A story is told about two chassidim of the Bal Shem Tov who were davening together in shul, when they noticed a group of merchants hauling merchandise on a wagon passing by. The two of them needed some of these products for their own business, and were very tempted to pause their prayers to run outside and make a purchase. They both had an internal battle as to whether they should continue davening and lose the opportunity, or whether they should pause their davening and take advantage of it. Ultimately, one chassid ran out to engage with the merchants, and the other decided to continue davening.
After davening, they went to the Baal Shem Tov and asked which one did the right thing. The Baal Shem Tov responded, “The one who ran out to engage the merchants never left shul, because the entire time he was thinking about davening. The one who remained in shul did not in fact remain, because the entire time he was thinking about the business deal he could have been taking advantage of.”
In other words, as many people quote from the Bal Shem Tov, “Wherever a person’s thoughts are, that is where he is present; all of him.”
The yetzer hara knows all about this power of the mind, which is why he constantly tries to plant foreign or sinful thoughts into our mind when we try to do a mitzvah. However, the yetzer hara doesn’t need to get the last laugh here – we can use his same tricks against him! We can tap into the power of our mind to transport us to another place and time that will help us better connect to Hashem in an even greater way. Do you ever find yourself davening in an environment that you do not find to be conducive to helping you daven with intention and passion? Here is something practical that you can try. Close your eyes and bring to mind a time and place when your davening was incredible – when you davened with your heart and soul and were able to feel and connect to the Presence of Hashem.
Can you rebuild that scene? Try to bring to mind the sights, the sounds, and even the smell. The more of the fine details you can bring to the surface, the more immersive of an experience this will be. Put yourself there in a first person point of view. If you are wearing a tallis – consider throwing it completely over your head, covering your face (that’s what a tallis is there for!), and begin your teleportation process.
Another method that works; you can try looking at a picture or image of that scene, if you have one, and focus on meditating on that picture to help bring yourself there. Perhaps one of the pictures on this page can help you with this.
This can also apply to a mitzvah or spiritual experience – whether you are lighting the menorah or Shabbos candles, putting on tefillin, or trying to connect to Hashem through a kumzits or farbrengen! Transport yourself in your mind to an earlier moment when you merited to connect to Hashem in a deep and meaningful way.
Video game developers know this secret of the Baal Shem Tov, and have created an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars, all designed to send someone into a world of thought and imagination, stimulated by realistic graphics and sound. Think about all the investments that have been made developing immersive virtual reality experiences, including entire virtual worlds. This too, uses the power of our thoughts, stimulated by our other senses.
Is it time for us to step it up a level? Should we be developing technology to enable a Yid anywhere, anytime, to ‘daven at the Kosel,’ or better yet, the Beis Hamikdash? Should we be able to choose a shuir, a farbrengen, a kumzits, and insert ourselves into a fully immersive, virtual, front row seat, from where we can daven to Hashem, listen to a shuir, sing or dance? What do you think?
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 12.