Shema

Serving Hashem with all your heart, is Tefillah!

When reading the Rashi on his explanation of service of the heart as a Mitzvah to Daven, it reified the concept that when we daven we can literally access the service of the Bait Hamikdosh.  The two examples Rashi brings of Tefilla, as Avodah are clearly connected to the Bais Hamikdosh service even when in exile or when we don’t have the Ketores.

The magnitude of what is possible when davening is mind blowing to me!  To think that my Tefillah can be an act of Avodah in the Bais Hamikdosh is astounding.   I therefore brings me to recognize that it is incumbent upon myself to learn how to daven, to learn how to serve Hashem in the Bait Hamikdosh with all my heart.

Imagine the possibilities of Tefillah?

Imagine if I can achieve a davening that will whiten away all misdirection’s, and destructive behaviors?  ( Bait Hamikdosh is called Levanon, as it is from the root word Lavan, since the Bait Hamikdosh whitens away ones sins.

Imagine if I can daven in such a way that I am able to exist with space for every person of Klal Yisroel?  ( In the Bait Hamikdosh we were able to bow down in a limited space but yet have room for all)

Imagine if I can daven in such a way that I know that Hashem accepts my offerings in joy and His Shechina dwells amongst us?

Sources:

In Parshas Eikev, (11:13) ,Moshe Rabeinu says to Klal Yisroel that if they listen to Hashem’s Mitzvos, that He directs them today, to love Hashem and to serve Him wih all their hearts, (Uliavdo Bichol Livavichem).. then …Hashem will provide rain…

Rashi says the Service of the heart is Tefillah, davening.  Tefillah is ‘Avodah”, service.  Rashi provides two examples of service as Tefillah. One with Daniel in Bavel (Babylonia) who davened three times a day facing Jerusalem; and the other example is Dovid Hamelech who prayed and asked for his Tefillah to be as pleasing as the Ketores.