“To Love Hashem your God and serve Him with all your heart and soul.” (Devarim 11:13)

Many times we reach for our siddur to pray but we just do not feel connected or even feel a need to pray. We do not pray with any emotion as we don’t feel a desire to reach out to Hashem. Yet the Torah demands that each prayer be expressed with a full heart.

Rav Shimshon Pincus points out a situation with which we are all familiar but could still need chizuk: A well-dressed man comes into your office and offers you an opportunity to invest in a business venture he is starting. He explains his business model, showing how his business should grow a thousand-fold in a short time, and he is willing to give you premium shares if you give him seed-money for this venture. How much due diligence will you undertake before investing? The answer unfortunately decreases in proportion to the amount of confidence this man exudes! Many people are ready to part with their money just based on a person’s appearance and attitude, despite the chances of losing their investment.

However, when an emaciated-looking poor man wearing tattered clothing comes to your door, what do you think? Unfortunately, I know many people who will question this man, suspecting perhaps that he is a fraud, or even that he is really a millionaire with money in the bank, and he is just dressed this way to trick people to give him more money! This seems a bit ridiculous to me. There are probably more well-dressed people out there scamming mega-bucks than emaciated people with millions in the bank.

Our minds seem to have pre-conceived opinions of what is authentic and what is not. To many of us, the appearance of prominence indicates someone who is authentic, while the appearance of a lack of success represents a fraud.

At 120, who should be buried in the grave next to yours? A rich man or a poor man? To get the answer, Rav Shimshon Pincus tells us the following story:

The Chofetz Chaim’s mother was known as a very righteous woman. Shortly before she died, a true woman of valor from the city of Radin died. This well-to-do woman gave tzedakah generously, aside from doing many physical acts of kindness. When the Chofetz Chaim’s mother died shortly thereafter, the plot next to this other woman was open and the chevra kadisha felt there was no better place to bury the Chofetz Chaim’s mother than next to this woman. But after explaining the virtues of this woman, the Chofetz Chaim responded, “Yes, she was truly righteous. But she was rich!” The Chofetz Chaim felt it was more appropriate to have his mother buried next to someone who did not have the aspect of wealth as part of their life!

The verse tells us, “My thoughts are not equal to your thoughts…” (Isaiah 55:8). We often see that the way that Hashem assesses situations is the exact opposite way that we would assess them. Whose prayers do you think Hashem listens to first? The rich man’s or the poor man’s? The verse tells us that Hashem is closer to the downtrodden, more than to those who are self-sufficient. When a person feels no need to pray, he is really in trouble, because it is less likely that his prayers will be said with the urgency needed for his prayers to be accepted. In a sense, those who have troubles can take comfort in knowing that Hashem is listening to them carefully.

In fact, I once heard that the Chofetz Chaim explained the verses in Psalm 23 as follows: When Dovid speaks about the person who is well off, Hashem is referred to in third person (“Hashem is my shepherd, I shall not want…”). However, when Dovid is in a desperate situation, he refers to Hashem in the second person because He is closer (“Though I walk through a valley of deepest darkness, I fear no harm, for You are with me…”).

Many people are now on vacation. This laid-back atmosphere can easily lead to our davening being on vacation as well. May our prayers be said with urgency, thus causing Hashem to respond in kind.