If you haven't been here before, perhaps you ought to visit the FAQ.
Because of the urgency of the hour, world-of-Jewry-wise, we are going to take a different tack here, presenting Vizzes before work on their Viznettes are complete. We'll keep on updating the Viznettes with each new edition of the website. If you don't know what we're talking about, you haven't read the FAQ.
Smile as you say the brachos of the Shemoneh Esrei. Or maybe just the first three and last three - another viz may be more appropriate for the request brachas in the middle.
We will start with a quote from the Alter of Kelm, on the difference between a righteous person and a sinner, as quoted in Rav Levinstein's sefer, Sichos Mussar:
"It is the ability to picture things in one's mind as if they were real."
That's solid proof that your imagination can make the difference between a great davening experience and a ho-hum one, or worse.
Your imagination is one of your key weapons against the yetzer hara's davening attacks. And Daven Viz is here to help.
Use in weekday Shemoneh Esrei, for the middle 13 request brachas, although not directly applicable to Shema Koleinu.
Pause before each bracha, think about the following three ideas, counting them off one-by-one on your fingers (see the Viznette for more elaboration):
Spiritual content can seem very sparse in some places in this world, bordering on vacuum. Drive your tefillos to fill that vacuum; generate positive spiritual density in your time and space.
Bracha can be seen as a cycle. The bracha flow emanates from H-shem, reaching down to our world, manifesting in all the good things we've got. By recognizing this goodness through tefilla before H-shem, we complete the cycle. So make sure you keep that flow going.
This button is supposed to be green. Is it?
This Viz is kind of a combination of two others, SoulNet and Circle Of Flow. As in SoulNet, you visualize the people with you in your minyan to be connected to one another. As in Circle Of Flow, you visualize H-shem's bracha flowing down to you. The connection is to see the SoulNet as an array or grid of bracha collection devices.
The more Jews you've got davening together, the more powerful experience. So picture yourself in a very large venue (stadium, arena, field) that's packed with Jews, all of them shouting out the words of your tefilla.
Punctuate the davening phrases you say with the exclamation "Fact!" Make it hit home that, as you daven, you are dealing in the truth.
See H-shem's Name in front of you as you daven.
Appeal to H-shem to help us deliver each bracha to where it is supposed to go, how it is supposed to go. Without His help, we can't get this done.
This button is supposed to be green. Is it?
See Geula as the process of going from low to high quickly - a high jump. Apply this to each bracha in the Shemonah Esrei. Low is not being blessed with what the bracha is about. High is being blessed with it. Pack that high jump into your bracha.
The yetzer hara's out to sabotage your davening. Portray this when you realize it has been at work - recoil as if receiving a blow from the yetzer hara.
Think about a meaning for each phrase before you say it. If you've got a Metsudah siddur, some of the work is done for you already. Keep your eyes on the phrase's translation. Also good are the Pathway to Prayer sefarim. Or just learn the translations like crazy so you can do it by heart.
You're the crew, you're doing repair work in the spiritual world. It's one way of looking at Tikkun Olam. So stop the mental traffic so you can get the job done.
Seize each word, or every few words, in your tefillos. Use hand motions, if it helps, as you delve into the meaning. But then keep it moving, looking for the next word or three to pounce on.
Shout what you are saying as you daven, but silently. Does it seem to you that people give more credence to a sentence or phrase that's shouted than when the same thing is said in a normal tone?
The souls of all the people in the minyan are joined to one another. Use the interconnection image of your choice -- tree, network, or anything else along these lines. And the strength of the interconnections correlates with the extent that VLC (V'ahavta L'reiacha Camocha - love your fellow as yourself) is practiced in the minyan. So do your part. And keeping Lifnei Iver (don't place a stumbling block before the blind) in mind, don't do things to make it harder for others to love you. Make sure your cell phone stays silent for the duration.
You are facing H-shem as you daven, so you shouldn't think of Him as off to one side or the other. When your mind wanders, essentially your focus is on something else, which means that H-shem is somewhere to the side and not straight ahead. So keep your attention straight ahead.
Simulate the sensation of crying as you say the tefillos. Feel it in your face, the shaking in your voice.
Imagine that the door through which your tefillos must pass is not open very wide and is in the process of closing. Apply a sense of desperation to your tefillos to get them through the door before it closes.
Look at what your mouth is doing as you are saying the tefillos. To actually try to look down as you are speaking may be uncomfortable to your eyes, so might have to make a compromise between actually looking and imagining looking.
For every word in which H-shem is referred to in the second person, try to be mindful that you are addressing Him directly.
Develop a set of hand gestures to use while davening. Each gesture should somehow convey to you the idea of the word or phrase it stands for. You don't have to cover every word with a gesture. But the more you can come up with, the more you can reinforce your attention to the meaning of what you are saying.
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