Kavvanah

My son and I were talking last night about Kavvanah. His goal is to daven with Kavvanah at all times, but he finds this very difficult in his school minyan in which few are davening at all or in our shul minyan in which the pace is too fast for him to concentrate. We talked about whether it is really possible to strive to daven always with such concentration and intent.

I related a story that I had heard from a source now forgotten. A Rabbi in a Yeshivah asked his students how often they davened with Kavvanah. Answers ranged from "Every day" to "Once or twice a week." No student wanted to admit that Kavvanah was hard to achieve, at least on occasion. The Rabbi told his students, "I feel fortunate if I can daven with Kavvanah once or twice a year."

Kavvanah is something you can strive to achieve, but can not achieve consciously. Once you become aware that you are davening with Kavvanah, it is over. Kavvanah is an attempt to become joined to G-d, such that there is no difference between your prayer and G-d. As Rabbi Pinchas, a Hasidic master, says, "When a man who is praying thinks his prayer is something apart from G-d, he is like a supplicant to whom the king gives what he has begged from him. But he who knows that prayer in itself is G-d is like the king’s son who takes whatever he needs from the stores of his father."

Kavvanah is a spark that burns only for a instant. Its brilliant light catches our eye, if we are looking in the right direction, but then, just as we see it, we lose sight of it and it vanishes. All we can do is to keep trying to capture that spark each time we reach out to HaShem with our prayers.