Uplifting toil

The Gemoro says that one of the reasons that the world was created was for the “toil of speech” (Sanhedrin 99b), which is prayer.

Thus, everyone should work at davvenen (prayer), each person on their level.

Some people ask: How can you demand of me that I should davven with concentration, and even meditate on G–dly concepts? I am struggling with maintaining basic behavior, and I often do not succeed at overcoming coarse temptations.

The answer is that Avodas HaTefillah, the service of prayer, will even help such a person.

One who tries to davven realizes automatically that he shouldn’t get angry, gaze at things he shouldn’t and read things he shouldn’t, and so on, because these behaviors coarsen him and render him unreceptive to the refinement and spiritual sensitivity that he aims to acquire through davvenen. Like any productive member of society, he doesn’t want to waste his time, so this awarentess naturally leads him to be more careful in the way he behaves in general. So although the person is not truly fit to davven, the very effort to davven elevates him.