8.1.09

does my father yet live?

When we converse, are we talking to the body or the soul? The Baal Shem Tov says the answer is simple: The soul. If we were talking to the body, then we would still carry on conversations with a dead person. [Or even a sleeping person for that matter.]

It seems to me that the reunion that took place between Yosef and Yaakov his father, is the perfect metaphor with which to illustrate true prayer. Yosef playing the part of the person praying, and Yaakov the part of HaShem, the father who has been waiting long years to hear news of his favorite son.

Both are asking: Is it true that my father/son is still alive? As illustrated by the inverse of the Baal Shem Tov's lesson above, if we aren't communicating it could be mistaken as a sign of lifelessness. When we truly reconnect with HaShem through our prayers, we're beside ecstatic to find our father still alive and He is overjoyed to find His son still lives.

That pure joy, that wonderous disbelief, is what true prayer is meant to feel like.

Now imagine feeling that feeling three times every day!

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