Should We Pray Quickly or Slowly? D’var Torah for Parshat Beha’alotecha
This is such a pertinent question, I guess within every single synagogue throughout the world. And we have an insight into the answer from the Gemara in Masechet Brachot, (Daf lamed daled, Amud aleph).
There, our sages tell us that in the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Eliezer, there was somebody who was leading the service and who was going super-fast. So, some of the congregants came up to Rabbi Eliezer, and they said, “Rabbi Eliezer, tell him to go slower!” And Rabbi Eliezer said to them, “are you not aware of what the Torah tells us in Parshat Beha’alotecha? There we find Moses praying for his sick sister, Miriam. And it only uses five words, “Kel Na, Rafa Na, La”. He was in a rush! “Please. God heal her, please” So it’s all right if this Chazan is in a rush.”
On another day, says the Gemara, the person who was the Chazan in the same Beit Midrash of Rabbi Eliezer was schlepping it out, and it was taking such a long time. So, people came to Rabbi Eliezer and said, “please tell him to get a move on!” Rabbi Eliezer said to them, “do you not remember what the Torah tells us about the fact that Moses prayed continuously for 40 days and 40 nights while he was on the top of Mount Sinai. It’s fine what he’s doing.” And that’s where the Gemara ends.
I think that the lesson here is so very clear, because at the heart of successful davening is not speed, but rather it is what we call “kavana” – your intention. And kavana comes from the root ‘kivun’, which means direction. It’s the direction of all the sentiments emerging from your heart.
Some people find it better to be quick. For example, the Belzer Chasidim are known to be quick in their davening. The Belzer Rov used to say, “if a wagon is going slowly, it picks up a lot of mud,” and therefore, if we want to have proper intention, let’s get a move on.
There are others who take a long time, because this is a glorious opportunity to have the privilege of standing before Almighty God, to pour out our hearts before him. It’s wrong to do it in a rush.
But ultimately, what matters most of all is not whether you are going slowly or quickly, but rather, the Kavanah that you have.
May Hashem answer all of our prayers, which are poured out from our hearts both for the sake of ourselves, and for the good of the world.
Shabbat Shalom.
