The sefer / Part I / Torah 196
וכשאתה מתפלל אל תעשה תפלתך קבע
No shiur on this Torah yet. R’ Moshe’s shiurim so far cover Torahs 1–34.
Reb Noson’s halachos based on this Torah, on Sefaria
Also draws on this Torah
Texts and translations: Sefaria. Each link opens in a new tab.
English translation by Moshe Mykoff © Breslov Research Institute, from Sefaria, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.
“When you pray, Al Taas Tefilatkha Keva (do not make your prayer routine), but compassionate pleas and entreaties [before the Omnipresent One].” (Avot 2:13)
It is forbidden for a person to be obstinate about anything. That is, in his prayer, it is prohibited to stubbornly insist that the Holy One must fulfill his request. This is like taking something by force, by robbing it.
Rather, a person has to pray and beseech God with compassionate pleas and entreaties. If God gives it, He gives it; and if not, not. This has been brought elsewhere.
This is: do not make your prayer keva—<The term KeVA (routine)> connotes “stealing,” as it is written (Proverbs 22:23), “and KaVA (rob) the life of those who rob them.”
That is, no matter what a person requests—be it livelihood or children or other needs—it is forbidden for him to stubbornly insist and be obstinate in his prayer; that God must fulfill his prayer. For this is a “keva prayer”—he takes the thing by force, by robbing it. Rather, as explained above, he is to pray “compassionate pleas and entreaties.”