This MENTAL preparation can help you FEEL more Jewish (Parshas Ki-Sisa)

talmud says a person should only pray when they have what's called K which literally means a heavy head and commentaries discuss what that exactly means among the many Mitzvah and occurrences that happens in this week's Torah portion is the Commandment to build the water washing Basin that would be placed in the entrance of the Bas mkes of the temple in Jerusalem it's called the Kor the wash basin and prior to the Cohen going into the Bas M to serve they have to wash their hands and feet and they're supposed to wash them simultaneously now although we don't have this practice anymore because we don't have a Bas of mikdash with active Coen Duty where they need to wash their hands there is a sacred practice in Judaism a continued practice of washing our hands in the morning prior to prayer and we're supposed to wash our feet before prayer as well and commentaries explain we ourselves are here to serve God like that Cohen our homes are our Temple and we're about about to pray we're about to serve so like that Cohen we have to wash our hands and we have to wash our feet we have to kind of reflect that service which is incredibly empowering because we all have the ability to to be an agent of God to be a servant of God and to bring God in our homes and we we go through that practice that meditation when washing our hands and we're supposed to wash our feet in the morning as well myones in his um in his anthology of Jewish law adds something else he says you have to wash your hands you have to wash your feet and he also says you have to wash your face he adds that which is quite interesting because in the time of the BET MDES in the time of the temple they would enter the B mes the Coen would wash their hands wash their feet it doesn't say anywhere that they would wash their face my mon added also wash your face where does that come from why what's the reason for that in other words what changed historically where at one at some point in the time of the Bas amikas and the time of the temple you just need to wash your hands and feet and now we're at a point where we need to wash our face too what's going on what changed in the time of the Bas of mikdash in the time of the temple this was a home that housed God's presence God's presence was palpable you you go to the temple you experience the inspiration of God you feel proud to be a Jew you have an you feel who you are you know who you are okay your hands and feet happen to pick up dirt and you just got to wash it off but these days where we're responsible for building our own personal Temple and building up our own homes but we don't have a central base of mikdash we don't have a central Temple where God's presence is revealed we have to make sure that When approaching god with prayer our minds are also clear our minds are also clean because there's so much exposure these days and it's so easy to be sensitized toward distraction desensitized to what toward what we truly value deep down inside prior to prayer we have to wash our hands and feet we also have to wash our minds we have to clear our minds we have to clear our our heads we have to remember what we truly value what we truly prioritize especially these days where there is so much external stimulation whether it be a social media and Facebook and WhatsApp and Linkedin and Twitter and and Tik Tok and and YouTube it every we're just being flooded it's so important just to clear our minds before prayer the Hebrew word for face that the r references that we need to wash is panim panim also means inside we have to clear our insides we have to not just focus on our Behavior washing our hands and feet what we do and where we go we also have to now wash our insides we have to we have to purify who we are on the inside our values our value system says a person should only pray when they have what's called which literally means a heavy head and commentaries discuss what that exactly means Rashi says it means humility other commentaries say it means give priority to the mind more than the other body it's very easy to become body focused let's be mind focused let's be mindful there's an explanation from theed where he explains that the word co co Ro which means a heavy head co can also mean to sweep when you're sweeping we have to sweep our minds clean we have to prioritize we have to focus on what we truly value and what we truly believe we have to focus on whom we're about to talk to prior to prayer so we're not just doing it mechanically we can't just wash our hands and feet which means put our hands and legs in the right space we walked to the right place and we're doing the right thing but we have to be the right thing on the inside as well and that's part of the process of prayer and that takes a little bit of work that takes meditation that really takes thinking about whom we are praying to couple minutes before prayer take 30 seconds and focus on who you're about to pray to I enjoy reading the SAS the talks of a lot of them are anecdotes and stories experiences of what it was like in of what it was like in the old and one of the things he describes in several places is how the of yester year used to sit with their Talis and tanon prior to prayer they would sing a nigun they would sing a meditative song and A Soulful song they'd think about God for a few minutes with their talison filling on while singing a while singing a song while getting their minds in the right place they washed their hands and their feet they're doing the right thing they're in the right place but now they're trying to wash their minds they're trying to put their mind in the right space so that they could connect to something beyond the craziness of this world that's my story and I'm sticking to it