Heart

The five books of Tehillim are the leiv of the five books of Torah, the inside tefillos that open us to connect to Hashem through the learning and actions we do. The countless pesukim depicting the development and service of the heart emphasize the centrality of its role in our lives.

The Gemara teaches us: rachmanah libah ba’i, Hashem wants the heart. Hashem seeks to be called from the leiv. Hashem’s truest desire is for us to experience our mitzvos and Torah learning lishmah, from a heartfelt neshamah place. As the Gemara quotes the pasuk in Mishlei: “T’nu b’ni libcha v’einecha li — My son, give me your eyes and your heart.” The Gemara explains this pasuk: “im atah nosein li es libcha ani yodea she’atah sheli, v’im lav atah lo sheli — if you give Me your heart, I know you’re Mine.”

Why is it that Hashem so badly wants the heart? It is through the heart that we connect to Hashem. It is the control center of our emotions, as the Gemara teaches us: haleiv mitzayer kol hamiddos. It is where chesed (love) and gevurah (fear) join, creating a balance of tiferes (splendor). It is from this alignment of inner work and tikkun hamiddos, emotional development, that Hashem desires most to hear from us.

As the Gemara in Taanis says: Eizehu avodah shebaleiv zohi tefi llah… tefi llah b’libah talyah — What is the avodah of the heart? It is prayer… prayer is dependent on the heartfeltness that you put into it. The Baal Shem Tov taught us: mitzvah bli kavanah k’guf bli neshamah.

It is the specific, unique harmony of your heart that is cherished by Hashem, it is what makes you, you. On an external level of robotic action, we are all the same. What makes you irreplaceable and needed is your unique “heart avodah,” which is the only one of its kind in the universe.

Now, as you call out to Hashem from your individual place, it illuminates for Him an unparalleled light of nachas. This light is known in the seforim hakedoshim as gavanin ela’in — celestial rays of light. These gavanin ela’in are created through the tefillah one offers up to Hashem from one’s unique life combination of body, soul, and emotions, and the history of one’s family and environment, forming his unique place.