{"id":13053,"date":"2025-12-22T15:14:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.kabbalah.info\/?post_type=book&#038;p=13053"},"modified":"2025-12-22T15:14:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:14:05","slug":"a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/","title":{"rendered":"647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>September 25, 1977<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRabbi Shimon says\u2026 and when you pray, do not make your prayer permanent, but mercy and pleading before the Creator\u201d (<em>Pirkei Avot<\/em>, Chapter 2, 18). Concerning the Torah, our sages said, \u201cSet times for the Torah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We should say that regularity means that although one has no desire or need, he must still learn Torah because the Torah itself brings him&nbsp;<em>Kedusha<\/em>&nbsp;[holiness], even though he feels no need to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the meaning of \u201cGreat is the learning that yields action,\u201d meaning that he will be among men of action, since one who has a need for something acts in order to obtain it. Therefore, the learning will bring him the need. This is why it was said \u201cregularity in the Torah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, a prayer means that he is lacking something and he is praying to be given what he is lacking. But if he has no lack, how can he ask when he has nothing to pray that he would be given?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this reason, Rabbi Shimon said, \u201cDo not make your prayer regular,\u201d since this is not regarded as a prayer. Rather, what is a prayer? \u201cMercy and pleading before the Creator,\u201d meaning that he is lacking something and asks the Creator to give it to him. By this we can understand what our sages said, \u201cOne does not pray unless in great seriousness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>September 25, 1977 \u201cRabbi Shimon says\u2026 and when you pray, do not make your prayer permanent, but mercy and pleading [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6246,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[26],"class_list":["post-13053","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kabbalah | 647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"RABASH examines the core of prayer as a heartfelt plea before the Creator, contrasting it with the regularity of Torah study prescribed by sages.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kabbalah | 647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"RABASH examines the core of prayer as a heartfelt plea before the Creator, contrasting it with the regularity of Torah study prescribed by sages.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kabbalah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kabbalahinfo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T15:14:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/kabbalah-rep.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kabbalahinfo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/\",\"name\":\"Kabbalah | 647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-22T15:14:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-22T15:14:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"RABASH examines the core of prayer as a heartfelt plea before the Creator, contrasting it with the regularity of Torah study prescribed by sages.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Books\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/book\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Assorted Notes\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/rabash-assorted-notes\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Kabbalah\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Kabbalah\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/favicon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/favicon.png\",\"width\":49,\"height\":48,\"caption\":\"Kabbalah\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kabbalahinfo\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/kabbalahinfo\",\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/@kabbalahinfo\",\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/kabbalah.info\",\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/kabbalahedu\",\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@thehiddenreality\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kabbalah | 647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency","description":"RABASH examines the core of prayer as a heartfelt plea before the Creator, contrasting it with the regularity of Torah study prescribed by sages.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kabbalah | 647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency","og_description":"RABASH examines the core of prayer as a heartfelt plea before the Creator, contrasting it with the regularity of Torah study prescribed by sages.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/","og_site_name":"Kabbalah","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kabbalahinfo","article_modified_time":"2025-12-22T15:14:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/kabbalah-rep.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@kabbalahinfo","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/","name":"Kabbalah | 647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-22T15:14:04+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-22T15:14:05+00:00","description":"RABASH examines the core of prayer as a heartfelt plea before the Creator, contrasting it with the regularity of Torah study prescribed by sages.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/a-prayer-requires-a-deficiency\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Books","item":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/book\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Assorted Notes","item":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/rabash-assorted-notes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/","name":"Kabbalah","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#organization","name":"Kabbalah","url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/favicon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/favicon.png","width":49,"height":48,"caption":"Kabbalah"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kabbalahinfo","https:\/\/x.com\/kabbalahinfo","http:\/\/youtube.com\/@kabbalahinfo","http:\/\/instagram.com\/kabbalah.info","http:\/\/pinterest.com\/kabbalahedu","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@thehiddenreality"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/13053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/book"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/6246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=13053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}