Silent prayer is more acceptable?

Hi,

"One who prays and rises before his Master should not make his voice heard in his prayer. One who makes his voice heard will not have his prayers heard. Why? Because true prayer is not the voice that is heard...

"Therefore, one should not make his prayer audible; rather, he should pray silently, with the voice that is not heard, and that is the prayer that will always be accepted."

(Zohar Bereishit pg. 209b)

May we be inscribed and sealed for a great new year,
Mordechai

Apology

Hi,

I would like to take a moment to ask everyone receiving this email feed for mechilah (forgiveness) for anything hurtful or offensive I wrote, or should have written and did not, in the past year. I know that people's sensitivities are varied, and although I try to keep this in mind, I am aware that I don't always succeed.

If there was anything at all, please let me know; I will grow by learning from my errors.

May we all be inscribed and sealed for a great new year,
Mordechai

Praying: Silent, Loud and in Tears

Hi,

Commenting on Tehillim 39:13, "Hear my prayer, Gd; lend an ear to my wailing. To my tears be not silent..."

"'Hear my prayer, Gd' - This refers to silent prayer.

"'Lend an ear to my wailing' - This refers to prayer in which one raises his voice in his trouble, like Shemot 2:23, 'And their wailing arose to Gd.' What is their wailing? In one's prayer, one raises his voice and turns his eyes above, as in Yeshayah 22:5, 'And wailing to the mountains.'

"And this prayer, 'To my tears be not silent,' ascends before the King and no gate can stand in its way, and tears are never returned empty.'"

(Zohar Bereishit pg. 132a)

May we be inscribed and sealed for a great year,
Mordechai

The goal of praying silently

Hi,

"Why did they enact silent prayer? So as not to embarrass those who have sinned [and are admitting it in their prayer], just as the Torah did not assign separate locations for those who bring sin-offerings and burnt-offerings [so as not to explicitly identify those who bring sin-offerings for atonement in the Beit haMikdash]."

(Talmud, Sotah 32b)

May we be inscribed and sealed for a great year,
Mordechai

Ask for a gift, not a salary

Hi,

"When praying, one should not do so from the perspective of, 'Gd will do what I ask because I have prayed with proper concentration,' for this simply evokes his sins [in order to weigh whether one in fact deserves to have his request fulfilled].

"Rather, one should pray from the perspective that HaShem will fulfill his request out of generosity."

(Tur, Orach Chaim 98)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Teshuvah: Will is everything

Hi,

"The will to goodness is everything; all of the skills in the universe are only the means to completing it. The content of his will [to goodness] is imprinted upon his soul by the light that is affixed within, and as a result, the great flow of Divine inspiration is manifested upon him continually, and a will which is great in its holiness, beyond the trait embedded in other human beings, grows powerful within him…"

(Rav Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, Orot haTeshuvah 9:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Does sinning hurt?

Hi,

"All sins cause the heart to grieve, for they demolish the unity of the individual person and the universe… Every ethical severing from that whole, whether from thoughts or deeds, individual traits or general balance, causes many small cuts which instigate great internal pain for all aspects of the soul…"

(Rav Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, Orot haTeshuvah 8:3, 8:7)

Have a great day,
Mordechai