The Way of G-d
Part 4: "Divine Service"
Ch. 6: "The Sequence of the Day"
Paragraph 9
Once we understand that prayer is one of *the* best ways to draw close to G-
d Almighty and to rectify the world, which is our life's goal, it becomes
clear that nearly everything we do should prepare us for it. And that
certainly goes for what we wear.
So we're charged to adorn ourselves with tallit and tephillin before we
pray in the morning so as to be more elevated than we'd been before, to be
ready to greet G-d Almighty in awe and wonder (having been sanctified and
illumined by the tallit and tephillin), and in order to allow for the
transmission of G-d's great and rectifying light throughout the universe.
The morning prayer service itself, as we'll see, is a multilayered and
subtle series of petitions, praises, and expressions of gratitude. And it's
comprised of four major components that correspond to the four Celestial
Realms which are all adjusted to one degree or another when we pray, Realm
by Realm. In any event, the sequence begins with the donning of tallit and
tephillin, as we'd said, which then serves as a sort of initiation into it
the process.
Text Copyright © 2005 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org.