Pay More Attention to Prayers

This past Sunday, I gave a class related to the morning prayers to my beginner’s students at Machon Meir. It was a bit of an eye opener, as I realized how neglectful we are in paying attention to exactly what we are saying.

We give a serious acknowledgement to the soul that Hashem has planted within us. It is completely pure and we pledge that as long as this soul is part of us, we will give gratitude for it.

We ask Hashem that we be able to cleave to Him and that we be separated from sin. We should not be influenced by the יצר הרע, the evil inclination. We should be able to distance ourselves from bad people and bad friends. And we should only be guided by our יצר הטוב, good inclination.

After reading the Akeida, we pray that we will have יראת שמים, fear of Heaven, in private and in public. We realize how small we are and how our very existence is thoroughly dependent on Hashem. All of the mighty men who ever lived, are as nothing compared to G-d.

All of these basic prayers are part of our daily service. If we paid more attention to understanding what we are saying, we would be all the more strengthened and uplifted. This is good Mussar for all of us.