The passuk says in this week’s parsha says, “U’le’ovdo b’chol levavchem” — “To serve Him with all your heart.” Chazal ask, “Eizeh avodah shebalev? Zu tefillah” — “What is the service of the heart? It is tefillah.”
The famous chassid Reb Hillel of Paritch once suddenly felt a very strong desire to travel to his Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, for Shabbos. Time was very short, and it would be difficult to arrive before Shabbos. One of the local chassidim saw how important the trip was to Reb Hillel and agreed to take him, but only on one condition: that Reb Hillel would not spend a very long time davening along the way, as he usually did, because otherwise they would not make it on time. With no choice, Reb Hillel agreed.
When they stopped at an inn for Shacharis, the chassid finished davening and ate breakfast, but Reb Hillel was nowhere to be seen. After a couple of hours, he finally finished davening. The chassid said, “Didn’t we agree that you wouldn’t daven for so long? Now we probably won’t make it to the Rebbe before Shabbos! Wasn’t that the purpose of the whole trip?”
Reb Hillel answered, “Imagine we were traveling for business, going to the marketplace to sell merchandise. On the way, while stopping at an inn, someone wanted to buy the merchandise from us. Would it make sense to say, ‘I’m on my way to the marketplace, so I can’t sell it to you now?’ Of course not! We are going to the marketplace for this very purpose. The same is true here. We are traveling to the Rebbe to learn how to connect to Hashem better. If, on the way, I was given the opportunity to have a truly good tefillah, it would be foolish to give it up. This is exactly the merchandise I am looking for!”
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 92.
