What is Tefila?

This post is my clearest presentation of a question that arose in our shabbos chabura a few months ago. The chabura’s discussion centered around a shiur that Rabbi Sacks gave on tefila. I gleaned from the shiur that one of the main (if not the main) objectives of tefila is to recognize that man (or any other material thing) is not the true source of our good – God is the source of all our good via the natural systems that he created – Poseach es yadecha imasbea lichol chay ratzon.

Working with that principle, the chabura attempted to see if we could take a clear example from our lives in which we can see where we think our good is coming from a material source, but in reality that very same good is coming to us through God’s natural design.

A very clear example that immediately occurred to me was that of the owner/managing partner of my law firm. He literally has a god-like aura to him to people in my firm. There are pictures of him all over the place. People are terrified of him. Everyone is surprised when he does something that “normal” people would do, like make phone calls. But I think the quality of him that speaks to me the most is the fear we have of him. Why this intense fear??? Sure there is always the possibility of getting fired, but our fear of him goes way beyond any rational fear of getting fired. I think the answer is that we actually believe that this man is the source of our money. If he chooses to give us money, we have been graced by the god-like one. If he chooses to withhold money from us, we have not found favor in the god-like one’s eyes.

This fantasy’s roots stem much deeper than we think. True, we think the god-like one is the source of our money, but that is just the beginning. How do we get the god-like one to actually give us the money that he has some how created? Two ways: 1) Do Pharaoh’s bidding (do the work he wants done) 2) Make him know that we recognize his power (kiss ass).

Let’s explore these 2 methods:

1) Doing the work he wants done. There is a building that he somehow obtained. Many things go on inside this building. There are many people, papers, machines, supplies, etc. We show up there at 9:00am and do the things that he wants done and at 5:00 (or whenever) we leave. The building is the god-like one’s world. We enter his world, do what he tells us, leave, and every 2 weeks, he dips into the big vault of money he keeps in the back of his office and pays all of us fortunate ones. Where does he get this money? Who knows. It is said in the folklore that there are some mysterious “clients” out there somewhere. Maybe he does their bidding? Maybe the “clients” do somebody else’s bidding? No, couldn’t be. Nobody could be more powerful than the “clients”. The clients are the absolute source of the money – not the god-like one – my mistake.

2) Kissing ass. Kissing ass is not just an incidental thing that happens in the workplace. It is a fundamental part of getting the god-like one to give you money. On some level, the god-like one believes that he created the money also (although not to the same extent as his slaves) or at least knows that his slaves think that of him. He does not like when he senses that one of his slaves realizes his actual, real, tiny place in the natural order (which he must have some sense of, no matter how small). If he senses one of his slaves is on to him, he will remove this slave from his world (fire him). That is why it is absolutely vital to always make the god-like one know that you, the slave, unquestionably recognize his power. This is what is known in the corporate world as kissing ass.

My point in this whole description is to demonstrate that how we think about where our money comes from is so removed from where our money actually comes from.

What is the way out? How do we shift from our ridiculous child-like view of money to a realistic one. The chabura said that the way to accomplish this is two-fold: 1) Understand your business. 2) Understand how money works – economics.

1) Understand your business. Certain questions must be answered about the business you are in. What industry is your business in? What function does your office serve in this industry? Is your industry itself part of a larger industry? If we keep seeking the macro-industry that encompasses the micro-industry, where will we eventually end up?

This endeavor will take some research, but, the main point here is that even after a small amount of investigation we will realize that our office plays a tiny role in a massive industry. In other words, the office that we work in provides a small, needed service in the system of some gigantic industry. Thought of in this light, we will immediately see the god-like one in a totally different way. He will no longer be the creator of money and he will no longer have much power at all. He is simply a tiny, tiny part of a huge system. Thought of in this way, simply put, he has almost no power at all. The question of where the money actually comes from has not been answered, but we now know that it certainly doesn’t originate from him.

To use a metaphor of what the boss really is, he is like the button you press on the lever to shift gears in a car. Sure, you could not drive the car without that button, but, everyone would agree that the button serves an extremely minor function in the operation of a car. The car is the industry – a massive machine, with a multitude of parts functioning together to make it work.

2) Understand how money works – economics. Admittedly, I have an extremely basic understanding of economics, but I do know it is the study of how money works. I found this definition online:

Economics is the science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, or the material welfare of humankind.

This is a good start.

Exploring our fantastical way of viewing money and the two mentioned studies, to our minds, are the way to see money for what it really is. I believe a thorough study of these areas would reveal that God is the ultimate source of both the industry that we work in and economics in general. But that is exactly my point and my question. In this area and any other area, the way to see that God is the true source of a good is to study that good in a realistic, intelligent way. I don’t understand how tefila plays a role in this process. Put in another way, if I just did tefila, without any of the above mentioned studies, I do not believe my understanding of the true source of money would have improved at all.

How is tefila, and not the above mentioned studies, the way to see God as the true source of money?