שעת רצון – הקב"ה בא לבקר אותנו בזמן התפילה | הרב מנחם מיידנצ'יק, כ"ד תשרי | אגרות הקודש סימן כ"ד

We are on the 24th of Tishrei, and by Divine Providence, we are reading Letter 24, a very important letter about the importance of prayer and, of course, the very important matter of guarding one’s speech. When a person prays, they must know it is something very holy, something very lofty. It is a time to make requests of the Holy One , blessed be He, a time to connect, a time for abundance. So, let us not block that abundance.

Let us see inside what the Admor HaZaken writes to us. The Admor HaZaken says, "My beloved who live on His love." They are beloved to their Creator and hated by their evil inclination. We must do what the beloved Creator wants, not what our hater wants. Who is our hater?

The evil inclination. One must know to be wary of him, for he is the enemy. To know how to identify the enemy and be wary of him, and to know how to identify who truly loves us and wants our good, which is the Holy One, blessed be He, and to connect to Him. And a person should not make himself wicked for even one hour.

There is a specific hour, yes , one must pray in the morning. Of course, it is an hour in the morning to speak before the Omnipresent. A person has an opportunity in the morning during prayer to connect to the Holy One, blessed be He, who chose it over all the day to be revealed and to stand before Him in this hour of Divine favor . When a person prays, he is not doing a favor for the Holy One, blessed be He ; he is doing a favor for himself.

This is a time to connect with the Holy One, blessed be He, a time to elevate, a time for what is called receiving abundance, a time of favor for Him to be revealed, to come to the "small sanctuary"—the small sanctuary is the synagogue or the study hall—to visit His holy presence which dwells with them amidst their impurity, amidst their defilement, amidst their exile. The Holy One, blessed be He, gives us a time of favor, where He comes to visit us and to be found by those

who seek Him, ask of Him, and wait for Him, and these hours of favor are prayer. And he who speaks of his needs, someone who, in the middle of prayer, suddenly engages in mundane talk, suddenly speaks about his own physical needs, matters unrelated to prayer, shows by himself that he does not desire to contemplate and see the revelation of the glory of His kingdom, and he becomes a vessel of impurity. Here, the Admor HaZaken is essentially speaking about how serious it is to talk in the

middle of prayer; if, heaven forbid, a person speaks during prayer, it is as if he shows that prayer is not important, and he becomes, heaven forbid, an impure vessel for the " Supernal Fool." The "Klipah" is called the Supernal Fool, as it is said about him: "A fool does not desire understanding." And as the Zohar and the Ari HaKadosh wrote, meaning that he does not desire to contemplate and see the core splendor of the greatness of the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He,

who is revealed on high at this hour.

He has an hour of favor, the hour of prayer is an hour of favor, a time of favor on high where the Holy One, blessed be He, is revealed, where the Holy One, blessed be He, channels abundance to the person, but he is distracted and misses the opportunity. And this is also revealed below to those who desire to behold His glory and greatness; the Holy One, blessed be He, clothes Himself within the words of the prayer arranged by everyone’s mouth. The Holy One, blessed be He,

is found within the words of the prayer; yes, He is revealed to each person according to his intellect, his understanding, and the root of his soul . As it is written: "According to his intellect, so is the man," meaning that in accordance with a person's intelligence and understanding of the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, so will one praise and relate to the Holy One during prayer.

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like the kingdom of the earth," in that the way of a king, like a flesh-and-blood king, is to be hidden in inner chambers with many guards at the doors, while many wait days and years just to see his face and glory. Let us imagine there is a king who is hard to meet, someone very important, who can do whatever he wants and provide us with all the abundance. And he decides that he now wants to reveal himself. He wants to descend to the people and have it proclaimed throughout his kingdom.

He now announces that he is arriving at a certain intersection, at a certain house. He will speak with whoever wishes. To show his honor, his kingdom, and the essence of his greatness. So, whoever stands before him and does not care to see him, but instead occupies himself with his own needs—how foolish and lacking in sense is that person.

It is like a man who is finally given the opportunity to meet the king, for which he has been waiting for years . And they tell him that whatever he asks of the king, he will receive. But when he arrives before the king, he suddenly starts talking to all sorts of people, he asks for nonsense, and he fails to seize the opportunity. The Admor HaZaken says: "He is like a beast in this matter," like an animal that does not know what is important and what is trivial.

Furthermore, it is a disgrace to the king; he insults the king by showing that it is not valued, that it is not important to him to receive pleasure and delight from the king's essence, glory, and beauty more than from his own needs. To stand before the king, to see, to enjoy the king, to feel the atmosphere of transcendence and spirituality. What does he busy himself with? He busies himself with all sorts of matters, and he also incurs guilt for failing to show honor to the king, instead showing him disdain.

He is also exposed before everyone. And regarding this, it is said: "Fools raise up folly." It is said in Proverbs—what is the meaning of "fools raise up folly"? Meaning, even if he is a fool, he should not raise up folly. He should not let his foolishness be seen by all; he does not need to show it.

Some people are fools, and they don't need to show they are fools—everyone sees that they are fools. Yes, so he disgraces the king by the way he acts. It is said that when a man arrives before a king, instead of asking for what he needs, he starts busying himself with other unimportant things, thus showing he is not wise. And therefore, the Sages established that in prayer, one should feel as if he is standing before the King.

This is why the Sages determine that when a person prays, he must know he is standing before the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. So why do the Sages say "as if" he is standing? The intent is that, at the very least, he should conduct himself as if he were standing, even if he does not feel it, even if he does not see it. For all to see with physical eyes, his actions and his speech—everyone should see that his deeds and words ought to be as one who is standing before the King.

Even if he lacks the proper focus, even if he doesn't feel he is standing before the King, even if he hasn't yet reached the level where he truly feels he is standing before the King in prayer. But the whole point is to structure all the prayers for one to contemplate them deeply; that is why they established all the prayers, to reflect upon them. Therefore, a person should also study before prayer, as this will make the prayer look entirely different. And he who does not act thus

puts his soul in jeopardy, and of him, the holy Zohar says: that he is shaming the divine arrangement—he brings himself into the disgrace of the higher order and, oh, this is a separation; he shows detachment from holiness and has no portion in the God of Israel.

The holy Zohar states something very severe, saying: Whoever speaks in the middle of prayer has no portion in the God of Israel, God forbid. >> Therefore, it is forbidden to speak in the middle of prayer. Therefore, the Sages’ instruction is like a decree, says the Admur HaZaken, it is incumbent upon every soul to refrain from idle chatter. From the moment the prayer leader begins the prayer, that is, from the first Kaddish until the last Kaddish—Shacharit, Arvit, and Mincha —it is forbidden to speak, and one who violates this does so maliciously.

If a person violates this in what is called a willful act, he must sit on the ground and ask three people to annul his excommunication. For above, God forbid, he is excommunicated from above, and through this, it is released for him, and no excommunication applies to him retroactively at all, for it never took effect from the start. Unlike the rebels and transgressors who do not care at all to ask for atonement from Heaven, only he who does so intentionally and out of disregard for this criminal sin. And this specifically applies when one speaks maliciously in defiance, and not to one who forgets.

If a person forgot that it is forbidden to speak or a few words slipped out unintentionally, where he does not control his mouth, then he does not need annulment. And the Admur HaZaken concludes: He examines hearts, the all-encompassing God, the Lord is righteous towards the good and to those who are upright in their hearts. The Zohar says: Yes, those who do good and guard themselves from speaking, and did not intend to speak, but a few words slipped from their mouths, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will indeed do good for them. And here we see how important it is not to speak in the middle of prayer.