a day but it doesn't mean she can't pray three times a day if a woman is single or the kids are out of the home or she has a help it's highly recommended for a woman to pray three times a day so it doesn't mean that she she doesn't need to or can't it's just she doesn't have to three times rather one time but it doesn't mean that she shouldn't if she can why not you're on vacation pray three times a day so I heard once a joke that the non-jew decided to do a documentary on the Jews and he wanted to find out really how many times they have to pray a day now he said okay I can't really believe the Jews he had a Superstition that his mom told him never believe Jews they don't talk truth so he says okay how am I going to do my documentary uh unfortunately that's the sad Truth by the way many Gentiles that I meet they they they what they have in the back of their mind never believe the Jews so anyways but this is a joke so he said how am I going to do my documentary so he said I'm going to start interviewing Jews on the street and I'll ask them I'll see so he stops a Jew on the street he goes to a Jewish area he stops a Jew on the street and he tells him excuse me I'm making a documentary about your lifestyle can you answer my question how many times a day do you pray the Jew tells him three times a day okay he writes down and he moves on he waits for the next person to pass by he stops another person and he tells them you Jewish yeah tells them how many times do you pray a day he tells him four four h he write down four he says the other one told me three he waits waits for the next person to pass he stops him are you Jewish yes I'm making a documentary about the Jews about their lifestyle how many times a day do you pray tells him here easy five five he writes five and he's like wait a minute the first one told me three the second one told me four the first one told me five I should listen to my Mom they're all liars they they can't can't believe them so he says okay let me let me go to their Authority let me go to their Rabbi and ask him so he goes to the rabbi he presents himself he tells him I'm making a documentary and he tells him how how many times a day you pray and he tells him you know I stopped three Jews in the street one told me three one told me four one told me five so the rabbi answers him with a typical Jewish answer and he tells him they're all right now the rabbi is there is confusing me what do you mean they're all right so Rabbi told him listen there are many types of Jews the first one that you stopped is the type of Jew that prays every day so he tolds you he prays three times a day the second Jew that you stopped we call a shabas Jew he only comes to sh on y Shabbat and how many prayers do we pray on Shabbat four and the third Jew that you met that's a once in a year Jew once a year he comes to sh on Yip and how many prayers do we pray on five therefore they're all right so we don't we we we want to know where do we come up with with the three prayers a day cuz many people have a problem with that so just to give a little bit of an overview in this mosu is still giving his speech we're ready for couple par we see that mosenu knows that he's about to leave the world he sees already his brother Aron died his sister Miriam died he sees that the 40 years are about to end and he stands up on the podium and he starts giving off a speech and last week we mentioned that he is very War worried because he said for the last 40 years I was here I was guiding them now I'm going to leave what's going to happen with these guys now they're going to go into Israel Yeshua is going to take them into Israel they're going to start working they're going to start working the land they're not going to learn toor anymore they're going to get into you know the rat race of life and they're going to slowly slowly move away from the Torah and without having a strong leader what's going to happen to the poor Nation so he's very warri so he's giving them uh uh uh from the depth of the heart speech and last week he was talking about is is penetrating the faith into their hearts but he's very worried he doesn't know what's going to happen now with them so this week he's basically explaining to the Jews a concept that many people don't like hearing but he's basically telling them the Torah is about a reward and a punishment now they're like okay now we're not so happy with this one why you telling me that there's a reward and there a punishment I have to work now for to get my reward and if I don't do what I'm supposed to do I get a punishment I don't like that up until today you tell people there's a concept in the Torah of a reward and a punishment I like the reward but why are you giving me a punishment so mosu says listen I'm very sorry to tell you that's what hasem told me to tell you you work you get a reward you don't work you don't get nothing that's how it is and where do we find that that it says in this of it says and if you would listen then the the land is going to bring its crops of course the metaphorical explanation is that the land grows the crops then I put in effort then I will make a spiritual physical growth but then the par comes and says be very careful because if you would go off the and your heart is going to turn to somewhere else then you're not going to get any anything anymore if you go off if you stop if you go off what I'm telling you the land is not going to produce its crops so even physically it's not going to produce but Also spiritually if you go off so here comes a big question wait a minute this is not such a fair game it actually is but a lot of people don't like the fact that if I put I get and if I don't then I get punished this is called a reward and a punishment now in many cases and in many many lectures I always talk about that Hashem is not the type of entity that punishes Shem doesn't sit in sham with a notebook and says oh she did this and that send her the punishment right now it doesn't work like that rather I mentioned so many times that there's the concept that is called an action and a reaction but right now mosu is laying down the foundation by saying there is the concept that is called s a reward and a punishment and that the way it works now to explain it in a more clear way the talud there are two types of talud the B and thei the B was the in the tmic area when the sages were in in B and there was also sages living in ER Isel and they wrote a different type of talmud there are different two types of talmudic teaching in the there's an explanation that kind of gives an idea what's this concept of this SAR andish and it comes in a form of a of a parable and it says that there was once a king and he had two daughters one daughter was very fresh was very and the other daughter was very soft and polite when the the fresh daughter theic daughter would come and ask for something right away he would give it to her and send her off but when the polite girl would come and ask for something he would not give it to her right away why cuz he wanted her to stay next to him for a while so he didn't give her right away the check or whatever it was cuz he wanted her to stay so he can talk to her and enjoy her presence same thing here if somebody ispan very fresh hasem says here take go I don't want you around me so so much but when a person is soft and polite and nice that hasem says I'm not going to give it right away I want you to stay close to me I want you to frymore now I heard once a story a very interesting story that really explains the concept there is Aid there are many different groupsi groups some of them are very known and some of them are not so known and some of them are there's not much of a uh remaining from them unfortunately after the Holocaust so some groups are very very big kabad breast bells g they are very big groups there are very many very many groups that are very small and one of them is a group from Chernobyl and and they're they're not so common now in our days now there's not really there not really a a group from the of chernobil and they were known to be a very very bigid group that the they their the rebi that started the group was a talid of the bov and the mid from but anyways in one of the generations their their rebi uh was a very very big sadik very humble man and usually in a lot of theid groups the rabbi was a very established individual there was a lot of donations coming in the rebi would be treated like a royalty sleeping in beautiful places and dressed in the in nice clothes you see it up until today you go to some of the you see that the reab is like wearing this beautiful silk tailored jacket and they Rush treat the rebi like royalty this particular rebi was very humble very simple very poor he didn't want money he didn't want this whole show and uh he had a a custom that once a month there's a every fourth Shabbat there's a Shabbat that we call Shabbat the Shabbat that we bless the month so the Shabbat before KES it's called Shabbat there's different Customs that we do we we say a certain prayer so he had a custom that 12 times a year on Shabbat he would be hosted somewhere in one of the towns where the city was and usually somebody would would have the honor to host the re there so it was the time for certain individual to host the the this rebbi and a few weeks before that the Gabi the helper of the rebi comes to this individual that is about to host him and he tells him uh the rebi just told me that he wants you to organize a million rubles in order for him to stay by your home the next coming a million Rubles I mean the guy was established but a million Rubles where am I going to get to you such an amount I don't carry these amounts I don't even have such an amount and more than that you're telling that to me a week or two before the Shabbat how can I organ even if I can somehow borrow the money how am I going to get such an amount I mean even if I walk into the bank the bank is not going to give me a million Rubles and he says okay you don't have the money the RAB is not going to be spending the Shabbat by you by you he couldn't understand he didn't know what to do he was asking around where am I going to get now the money couple days before the Shabbat he comes in again he says I'm just reminding you if you don't have a million Rubles the reab is not staying by you he says listen I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it the Gabi had the a couple hours before Shabbat to come and says do you have the million Rubles if not the reab is going to to the other person he says no I don't I don't says okay so he's not going to be spending Shabbat by you a couple hours before Shabbat he comes back again he tells him listen the rabbi sent me a message to tell you not only that he's not staying by you you can't participate in the entire Shabbat he doesn't want to see you what he doesn't want to see me the guy's heartbroken no that he's not staying by me now he doesn't want to see I can't participate and the whole Shabbat is walking around the house where he knows the re is and he's hearing the singing and he sees the theid walking in and out and saying and so inspired and he's he doesn't he's besides himself okay he got so upset and so heartbroken that he looked up to the sky and he says Hashem please I don't want to be away from my rebi I don't want to miss this unbelievable Torah please if there somehow a way for you to get me a million Rubles please just so I can give it to my RBI so I can be again by his side okay the next day he goes out on a on a trip a business trip and he was gone for two weeks at the time there was known that the Russian army would move from one place to the other and and the way it worked is when the Army went into a certain Village they didn't have where to sleep so the soldiers would sleep in people's homes that was the rule that if the soldiers are moving from one side of the town to the other or they're traveling when they would come and rest the the rule was the people had to open their homes and every home will take a few soldiers okay so the the soldiers came through that town and of course they stayed in this person's house no he was a businessman he went on a trip on a business trip there was nobody in the home but the the the maid the housemaid when the soldiers left she noticed that they left a box and she didn't know what to do with the Box she didn't know if to run after the soldiers what to do it's not her home so she waited for the person to come back he came back after two weeks from his journey and she tells him listen the soldiers were here they were here a couple days and when they left they forgot this box here I didn't know if to give it to them it's I mean it's your home I don't know what to do he opens the box and what does he find a million Rubles oh he grabs the Box you can't find the soldiers anymore it was two weeks already you don't know where they go there's nobody to call and say hey did you forget a box I lost and found he understood that hasem wanted him to have the money he took the box and he runs away and who does he give it to he gives it to his RI and he comes and says here here's the money please let me continue learning from you he says okay he opens the box he sees the money and he tells him the RAB tells him here take the money I don't need it I don't need your money the money is for you and now you can come back again and everything's fine person tells him I don't understand I don't understand what was that I do not understand why this whole game so he tells him listen on R you prayed so amazing that it was decided from sham that you're going to make a million rubles you it was decided but you have a problem you're such a humble person you never pray for parasa you never ask Hashem for money and the way it works in this world that in order for you to get something you have to ask for it that's how it works if you don't ask you won't get now since your nature is not to ask so I had to trick you in order for you to ask for the money because if not you won't get it so I made this whole show that you will get heartbroken that you will pray for the money you obviously were supposed to get it from sh see now you prayed now here's your money now everything is back to normal so we learn from that something very simple that the way the system works in the world that hasem says I can give you whatever I want but you have to ask you're not going to get anything if you don't ask it's not it's not has nothing nothing to do with being humble it has nothing to to do with being a you know humility in front of AEM Shem says you need something you have to ask you want money ask you want to get married ask you want Health ask that's the concept and when you ask that's when you create the vessel through that I can actually give you something if you did not ask you will not get so this parasa comes to teach me that I have to do an action that's the concept of this reward and Punishment not wants to punish me wants me to work and to earn what I'm supposed to get so what really do I need to do what what's the solution the solution is is that I have to pray now a lot of people thinking as a prayer as a as a burden again have to again open the book and read this boring text and again every day but the reality is that a prayer is a personal meeting with Hashem it's a private time with hem I told you many times that with all my travels and very busy schedule I don't see my kids so much sometimes I don't even see them in the morning cuz I'm already not in the home they come home from school I'm not there and we don't see each other month especially when I travel now in the summer every month a different trip but I make sure that I have have private time with each and every one of them an hour with this child another with this child and it's only that child no competition or other children that they might not see me often but they get a a private session just with me 10 minutes minutes and we call it private time and Hashem says I I also want private time with you you're busy all day long you work you learn you you do what you need to do all I'm asking is a few minutes for you to come and be around me and this this is a private meeting with the if Shalom a person is sick and he needs to go to a specialist he will wait three months to get a meeting with that person if you want to meet a big Rabbi you will wait 3 four months for the meeting to to to get into I'm not talking right now a king or president that'll tell you either you can't even get into a meeting or you're going to have to wait half a year so here the king of the world is willing to listen to you and he tells you I'm going to give you a few minutes a day private time that you can come and talk so the thing is that prayer is a personal meeting with hem and if we would realize what is the power of a prayer then we would pray all day long and a lot of people ask where do we see the concept of Prayer in the Torah because a lot of people say if it's an invention of the rabbis I don't want to go I don't believe it I want to see something in the Torah so we do see many many places in the Torah of prayer we see for example when Rifka couldn't get pregnant then she would pray all day long she prayed but one of the examples where we see a very powerful prayer that you see the power of prayer is with Leia with our matriarch Leia according to the to the her Destiny she was supposed to marry isav Rael was supposed to marry jaob and Leia was supposed to marry asov and it even says in the Torah that Rael had had a very beautiful face and Leah had soft eyes and Rashi says what doesn't mean soft eyes she used to cry a lot so her eyes were soft she used to pray a lot and we see that her prayer was so powerful that she was able to change her Destiny a she was supposed to marry ASA she changed and she married yov first Ra was supposed to go first and she married him first and and not only that we see that she got the majority of the tribes came through her you see that the power of the prayer and she constantly used to pray you see how powerful prayer can be to a point that if if we would really know how powerful prayers are we would pray all day long but most people don't want to pray and they see it as a burden and praying is not necessarily just opening a a a book and reading the text prayer is the opportunity to ask it's when it's the time to come and do to Hashem you know like my kid where's my video camera Shem doesn't mind you nagging him that's that's not like a like a human being that gets annoyed but a prayer is an opportunity to ask now comes a different question two questions a where do we get the whole concept of a minan that I have to pray in a minan and then where do I get get the concept that they have to have a certain no no is the type of the prayer why can't I just close myself in a room and start saying hem I love you and why do I have to go by a certain order and then you see that there are many different orders fari Ash and many different types so where did we get the minan the fact that I have to make it in an organized way mean I'm not talking about 10 men I'm talking about that it has to be organized in the morning in the afternoon in the evening and then the actual no so it all started in the Exile of B before that there wasn't a no before that there would only speak L KES when they were exiled and they went to bavel to Babylon at some point after a couple Generations they forgot the holy language they forgot L KES and at some point they were praying not even in KES came a certain individual who's known asra and he said listen we have to write down uh certain prayer because a they they don't know the holy language anymore they spoke a little bit of Aramaic a little bit of this a little bit of that it's almost like now the Jews in America a little bit ofish a little bit of English a little bit of Hebrew it's all mishmash it's not really a language so said okay we have have to make a a no to write it down therefore there's going to be a set prayer and you're going to learn the actual language and you know that's how you pray because you have to pray in L KES in Hebrew L KES is not really Hebrew Hebrew is what they speak here in Israel KES is the the language the holy language so prepared 18 blessings which is the the that we pray this is the 18 prayers that we that we repeat and wrote it that's where we got the actual no that didn't want that it to be a chaos let's make it organized and that's where the the NOS the type came but where did we get the three times a day they said okay where do we where what did we do before prayers I mean we do find that our forefathers used to pray is me but yeah exactly from the corot so we find two places where we can find from our past prayers a our forefathers and the other thing is theim is the is the sacrifices so when you're looking at the forefathers then we know that abrah ainu he prayed in the morning we read it every day Abraham woke up early in the morning it doesn't say that he woke up early in the morning to make scramble he woke up in the morning to to pray he used to pray viim Nets and then we look at our second forefathers it then we know that when Rifka came on the camel with leazar brought her he was in the field he was praying M exactly he was there's an argument whether he was praying Min he was doing it bod but he was in the field and that's when Rifka came and it says that RKA fell from the camel now some say because of of modesty there's an opinion that says that she was shocked what your father wakes up early in the morning to pray and you're such a bum and you're praying in the afternoon that's my husband praying in the afternoon no no no I don't I want a husband a sadik so he told her no no no no don't worry I also pray in the morning like my father but I also pray in the afternoon and of course comes the Third father yob who when he went toan on the way he he says and he put his head down and he and he prayed way right before he went to sleep and there's much more explanations but we know that from the forefathers Abraham he started the and arit there's a very interesting hint how we know of each and every of them is that the second letter of the name of each one of them represents the time of the day that they pray so the second letter in the word Abraham is the second letter is bit stands for B morning the second letter in the word isik that's Sahar afternoon and the second letter in the word yov is which is and evening so you have a hint that abrah is morning is afternoon and Jakob of his evening so we know based on our forefathers that they decided to pray three times a day was was already and but then we have another time that we learn about the prayers and that's the the sacrifices this is called now we learned three weeks ago about Corban if you remember there was one sacrifice in the morning one sacrifice at night it wasn't at night it was in the late evening before the sun went down so this is already corresponding to shakar and but the sacrifices that were not able to be sacrificed throughout the day they would throw it on the Altar and it would burn the entire night and and from that we learned for the morning prayer the afternoon prayer and the evening prayer that's where we we learn the three so we understand okay we learn three prayers morning afternoon and evening but what's the point of specifically these prayers why okay so now we understand why we pray it's a time to ask what we need from Hashem cuz we need to create a vessel how come three we learn it from our for fathers and from the sacrifices why we pray from because as wanted to make sure that we have an order but really what's the point of praying because the point is that the Torah tells me in this week's I learn that I have to pray this is a positive commandment a lot of people say that praying is not a positive commandment a posit a prayer this comes from the positive commandment so what's the point of praying so there's a a story from the the bmov that he had a student that he wasn't a straight A student he was actually not a good student at all he couldn't sit on his T he couldn't learn if that student would live in our generation they would tell him his ADD and give him ralin but he was a normal human being and he just had a little bit of too much energy and he wasn't the the academic type he didn't fall into our generation they would right away put a pill in his mouth so the B says listen he's not the big learner go and work become a b this is sometimes a much greater thing to do that you have to serve AEM through your business and you have to be honest and you have to be dealing with dignity so the boy told him what should I learn so I told him you know you should learn to be uh uh a jewelry maker in Hebrew is called that you take the the gold and and you melt it in the special H vessel with boiling hot water and you melt the gold melt to Silver whatever you the material you work with and then you create you can make a a kidish cup you can make a a Rings whatever it is like a a jewelry maker okay he found him a mentor he went and for four months he learned the trade how to do every little thing all the all the tricks of the trade and then finally he he got his certification now go and work he goes on the first day and nothing works everything that he did throughout the studies he's now coming and doing it and it doesn't work and this is a this is embarrassing he got hired in a to work in a shop and he goes back to his mentor and he tells him listen nothing worked so he tells him what mean nothing worked did you mix the how I told you yes did you this did this yes so then he tells him did you light the fire he says o that I forgot so the prayer that we do that's the fire of our machine Hashem says I want you to pray for me I want you to to talk to me I want you to ask your needs I want you to thank me I want you to be involved I want you to pull on my jacket and I want you to come every day but when we go through the entire reasons why how who we just covered where we got these prayers but really the point of the prayer is to ignite the fire cuz I wake up in the morning I'll wash my hands I'll say the morning prayers the prayer ignites the fire underneath my vessel and then a few hours pass and the fire starts you know how do you say simmering down it starts cooling down and I need to Glide it up again not too long ago I went to an event and they made like a before the before the lecture they made a big barbecue and uh you know I was observing what the guy is doing on the barbecue and constantly had to get the fire strong if the fire dims then it's not going to cook as well has to be boiling hot and it's not fire the the the stones the coils have to be boiling hot so every couple hours our soul cools down I go out to the street and I deal with business I deal with people I get affected by what people do and it cools down my Nish the excitement of myish so hasm says you have to put it back on the fire to re reheat it so the prayer is igniting the fire again and if I don't ignite the fire nothing's going to work so the prayer when the Torah comes and tells me that I have to serve with all my heart first of all when our sages ask what does it mean to serve AEM with all my heart my what is the work of my heart that's prayer that's cuz that's done from my heart now if everything is okay in your life then your prayer is you know how they say it you're just reading the words but when you really need something it's the day of the court case oh your prayer you pray from your Kish because you know you're about to meet the judge now that is going to give the approval or the disapproval or when it comes to the big business deal or the job application oh you pray you you pray like a like a ninja so when Shalom you are pressed to the wall then your prayer is very very powerful why cuz it comes from the heart but when when you don't have a problem and we shouldn't have any problems but the prayer is like so the point is that I need to ignite the fire of my soul and really the prayer what it boils down to is the prayer is a vessel the same way with the talid of this Chernobyl Reby they told him you needed to make a vessel you had to pray for the money if not you wouldn't get it there's a that the B was a very poor man before he was revealed as a big sadik nobody knew who he was he was a m he would teach kids in a in a in a Yeshiva he was very poor and he had to was so poor he had to ask for money there's a story that one time he came to the was Shabbat he didn't have food for Shabbat he went to the door of the richest person in town he knocked on the door and ran away and the rich person came out and said did you knock on the door and says yeah he's like can I help you he's said no I just needed to knock on the door like what do you mean you just needed to knock on the door he says listen I don't have money I'm very poor and I need to get food for Shabbat but in order for me to get food for Shabbat I have to make some type of an effort so for me just knocking on the door that's my effort I'll get my food somehow Hashem is going to send me my my my meal for Shabbat but my my effort my vessel was just to knock on the door obviously the that the rich person came running out after him most cases the rich person will not even even run to the door so the B explains that that I need to make a vessel whatever I'm supposed to get I will get but I have to make the right vessel for that whether I make a small vessel a big vessel one prayer 50 prayers whatever I need to do I need to create a vessel and three times a day when I go and pray or in the case of a of a woman a one time pray that's not only igniting the fire it's creating that vessel Shem knows what you want I knew my son wants a video camera he did not have to come and push my jacket 50 times I told him I know what you want I saw the the model I know that's it but he still had to make a vessel and the vessel was to come and ask me and I had to make him he it was a condition he had to work I told him no problem I'll buy you the camera but I want you to meet me halfway you're going to have to work a little bit clean the floor take the garbage out do this do that you come up with your half I'll give my half but you have to work for that you have to make a vessel and the problem is not me I don't have a problem buying you the camera that's not the problem the problem is not the money I can buy you the camera but I want you to create an effort not not by pulling my jacket by saying okay what's my job today my job is to water the garden to paint the fence to strip the beds what do you want me to do that's my job so he wanted something so much so he he knew that he needs to ask for it and he knew that he needs to make a vessel he didn't whine he didn't cry now after the camera if I'm going to tell him to do the same job ah now I got the camera I I I don't need to of course my my my answer to that yeah but the camera you want now a microphone and then you want a bag and then you you going to continue wanting things to your camera so don't don't uh don't think that that's it the point is is that the prayer is a a foundation of my connection to Hashem is how you say prayer in Hebrew even though prayer should be called bakas request but we call it in Hebrew prayer because comes from the word in Hebrew is that it's aned it's cancelled in the main part if you remember when we learning in the of of the blessing there's a concept of even though is with a and with a it doesn't matter it comes from the same root but means that I'm becoming one I'm becoming to the means secondary I'm an old to the main part of hem so the is making me becoming one with hem it's private time between me and hem I'm busy Hashem is busy Hashem is willing to give me 15 time minutes a day you take it you come and you pour your heart out because you get connected to hem you ignite the fire of your soul and you create a vessel if I'm supposed to get my salvation my health my Mya whatever it is but I have to make some type of a vessel and the prayer is the vessel and in this a we see that in the last week's was talking about is is is establishing the belief between me and theh that I believe in hem but in this week's M comes and says no now it's not only now that we established the faith now we have to do something you have to do a certain act and that's whyu brings it out as a reward and a punishment if you would listen then you will get what you want the land will produce its crops and in the metaphorical way then you will get what you want you will be able to produce the the the the reward from above and if you don't then you're not going to get nothing you know you you now the point to look at here is not necessarily the punishment that if I do something somebody's going to come and hit me with a stick that's not the concept here the concept is that if I don't do something I will not get anything not that if I'm now going to do something somebody's going to hit me the punishment here is that if you don't do you don't get that's it one can look at it that's a punishment cuz I didn't get yeah but you didn't do so the point we want to take from this is very very simple that the Tora comes to teach me a very simple thing in my life that wants me to pray he wants me to get connected to him through my prayers it's a time when I can have private time with the K it's when I can when I can ignite my and more than that I build a vessel for the blessing to dwell in so we need to know that the prayers are a vital part of our day and we need to know what we're praying for and not only to pray just from the book rather we need to pray for what we really need to and the ultimate thing that we need to pray for which I don't think that most a lot of people really put their time to pray for it is that we have to pray for mashiah obviously we need a very big vessel to bring the Redemption so we need to increase in our prayers in our personal needs we need to pray for other people and we need to pray for the coming of the Redemption and we need to pray for the we we want mashiah obviously hasem wants us to create a vessel since the Redemption is such a big thing then obviously the vessel has to be big meaning that our prayers should be strong and powerful what we should take from that that AEM should have a lot of from us and from now on I know that the 15 minutes a day or the 5 minutes that I pray or the 10 minutes in or the 40 minutes if I pray whatever prayer I do it's not only for my benefit it's for the benefits of of the the the the entire world but it really is for me if I want to look at it in a very selfish way I need it it's my injection my daily injection that I get a little bit of inspiration and a lot of people unfor in our generation are sad depressed and dealing with all sorts of problems like that because the is sad and people come and tell me I'm suffering from depression I'm sad I'm I'm constantly I I wake up in the morning I don't have any energy to get out of bed I tell them so pray I don't have the I don't have the energy yeah but your soul is sad if your soul is sad then your then your body will be sad that's how it works the body has no say here if the body is sad if the the soul is sad then your body will be heavy if your soul is happy and and and energetic your body will be that pray I know it's not it doesn't sound like the best advice people say oh now you're telling me to pray not too long ago somebody came to a a meeting a private meeting and she tells me this is my problem and she says please don't tell me that I need to pray so why did you come for his Li if you're telling me already what you don't want to hear already know she told me no no just don't tell me to pray I told her yeah I I was about to tell you that you have to pray so the point is that sometimes we do like a job sometimes I have to go to the job whether I like it or not most people don't like their job most people hate their job but they still work because they need to pay the rent and their mortgage or whatever it is so sometimes I don't like the prayer but I have to do it because it's the sustance for my should all have the ability the awareness the energy and the excitement to pray for the K and hasm should hear our prayers and grant us everything that we wish for and that our prayers should always be accepted by the kadosh and the ultimate prayer that we need to put a lot of effort is praying for mashia and hopefully Shem is going to hear our prayer faster than we can imagine and send us the ultimate Redemption that we can see it already with our own eyes eyes have a beautiful beautiful week [Music]