Day 21/50: The Gifts of Teffilah & Emunah

וַיִּקֹּ֥ד הָעָ֖ם וַיִּשְׁתַּֽחֲוֽוּ

And the people kneeled and prostrated themselves.

The Zohar teaches that one who vanquishes his yetzer hara in matters of kedushah is granted a gift from Heaven — the ability to daven warm, heartfelt tefillos and to experience true spiritual pleasure when standing before his Creator in tefillah. Those who have an appreciation for tefillah and invest sincere effort in it, understand the great delight of the joy and closeness with Hashem that is the result of a warm davening. At times, one experiences a heightened elevation, warmth and joy as he davens. No earthly pleasure can compare to this. But to be granted this experience, shemiras habris is a must.

And the greatest reward for shemiras habris, more than anything, is the gift of emunah shleimah, pure and complete faith in Hashem. We are a spiritually impoverished generation. Sometimes, bnei Torah express feelings of sadness and confusion, as they struggle with doubts in matters of faith. Such intellectual confusion is often caused by p’gam habris. In truth, in the deepest recesses of his heart, every Jew is a maamin, a believer in Hashem and the Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith. However, certain factors, especially p’gam habris, causes one’s emunah to recede deep inside his neshamah — until teshuvah and the cleansing of his thought process allow it to resurface.