אות - קכא

The Rebbe once lectured us to pray with energy and devotion. He emphasized that we must force ourselves to pray with all our strength (see note 207, p. XX) .

He said, “You put as much energy into your prayers as I did when I was pulling up anchor.

“Once I was on a ship and an emergency arose where the anchor had to be lifted immediately. All the passengers were forced to pull the anchor rope with all their might. I went through the motions of pulling with all my strength, but I was really not using any energy at all. I was really only pretending. I was being coerced, so I acted as if I was pulling with all my might.

“The same is true of the energy and devotion you put into your prayers.”

The Rebbe was telling us that we were far indeed from actually putting all our energy into our prayer.