Ebb and Flow with Solomon Ezra
Praying Is About Being Present, Not Perfect
Oct 6, 2026 · 5 min · 5 segments
5 minute talk delivered at Hadar Hatorah after Sukkot 2026, 5787.
Ebb and Flow with Solomon Ezra
Oct 6, 2026 · 5 min · 5 segments
5 minute talk delivered at Hadar Hatorah after Sukkot 2026, 5787.
And so on the morning of Hoshana Rabbah, after which we were staying up very late, and even some people who stayed up a lot during the nights of Simchas Torah, you wake up late, understandably.
So as I was in the s- the sukkah near my place, having some coffee before heading over here, and, and he was walking by.
And I-- He came by k- feeling a little bit anxious because the mikvah where I live closes by a certain time.
Didn't go to the mikvah yet because the one by our place closes, and so there's this tension.
Do I go find another mikvah, or do I just go? Where if I go to the mikvah now, I'm gonna be late.
We have hachanas for davening, which helps us prepare for davening, to be present.
I told him, I told him, "Go to the other mikvah," which is not so far away, as I'd had experience with this, "and basically, it's okay.
But first of all, Bar- Barchu can be heard by Krias HaTorah, and you can still make it in good time." And then I told him, "If-- Since the-- Go to the mikvah, 'cause this, this is probably gonna help you with, with, with davening better, with being present, and Hashem is guiding your s- footstep." So he went, and after Shacharis he came over to me and he thanked me, and he told me that it relieved pressure that he w- uh, had around feeling around davening, that it had to look a certain way, that he had to get there at a certain time, that he had to say these, say certain words, had to be present for different parts of the minyan.
[coughs] And he, and he said that that advice helped him really focus on his tefillah, and there's an aspect that isn't focused...
Helped him in a, in a aspect that, uh, with our pr- that isn't focused on much, our personal prayers within davening.
And so on the morning of Hoshana Rabbah, after which we were staying up very late, and even some people who stayed up a lot during the nights of Simchas Torah, you wake up late, understandably.
So as I was in the s- the sukkah near my place, having some coffee before heading over here, and, and he was walking by.
And I-- He came by k- feeling a little bit anxious because the mikvah where I live closes by a certain time.
Didn't go to the mikvah yet because the one by our place closes, and so there's this tension.
Do I go find another mikvah, or do I just go? Where if I go to the mikvah now, I'm gonna be late.
We have hachanas for davening, which helps us prepare for davening, to be present.
I told him, I told him, "Go to the other mikvah," which is not so far away, as I'd had experience with this, "and basically, it's okay.
But first of all, Bar- Barchu can be heard by Krias HaTorah, and you can still make it in good time." And then I told him, "If-- Since the-- Go to the mikvah, 'cause this, this is probably gonna help you with, with, with davening better, with being present, and Hashem is guiding your s- footstep." So he went, and after Shacharis he came over to me and he thanked me, and he told me that it relieved pressure that he w- uh, had around feeling around davening, that it had to look a certain way, that he had to get there at a certain time, that he had to say these, say certain words, had to be present for different parts of the minyan.
[coughs] And he, and he said that that advice helped him really focus on his tefillah, and there's an aspect that isn't focused...
Helped him in a, in a aspect that, uh, with our pr- that isn't focused on much, our personal prayers within davening.
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