(א) אֵין עוֹמְדִין לְהִתְפַּלֵּל אֶלָּא מִתּוֹךְ כֹּבֶד רֹאשׁ. חֲסִידִים הָרִאשׁוֹנִים הָיוּ שׁוֹהִים שָׁעָה אַחַת וּמִתְפַּלְּלִים, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּכַוְּנוּ אֶת לִבָּם לַמָּקוֹם. אֲפִלּוּ הַמֶּלֶךְ שׁוֹאֵל בִּשְׁלוֹמוֹ, לֹא יְשִׁיבֶנּוּ. וַאֲפִלּוּ נָחָשׁ כָּרוּךְ עַל עֲקֵבוֹ, לֹא יַפְסִיק:
אֲנִי שֶׁהוּא מְטֹרָף:
(1) One may only stand and begin to pray from an approach of gravity and submission. There is a tradition that the early generations of pious ones would wait one hour, in order to reach the solemn frame of mind appropriate for prayer, and then pray, so that they would focus their hearts toward "the Place." Even if the king greets him, he should not respond to him; and even if a snake is wrapped on his heel, he should not interrupt his prayer.
What does it mean to "serve God" in our age, one in which the royal metaphor seems so hopelessly outdated? Is that what I want, to be a servant before the King? I do not know a God who wants or cares about ritual forms and mumbled words...and yet, I will not let go of that powerful language, precisely because its call on me is so great. Indeed, I know that I am here to serve, and that is precisely what I want the power of prayer to call on me to do....
The classic rabbinic term for prayer, "service within the heart," tells us that the heart is the essential locus of prayer....We begin to pray because of a longing within our hearts. We sense that something is missing from our lives, a sense of nearness to the ultimate, a feeling that we are in touch with that which most matters. But the purpose of prayer is to stimulate or cultivate that longing, not to quench its thirst and make it fade from view.
What, then, is prayer? First let me tell you what prayer is not. Prayer is not simply a conversation with God, one in which you, the pray-er, are on one side of the conversation and doing the speaking, while God is "somewhere else," and is either listening or not....Prayer is about listening as much as it is about speaking....We do not pray alone. God prays through us! We may provide the words, but the divine stirrings in the depths of our souls makes the music.