How much of your davening lacks kavanah (feeling)? Would you say 10 percent? 20 percent? 50 percent or more? And has this been going on for so long, for so many years, that you have accepted it, that you believe that anything more would be unreasonable? Have you convinced yourself that this is a normal part of your avodat Hashem (service of G-d): davening without feeling and without concentration, thus proving that you are committed to serving G-d even when your heart is not in it?
Or do you occasionally daven with kavanah, even with fervor, but cannot control when this will occur – or it occurs only on specific occasions, such as erev Shabbat (Sabbath eve) and yomim tovim (holidays)?
According to Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (the Piaseszner Rebbe who was killed in the Warsaw Ghetto), this level of davening is not something that you have to resign yourself to. You can daven – every time – with the kavanah you want.
And on the other hand, davening without kavanah should not even be on your radar screen. In fact, the Piaseszner Rebbe says, no matter how much you have worked on being an oved Hashem, no matter how much you have learned and applied yourself, if you are unable to generate genuine feeling and kavanah every single time you want to – every single time you daven – then you have not even come to the lowest level of being a genuine chassid of Hashem.
This is an extraordinary statement, so please allow me to repeat it: the Piaseszner rebbe says that if you cannot on command, every single time you daven or bench or make a brachah, generate true kavanah – feeling and even fervor – then you are not even at the lowest level of being a genuine chassid of Hashem. This is the case even if you are a true “ehrlicher Yid!”
But, says the Piaseszner Rebbe, you can learn how to arouse your feeling and passion in avodat Hashem whenever you require it – kavanah on demand. You don’t have to wait for spontaneous feeling, for inspiration from above. To the contrary, you can and have an obligation to arouse your own feelings and light a spark to your own inspiration every single time you want to.
But how? The answer is: through techniques – simple, repeatable techniques that you can implement right now in your avodat Hashem. Where can you learn what these techniques are? The Piaseszner describes a number of these techniques in his classic works, Bnai Machshavah Tovah and Hakhsharat Ha’avreikhim. In addition, he points out that other techniques exist as well.
You can find these other techniques in the seforim that inspire you. Read those seforim and when they recommend a technique, do not simply glance over it. Take note of it and that day put it to practice in your own davening and avodat Hashem.
Find the techniques that work for you and then implement them – not occasionally, but on a regular basis. When one technique loses effectiveness, employ another. Make up your own techniques – whatever works for you! Constantly apply effort to your avodat Hashem. Hone your skills. Most of all, always remember: if you are not achieving kavanah in your davening a full 100 percent of the time, you are not doing well enough.
Based on the teachings of the Piaseszner rebbe, I have compiled the following list of recommendations to inspire feeling in davening. Start to put them to use today.