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Improving Our Tefilot - Parashat Beresheit 5766 - October 9, 2015

Leading up to the holidays, I kept hearing the same refrain again and again – Sukkot is wonderful in Memphis. I can attest to the fact that Sukkot is wonderful in Memphis! There were so many outstanding community programs and get-togethers. Simchat Torah was so lively. There were so many guests in town. The weather was also very nice for most of the holiday. What a great week!

Over the past number of weeks, I spent a lot of time praying (as I’m sure you did, too). I also spent a lot of time reflecting on prayer. Often, we measure the quality of the tefila experience from how we were affected or how we feel during the experience of davening. These types of measures are certainly important, but they are not the only measures of a quality tefila experience. This week’s parsha introduces an important perspective in considering what makes a good prayer experience and, more specifically, what makes a good prayer.

Adam and Chava gave birth to Kayin and Hevel. Kayin was a farmer and Hevel tended to a flock. The Torah recounts that Kayin offered an offering to Hashem of his crop and Hevel offered the best of his flock. The Torah then says, “And Hashem accepted Hevel and his offering. He did not accept Kayin and his offering”. (Beresheit 4: 4-5) Seforno makes an important observation regarding the description of how Hashem considered their respective offerings. When evaluating their offerings, Hashem looked both at the quality of the offering and the one who was making the offering. Hevel was acceptable and his offering was acceptable. Hashem accepted his offering. Kayin was not acceptable and neither was his offering. Hashem did not accept it.

Tefila is avodat Hashem – service of Hashem – and is analogous to the offerings that Kayin and Hevel made in their day. One lesson of Kayin and Hevel is that we have influence over two factors that create a good tefila – our own righteousness and how much we invest in our tefilot. When we improve ourselves, our tefila improves. When we invest our prayer with more intent and care, our tefila improves. Through these two levers – self-improvement and investing energy into prayer – we can improve the quality of our tefilot.

Shabbat Shalom.

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