Don't worry. You're not locked out! TB Berachot 32

Tomorrow I’m having hand surgery to fix my left thumb. Hopefully this will be the last surgery I need concerning my bicycle accident. Even though this will be an outpatient procedure, I don’t know how I’ll feel in the next couple days. I peeked ahead and wrote several commentaries on the next couple days dapim (plural for daf). If you want to say a prayer for me my Hebrew name is Avraham Asher ben Pesel.

 Today’s daf TB Berachot 32 continues to delve deeper into prayer. For the Rabbis the destruction of the second Temple by the Romans and its aftermath was a catastrophe that shook the foundations of their very world. I think its effect upon the Jews of that era is similar to the shockwaves of the Holocaust upon us. The world can never be the same as it was before. Nevertheless, the Jewish genius has found a way to respond against the apocalypse.

On the subject of prayer, Rabbi Elazar also said: Since the day the Temple was destroyed the gates of prayer were locked and prayer is not accepted as it once was, as it is said in lamentation of the Temple’s destruction: “Though I plead and call out, He shuts out my prayer” (Lamentations 3:8). Yet, despite the fact that the gates of prayer were locked with the destruction of the Temple, the gates of tears were not locked, and one who cries before God may rest assured that his prayers will be answered, as it is stated: “Hear my prayer, Lord, and give ear to my pleading, keep not silence at my tears” (Psalms 39:13). Since this prayer is a request that God should pay heed to the tears of one who is praying, he is certain that at least the gates of tears are not locked.

I don’t think that God has locked the gate of prayers. I think we have locked the gate of prayers, but we still hold in our hands the keys to open it. Unfortunately we tend to limit davening to a bunch of words in the siddur. Bert Jacobson lets us in a very important secret.

“How does one begin to pray? I’m going to let you in on a big secret: you pray every day of your life without knowing it. Why don’t you know that you are praying? Because you’ve allowed religion to define the word prayer for you. But prayer as I indicated above, is not primarily an institutional function. It is a natural part of human existence. It is an attempt to link ourselves to the Seed of Light within (which he defines “as our true psychological and spiritual center. It is the root of all our creativity, our vision, and our insight. The Or Zarua is the source of consciousness and conscious, and a sense of beauty and goodness. It is the origin of our sense of the coherence of existence and the unity of life. It is the innate pattern within us that directs our development because it contains the image of what we might become if we were able to reach our full potential”) and many of the happenings of our lives, which we don’t define as prayers, are, in reality, prayers.

“Every cry of agony from pained heart is prayer.

Every longing you have for a better life has been a prayer.

Every dream you’ve ever had for a better world is a prayer.

Every time you look for guidance from the still, small Voice within, you are praying.

Every time you feel sense of all our gratitude, you are worshiping.

Every time you celebrate beauty and love, you are worshiping.

Every time you surrender to the flow of life, you will are worshiping. When you realize that you are part of something greater, there’s something an ineffable mystery to existence, then you are worshiping.”

(From Worlds of Jewish prayer: a Festschrift in honor of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, page 5)

With this understanding you have the keys to unlock the gate of prayers for yourself. By recognizing the opportunities you have to pray, you can open yourself up in a more conscious manner to prayer. Now you can look at the prayer book for further inspiration to share a special moment with God.