How does yediyah-focused prayer change our lives?

You know, this deep-dive into yediyah and bechira, and its power to enrich our practical avodas Hashem, has been great.

But what happened to tefillah? Isn’t that where we started?

Were you wondering that too?

Here’s the answer.

On this little journey together, we haven’t been looking to learn how to do a better job of checking the tefillah box.

We’ve been trying to learn how to relate to tefillah as the “chassidim harishonim” (the early pious ones) did – the ones who spent a full hour coming back down to earth after davening. We want to turn our tefillah into an experience that leaves an impression on us.

And the path we’re building to get there runs through yediyah and bechira.

“One who prays must cast his eyes downward and his heart upwards,” the Gemara tells us (Yevamos 105b). Rabbeinu Yonah elaborates as follows: “When one prays, he should think in his heart as though he were standing in the heavens.”

That is beautiful. To a lot of us, it’s even familiar. But… what does it actually mean? How can we, you and me, 1000 years later, fulfill it?

Based on our new insights into yediyah and bechira, we know this: one thing distinguishing heaven from earth is the degree to which Hashem’s total, exclusive control of all existence is clear. On earth, bechira carries the day. In the heavens, yediyah is all that’s necessary.

Tefillah is our special time to rise above our earthly cause-and-affect experience and live for a few minutes in the loftier state when we see “Hashem” behind everything in existence.

In Brachos 6b, Chazal describe tefillah as “one of the things that stand at the height of the world.” In the past, many of us who’ve heard this statement haven’t been able to understand it practically. Now, after delving into yediyah and bechira, we can hear a clear message in it.

Tefillah puts us in a place above the world – and gives us the opportunity to view our lives from that lofty perspective.

In Nefesh Hachaim (1:11), Rav Chaim Volozhiner describes kedusha (holiness) as the act of connecting our physical world with the spiritual worlds above us. If you think about it, that’s exactly what we do during tefillah. We mentally connect our physical reality – which most people think of simply as driven by “circumstance” and human actions – to the loftier purposes Hashem directs it towards.

Like helping us appreciate His greatness. Helping us feel His love and kindness. Helping us serve Him. Helping us become better people, worthier and more capable of enjoying the peerless pleasure that is connecting with Him.

When we daven with an awareness of yediyah and bechira, our lives will change. Later in the day, when, say, someone insults us, we’ll be able to process our hurt through the lens of yediyah. We’ll remember, more acutely than ever, that it was Hashem, not our offender, who placed us in this situation. Why? So we can engage with this challenge and grow.

Hashem will enter our lives with a new level of tangibility, of immediacy. And when life sends us aches and difficulties, we’ll be so much better able to connect to His purposeful presence in them – and to take calming shelter in it.

In this week’s parsha (3:5), Hashem, via the burning bush, tells Moshe: “Take off your shoes, because the place you are standing upon is holy ground.”

Wherever a person finds himself standing, explains the Chofetz Chaim – whatever circumstance or trouble or dilemma – it isn’t random. Nor is it a product of the people or forces that seem to have pushed him into it.

It’s holy ground. It’s exactly where he’s meant to be. It’s a custom-tailored opportunity to fulfill his purpose, elevate himself, create holiness.

It isn’t that hard to live life – naturally and tangibly – with this perspective. Not when, with the help of our daily prayers, we develop “eyes of emunah.” Eyes that see the yediyah above our bechira.

This week brings us into the period of “Shovavim,” an acronym for the names of the next six Parshiyos (Torah portions). During this time, it’s customary to emphasize growth in kedusha.

Let’s take this opportunity to focus on using our tefillos to increase the kedusha in our lives. To bring more of Hashem into our everyday living – and elevate ourselves as ovdei (servants of) Hashem.