Torah and Tefillah From the Heart

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In Parashas Eikev, the verse states (Devarim 11:13), “And if you listen attentively to My mitzvos that I am commanding you today . . . to serve Hashem, your G-d with all your hearts. . . .” The Sifri gives two applications for service with all of our hearts: tefillah and Torah study.

It is understandable that tefillah is a service of the heart, as we are expected to put feeling into our prayers. However, Torah study would appear to be a service of the mind. How can Torah be a service of the heart as well?

The Slonimer Rebbe explains that we certainly learn Torah with our minds, but the process should not stop there. Torah should bring us closer to Hashem. The Sifri states (in Rashi, Devarim 6:6), “How does one [come to] love Hashem? Through Torah!” Torah study is not merely mental gymnastics. Poring over a subject using all of our mental faculties introduces Hashem’s will to both our minds and our hearts.

Rav Aharon Kotler notes a difference between the closeness to Hashem achieved through Torah compared to that achieved through tefillah. Davening depends completely on the davener. If we humble ourselves before Hashem and direct our hearts to Him in prayer, we become closer to Hashem. The closeness is achieved through our efforts. With Torah, however, Hashem is the One speaking to us. He is pulling us closer. Even if our hearts are not completely in it, Torah will still have an effect on us. This is as the Talmud Yerushalmi (Chagigah 1:7) puts it: “If only they would have left Me but kept My Torah, the light within it would have returned them to the good.”

Tefillah strengthens Torah study. The Gemara (Berachos 32b) asks how the chassidim rishonim managed to learn if they spent nine hours a day in prayer. The Gemara answers that the Torah they learned in the time that they had left was much more effective. The Gemara (Berachos 8a) also teaches that Torah strengthens tefillah, relating that the Amora’im were careful to pray in the place where they learned. This is brought down in the Shulchan Aruch as well (Orach Chaim 90:18). This idea demonstrates that the Torah learned in that spot has a positive impact on the tefillos davened there.

Many people make the mistake of putting a lot of effort into Torah, but almost none into perfecting their tefillah. Others, though perhaps not as many, make tefillah the focus of their service to Hashem, but do not devote much time to growth in Torah. Neither way is the proper one. When we devote the proper efforts to both Torah and tefillah, each strengthens the other.

Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Rosh Yeshivas Mir, was known for his efforts always to daven in yeshivah. Even when he was out of Yerushalayim for a few days, he often traveled back to the yeshivah just to daven there, returning to his out-of-town location right after davening. This was in spite of his precarious health.

Still, Rav Nosson Tzvi was never famous for his davening. He is most known for the tremendous devotion that he applied to his learning and that of his students. A story is told of a long trip that he once made to the branch of Mir Yeshivah located in Brachfeld. He was so exhausted that, though he tried to speak for a while, he found that he was unable to give the shiur. In a shaky hand, he wrote on a piece of paper: Nissiti. Selichah. (I tried. I’m sorry.)

Rav Nosson Tzvi put his heart and soul into both his davening and his learning. We can learn from him never to compromise our learning for the sake of our davening, nor our davening for the sake of our learning.

May we be zocheh to serve Hashem with all our hearts, in both Torah and tefillah!

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