QUESTION:
Rebbi Nachman says that many tzaddikim reached all that they reached through tefillah, while he reached everything through hisbodedus together with tefillah. Does every person need to do this? Does a person need tefillah in order to gain self-recognition?
ANSWER:
A: Statements of Rebbi Nachman are the “illumination of Mashiach”, and Mashiach is linked with tefillah, because Mashiach is from the word masiach, “to converse”, to talk to Hashem through tefillah. So there were tzaddikim who built their avodas Hashem largely through tefillah. But it makes perfect sense that other tzaddikim did not begin with tefillah, though they did make use of tefillah. There was no tzaddik who ever reached anything without tefillah, but does that mean that every tzaddik’s main aspect was tefillah? Certainly there were tzaddikim who didn’t. For example, the Chazon Ish. The Chazon Ish didn’t mainly reach his growth through tefillah. Did he not daven? Of course he davened. He himself writes that a person has to daven before he wants to understand anything. But did he base everything on tefillah? It’s hard to say that tefillah was his main aspect. He based everything on working hard at learning Torah, with mesirus nefesh, and along with this he also davened from the depths of his heart. But he didn’t base everything on tefillah, he didn’t make everything hinge on tefillah alone.
Q: But perhaps we can say that the Chazon Ish reached mesirus nefesh in Torah only because he davened so much. Especially because someone said that the Chazon Ish emphasized tefillah even more than learning Torah, and in addition, the Chazon Ish wrote in a letter, “I put more effort into tefillah than into my Torah learning.”
A: That is true, but it was only a result of something else. The reason why he put more effort into davening than learning was because he testified on himself that because he is so immersed in his learning, he can’t focus as much on his davening, because his mind is immersed in whatever area of Torah he was learning about, and therefore he had to overcome his love for the Torah in order to be able to daven properly. All of his davening and crying were a result of his Torah learning. Did he have a very strong ability of davening? Yes. And it seems that as the years continued, he davened even more. But what was it all based on? His Torah learning. Why did he have to put more effort into his davening than into his learning? It was because his Torah learning came natural to him, it was more his nature to learn than to daven, and therefore he found it difficult to daven. That is why he had to put in more effort to his davening, but not because tefillah was more important to him than Torah.
Sometimes people read stories of the Gedolim, and not always are the stories accurate. Even when the story is accurate, it is hard to understand the meaning of the story, and it is this lack of understanding which changes the whole picture.
Q: But he would often cry with tears when he davened. It seemed that this was because of his feelings and d’veykus, not because he had difficulty concentrating on his davening due to his learning.
A: His power of thinking was even stronger than his emotions. It’s true that he davened and cried, but his strong point was his power of thought and being immersed in learning, much more than his power of davening.
Q: But perhaps we can say that the Chazon Ish reached mesirus nefesh in Torah only because he davened so much. Especially because someone said that the Chazon Ish emphasized tefillah even more than learning Torah, and in addition, the Chazon Ish wrote in a letter, “I put more effort into tefillah than into my Torah learning.”
A: That is true, but it was only a result of something else. The reason why he put more effort into davening than learning was because he testified on himself that because he is so immersed in his learning, he can’t focus as much on his davening, because his mind is immersed in whatever area of Torah he was learning about, and therefore he had to overcome his love for the Torah in order to be able to daven properly. All of his davening and crying were a result of his Torah learning. Did he have a very strong ability of davening? Yes. And it seems that as the years continued, he davened even more. But what was it all based on? His Torah learning. Why did he have to put more effort into his davening than into his learning? It was because his Torah learning came natural to him, it was more his nature to learn than to daven, and therefore he found it difficult to daven. That is why he had to put in more effort to his davening, but not because tefillah was more important to him than Torah.
Sometimes people read stories of the Gedolim, and not always are the stories accurate. Even when the story is accurate, it is hard to understand the meaning of the story, and it is this lack of understanding which changes the whole picture.
Q: But he would often cry with tears when he davened. It seemed that this was because of his feelings and d’veykus, not because he had difficulty concentrating on his davening due to his learning.
A: His power of thinking was even stronger than his emotions. It’s true that he davened and cried, but his strong point was his power of thought and being immersed in learning, much more than his power of davening.
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