The transition we make when we daven – and how we can come in better prepared.

This email, we’re going to jump into that juicy debate that’s been puzzling humans since the world’s beginning: yediyah vs. bechira, or fate vs. free will.

We’re not here to resolve the debate – though reading this may provide enlightening new context for it. We’re here to understand what the dual reality of yediyah and bechira has to do with tefillah – and how to use it to connect better when we pray.

The Rambam teaches that this paradox – Hashem’s absolute control over every happening in the world versus our ability to choose – is one we humans will never be able to reconcile. Yet we must still believe that both are true. Because both are true.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about using tefillah to develop “eyes of emunah.” To get in touch with the spiritual world existing beyond our physical one. They might not seem to align perfectly, but they both exist. And being a true ma’amin, a believer, means being able to recognize and live within different realms – even when they contradict each other.

Yediyah and bechira. Each “contradictory” reality makes up one realm we’re meant to live in – almost like two floors of the same home.

Bechira makes up the everyday realm of normal living. It’s the dimension where we do hishtadlus (human effort) – go to work, run to the doctor with a sick child, vote for politicians we hope will support Israel, even do the most basic acts of self-care like dressing and feeding ourselves.

Yediyah makes up the realm that exists above bechira. The realm where our hishtadlus means and matters not one iota. Where it’s 100% clear and obvious that Hashem is the Mefarnes. The Rofeh cholim. The Boneh Yerushalayim. The Malbish arumim. The Masbia l’chol chai.

Both realms exist. That’s how Hashem designed the world. And the existence of the higher one, yediyah, doesn’t excuse us from involving ourselves, to the very best of our ability, in the lower one, with bechira.

But that creates a challenge for us. Because we tend to get pretty absorbed in the bechira realm. Of course, there are those who intentionally want to forget about a higher reality. But even for good Jews like us, simply taking care of our families, succeeding at work, and tending to our physical and emotional needs consume the lions’ share of our brainspace.

So, three times a day, Hashem calls us to daven. Not as a chance to schlep our sense of responsibility into our conversation and try to extract His help in doing our hishtadlus. No. To step fully out of bechira living, and move into the realm of yediyah. Where it’s all about Him. Where everything is Him.

Three times a day, we go upstairs. We let go of our physical reality, and simply observe: Hashem is sustaining us. Hashem is dressing us and feeding us. Hashem is controlling and directing everything perfectly. Hashem is everything – there’s nothing outside of Him.

Three times a day, we take a few minutes to live in the spiritual reality.

Understanding this gives us a new appreciation for Mincha’s strategic positioning. It comes not at the top of our schedules, or when we’re winding down for the evening, but in the chaotic middle of the day, when we’re most fully submerged in bechira.

We’re plowing through a project at work, running into or out of a meeting, smack in the middle of a crucial negotiation, and then – Mincha, mincha!

Time to make a quick shift into the yediyah realm. To remind ourselves of its existence and its primacy. And to treat ourselves to the reassurance, the relaxation, of remembering that it’s all really in His hands.

We might not feel inclined to prepare for the full hour utilized by the chassidim harishonim (the original pious ones). But with this new context for tefillah, we’re better equipped to prepare for at least a few meaningful moments.

To tell ourselves, “I’m getting ready to daven now. I’m moving from the bechira realm to the yediyah realm. I’m pressing pause on the physical reality I live in, and spending some time in Hashem’s reality.”

Let’s take those few moments. Give ourselves that reminder. Ponder a bit further as to what it all means.

And see how our preparation affects the tangibility of our tefillah connection.