אות - רצה

I heard that the Rebbe spoke of encouraging oneself in prayer as follows. No matter what you are, you can strengthen yourself and stubbornly pray to God.

The Rebbe said that you should think in the following manner: I may be far from God because of my many sins. Let it be. If this is so, then there can be no perfect prayer without me. The Talmud teaches that every prayer that does not include the sinners of Israel is not a true prayer ( Keritut 6b) . Prayer is like an incense offering. The Torah requires that the incense contains chelbanah (galbanum) (Exodus 30:34) , even though it has a vile odor by itself.

If I consider myself a sinner, then I am an essential ingredient of every prayer service. No prayer is perfect without me. I, the sinner, must strengthen myself even more to pray to God and trust that in His mercy He will accept my prayer. I am the perfection of the prayer – the chelbanah in the incense.

Just like the vile-smelling chelbanah is an essential ingredient of the sweet incense, so my tainted prayer is a vital ingredient of the prayers of all Israel. Without it, prayer is deficient, like incense without the chelbanah .