You have thought and sought, searched and questioned, been stymied and frustrated. Now taste of the sweetness of advanced Torah study applied to the basic questions of life. The most basic question is: "Who is man, what are his challenges, how can he, a limited, insignificant and profoundly physical being reach up to the Creator of all things, the Holy one of Israel"
Open to the methodology that is based on Halacha and you will see that the Torah, on all its levels and strata, is a unified whole that contains mysteries and answers beyond imagination. Why should your search be be based on Halacha? Because of the sheer multiplicity of opinions recorded in the classical sources. As one of my teachers commented: “When you are asked and do not know, say it is a “machloket” ( dispute). You will almost always be right”. An oversimplification it is (for the areas of agreement are much greater and fundamental whereas disagreements are few and involve details) but also true. A judicious selection of sources can support almost any position. A true scholar reaches toward the Truth by carefully sifting and considering his evidence in the light of tradition and precedent. Still there exists great danger of going astray in pursuit of a falshy but incorrect thoght, a rejected opinion or a hypothetical suggestion in an obscure commentary. To avoid this undesirable result select all sources according to whether they confirmed to the final Halacha as reflected in the Rambam, Shulchan Aruch and the Codifiers.
Of course, there are many citations that are not well reflected in the Halachic corpus. Philosophical and Aggadic issues are prominent in any consideration of a prayer, for example, as well as many otehr issues of Divine Service, and are often not explixitly cited in the Codes. Nevertheless, adherence to othis principle goes a long way to establishing and maintaining intellectual intergrity in this kind of inquiry. More, it reveals to us in a very practical and real way a multifaceted and profound way of appreciating the experience of life and can educate and can elevate. After all, in life you must also sift and select, bring close and push away, incorprate and reject.
So much for study - now about Prayer. In a certain way prayer is life; it is described by the Talmud as such (Shabbat 10 ). Since prayer is offered by man expressing his innermost essence before the One who cannot be bribed or fooled, true worship requires the inner man to journey through his heart to the heart of Judaism and to its G-d who is each man’s Master and Redeemer. Prayer resonates within a man’s soul. The analogy is to a musical instrument that produces physical vibration that resonate within the soul.The worshipper plays the the instrument of his body, mind, spirit and soul and the liturgy is his music. Some compositions are written for a violin or for a viola or for a guitar; Jewish prayer is written for the Jewish soul.. Through Torah study and rich devotional life, we come closed to the goal of finding Ribbono shel Olam.
All piligramages require effort and application and “all gain is according to the effort[1]”
[1] Chapters of the Fathers 5,26
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