A speaker once gave a beautiful exposition for nearly an hour. Afterwards, among the congratulations for such a beautiful speech, one person approached and said, "I am a producer for NPR. Do you think you could boil that down to three minutes?" The speaker thought hard... on the one hand, he had many important things to say; on the other, exposure of NPR would let him reach a much bigger audience. After agonizing for a few moments, he said, "Yes; I could get my main message conveyed in three minutes." The NPR producer looked him straight in the eye and asked, "Then why didn't you?"
I spoke a few nights ago to the Aneinu group on the topic of prayer. I spoke for just over 57 minutes, as you can confirm for yourself, as a recording of the shiur is posted here among the other Aneinu Shiurim. (The entire recording is 59 minutes, 17 seconds; you have to love computer technology.) Could I have said what I did in only a few minutes? No; and there are two reasons for that, as will be discussed soon. Can I summarize the main points in two or three paragraphs? Again, no; though much of grist for the shiur can be found hither and yon in various TftDs. What I believe I can do, though, is to introduce the topic in a manner that will motivate you to want to listen for yourself.
I tried to give the shiur about a month prior. In fact, I actually did give the shiur. Because of an inexplicable technical glitch, though, the teleconference did not work; it turned out I as giving the shiur to a few women who attended in person and to a dead phone line. Since I was (I thought) giving the shiur, I ignored incoming emails while speaking. After finishing and realizing the line was dead, I then looked at the emails -- several trying to inform me that the line had dropped... immediately as I began, as it turned out. So it was re-scheduled for a month later.
During the month I had some time to rework parts of the shiur that I though could work better. More than that, though, as I had been giving the shiur a question on the whole topic occurred to me. It was not a small question, and over the month it kept gnawing at me. Worse, it started as more of a feeling that something was just not fitting, but not a clear question. The feeling got more intense over the month until I finally was able to put the problem into words.
My thesis had been that davening is a very strange activity. Try paraphrasing davening as a speech you say to your manager. Imagine saying that three times a day; when you first get into the office, right after lunch, and before leaving for the night. Same speech, time after time. Nothing in there that your boss doesn't already know. Same speech. How long before he gets annoyed and tells you to just quit it and get back to work already? So davening doesn't seem to make sense.
Moreover, I'll prove that is a reasonable question on davening: No one prayed before the Avos. Adam, Noach, all the great people for 20 generations; no one prayed . Some of them spoke to HaShem, but no one set aside time for a formal meeting each day to pray. Why not? From what we just said, it seems clear why not; because it doesn't make sense.
So why did the Avos pray? What did they see/feel/understand that no one since Adam had seen/felt/understood? And why was prayer the proper response to that vision/feeling/understanding?
I can't really tell you in a couple of paragraphs. Not really. What I can tell you is why I can't tell you. The Avos saw/felt/understood that HaShem wanted a loving relationship with them. HaShem was, so to speak, feeling an unrequited love for years and decades and generations. The Avos realized that all the problems that human was experiencing was that they were also feeling an unrequited love for HaShem. Only thing was needed -- they needed to reach out and tell HaShem that they loved Him. That the needed Him. And they needed to appreciate that HaShem loved them.
You can't rush through building a relationship. As the song goes, you can't hurry love.
Tefila-Why, When, What to Expect
I spoke a few nights ago to the Aneinu group on the topic of prayer. I spoke for just over 57 minutes, as you can confirm for yourself, as a recording of the shiur is posted here among the other Aneinu Shiurim. (The entire recording is 59 minutes, 17 seconds; you have to love computer technology.) Could I have said what I did in only a few minutes? No; and there are two reasons for that, as will be discussed soon. Can I summarize the main points in two or three paragraphs? Again, no; though much of grist for the shiur can be found hither and yon in various TftDs. What I believe I can do, though, is to introduce the topic in a manner that will motivate you to want to listen for yourself.
I tried to give the shiur about a month prior. In fact, I actually did give the shiur. Because of an inexplicable technical glitch, though, the teleconference did not work; it turned out I as giving the shiur to a few women who attended in person and to a dead phone line. Since I was (I thought) giving the shiur, I ignored incoming emails while speaking. After finishing and realizing the line was dead, I then looked at the emails -- several trying to inform me that the line had dropped... immediately as I began, as it turned out. So it was re-scheduled for a month later.
During the month I had some time to rework parts of the shiur that I though could work better. More than that, though, as I had been giving the shiur a question on the whole topic occurred to me. It was not a small question, and over the month it kept gnawing at me. Worse, it started as more of a feeling that something was just not fitting, but not a clear question. The feeling got more intense over the month until I finally was able to put the problem into words.
My thesis had been that davening is a very strange activity. Try paraphrasing davening as a speech you say to your manager. Imagine saying that three times a day; when you first get into the office, right after lunch, and before leaving for the night. Same speech, time after time. Nothing in there that your boss doesn't already know. Same speech. How long before he gets annoyed and tells you to just quit it and get back to work already? So davening doesn't seem to make sense.
Moreover, I'll prove that is a reasonable question on davening: No one prayed before the Avos. Adam, Noach, all the great people for 20 generations; no one prayed . Some of them spoke to HaShem, but no one set aside time for a formal meeting each day to pray. Why not? From what we just said, it seems clear why not; because it doesn't make sense.
So why did the Avos pray? What did they see/feel/understand that no one since Adam had seen/felt/understood? And why was prayer the proper response to that vision/feeling/understanding?
I can't really tell you in a couple of paragraphs. Not really. What I can tell you is why I can't tell you. The Avos saw/felt/understood that HaShem wanted a loving relationship with them. HaShem was, so to speak, feeling an unrequited love for years and decades and generations. The Avos realized that all the problems that human was experiencing was that they were also feeling an unrequited love for HaShem. Only thing was needed -- they needed to reach out and tell HaShem that they loved Him. That the needed Him. And they needed to appreciate that HaShem loved them.
You can't rush through building a relationship. As the song goes, you can't hurry love.
Tefila-Why, When, What to Expect
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