Prayer Is the Result of Our Feelings
Is there a specific standard prayer one must use to address the Creator in order to awaken His desire to respond? Yes, such prayers were composed by the sages of the Great Assembly. This was done before the destruction of the Temple, several centuries BCE. Foreseeing that the group of people known as the nation of Israel would descend from their spiritual level, they composed prayers.
Before this there were no prayers. Every individual was raised on such a spiritual level that they instinctively knew how to address the Creator, just as a child instinctively knows how to call out to their mother. But when the people fell from their degree of perceiving the Creator, they forgot how to turn to Him.
It was precisely for this state, which appeared after the destruction of the Temple and the subsequent exile from the spiritual state, that is, the loss of the sensation of the Creator, that the sages of the Great Assembly compiled a collection of prayers.
This collection, called the Siddur, exists to this day. “Siddur” comes from the word “Seder,” meaning order, referring to the orderly manner of addressing the Creator depending on various states.
Of course, this order is purely formal because, regardless of a person’s spiritual state, it prescribes addressing the Creator in the morning, afternoon, and evening with a specific set of words. However, for us it works differently. Unlike others who have descended from that spiritual degree, we strive to independently establish connection with the Creator.
Therefore, while we can use a prayer book, these are not our words, not our prayers, not our desires. For a prayer to be effective, it must come from our own heart and desires. Thus, prayer is meaningful, but only when it comes from within and not just from a book. Still, it can sometimes be useful to compare oneself to written prayers.
There are prayers written by King David, found in Tehillim (Psalms). These are profound prayers through which the king addressed the Creator. From them, we can see the spiritual level he had attained!
There are also other writings, such as the Proverbs of Solomon (King Solomon), and so on. Over the centuries, many Kabbalists have left us prayers.
But the focus is not on them; the real question is whether I align with them. This is the challenge. Therefore, while one can read these prayers, it is vital to strive to create personal prayers: expressions we construct in addressing the Creator and gathering all our feelings. The outcome of our feelings, the analysis of our states, this is what prayer truly is.
[338614]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”
Related Material:
“What Does My Heart Desire Now?”
A Prayer Book Or A Prayer In The Heart?
What Is Prayer?
