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he “I,” he will repent completely and easily. A person’s complete feeling is not prayer. The entire value of prayer in a congregation thought to his speech, so that his prayer will have focus, soul and
repentance means that he knows that there is no “I.” lies in the fact that the congregation is composed of three types of life. And when a person’s prayer has life, it gives him life. As Rabbi
people: the righteous, the intermediary and the wicked. In Hebrew, Nachman teaches, “We receive the essence of our lifeforce from
Also, the phrase “before You” connotes Hashem’s compassion. these are called tzaddikim, beinonim and resha’im—the first our prayer” (ibid. 9). Prayer renews a person’s abilities and renews
When a person truly repents, he receives complete knowledge. letters of which form the word tzibur, “congregation.” The prayer his faith. Of course, this refers to prayer, not to mere reading,
And what is that knowledge? It is the awareness that everything of the tzaddikim in the congregation has great power because it is because prayer that does not have life does not do anything.
is an expression of compassion and that there is no evil in the recited with mighty intention. When it rises, it raises with it all of Certainly, it does not give a person life. This is explained in Eitzot
world. That is referred to in the words, “Bring us back in complete the prayers of the rest of the congregation. But when no one is Hamevu’arot (Tefillah 15):
repentance before You”: so that we will know that everything is praying with intention, when all of those praying are, as described
compassion. by the Gemara, dismissive of prayer, they only create phantoms. We receive the essence of our lifeforce from our prayer.
Then, even if they pray for days and years, all of their prayers will That is to say, when a person pays proper attention to
“The Lips of the Righteous Will Know What Is remain below, because there is no one present to raise everyone’s the words of [daily] prayer that emerge from his mouth,
Accepted Willingly” (Proverbs 10:32) prayers. That is not called praying in a congregation, but reading or when he is involved in other types of prayer—i.e.,
in a congregation. Such prayer does not rise to heaven. It does not Psalms, techinot, and the like—and he properly heeds

When we recite the sixth blessing, “He Who is gracious, Who even reach the ceiling but it falls to the floor, from which it does the words of the prayers that he is reciting, he feels a
is exceedingly forgiving,” we must be focused on the theme of not have the power to get up. wonderful aliveness that one does not feel when
knowledge. When a person sins, he harms himself, in that he grows This is reflected in the phrase, “to assemble and stand up for engaged in any other good deed.
distant from Hashem and even cuts himself off from Hashem. He their souls” (Esther 8:11). “Stand up” refers to prayer. As our sages
loses holy will, which is the essence of his delight, and so he suffers. state, “The word ‘standing’ indicates prayer” (Berachot 6b). “To “Hashem Seeks All Hearts”
Why does he harm himself? Because he lacks knowledge. After assemble” refers to the congregation that assembles for prayer. The
all, does a person who has knowledge want to harm himself? A connection between a “congregation” and prayer is found in the
person who sins lacks wisdom and knowledge. Thus, our sages said: phrase: “In congregations, bless God” (Psalms 68:27). Finally, the Since the words of prayer themselves have great power to inspire
“A person does not commit a sin unless a spirit of foolishness has “souls” refer to a person’s intent, which is the soul of his prayer. In a person, it is a very good practice to look in the siddur while you
entered into him” (Sotah 3a). pray, because when you see a word with your eyes and think about
other words, we must arouse the work of the will with all our heart it with your mind, that strengthens your deep feeling. Therefore,
and soul in order to pray with true and complete intent. we learn that the Ari took care to pray from a siddur—how much
Therefore, in this blessing we request, “Forgive us, our Father,
because we have sinned.” This means: “Why should You forgive The time of prayer in a congregation is “a time of willing more, then, should people like us. But if a person prefers to pray
us? Because we lack knowledge and wisdom, and we are complete acceptance.” As the Gemara says, “What is the meaning of the with his eyes closed, it is a good practice to visualize each word
fools. And the proof is that we have sinned—because if we had verse, ‘and I, my prayer to You Hashem, at a time of willing before saying it. As the Nefesh Hachaim states (ibid., chapter 13):
knowledge, we would not have sinned. And since it is impossible acceptance’ (Psalms 69:14)? What is ‘a time of willing acceptance’?
to judge a person who lacks knowledge, have compassion on us, That is the time that the congregation prays” (Berachot 8a). This The main thing in the work of prayer is that when a
forgive us, and give us knowledge. Forgive us for the fact that means that this is a time especially suited for heaven to willingly person verbalizes a word of prayer, he should visualize
we have not pursued and sought only knowledge all our lives.” accept prayers, because at that time no hostile forces block prayer. the word itself and have the intention to use it to increase
Whoever wants and pursues the knowledge of Hashem clings to But that is only when the congregation is praying, not when the the power of holiness, so that the power of holiness will
Hashem and does not sin. And even if he does sin, through that sin public is reading. Therefore, the time of prayer in the synagogue is bear fruit in heaven and increase [the words’] holiness
itself he will come closer to Hashem. Thus, all sins are due to a lack a time to arouse intentions, so that we can build vessels to receive and light…. It is a wonderful practice—one that is tried
of knowledge, and in essence Hashem forgives us for not having the abundance that is sent at that time. Accordingly, “a time of and true—to accustom oneself to do this, in order to
known that our goal is to attain knowledge.
willing acceptance” may also be understood as a time to arouse our eradicate and remove all vain thoughts that interfere