When the Jews saw they were trapped between the surrounding Egyptian army and the sea… they immediately cried out to Hashem. Hashem said, “This is what I longed for – to hear your voice.” As the verse says, ‘My dove is in the clefts of the rock, let me hear your voice.’ (Shemos Rabba)
The tefillah of Bnei Yisroel at Yam Suf was on such an exalted level that Hashem “longed” to hear it. But what was so special about that tefillah? The Jews were in a situation where no one but Hashem could possibly help them. So of course they asked Hashem to come to their rescue. What’s so noteworthy about turning to Hashem when there’s no one else to turn to?
We’re always busy with hishtadlus. We do everything we can to fulfill our needs and desires. But we realize we can’t do it on our own; we need Hashem’s help. Perhaps the most common misconception about tefillah is that prayer is within the realm of our hishtadlus, just part of our efforts to get what we want. We do all we can, then we ask Hashem to give us a helping hand.
But really, tefillah has no connection with hishtadlus. Our efforts to achieve our goals are within the confines of this physical world with all its limitations. No matter how hard we try, our efforts might not pay off. Tefillah rises above our physical world, and is guaranteed to produce results. Nothing can stand in its way.
The Ramchal in Mesillas Yesharim writes about tefillah: “A person actually stands before the blessed Creator, engaged in dialogue with Him … he pleads before Him and implores Him, and Hashem listens carefully to his words – just as a person speaks to his friend, and his friend listens to him.”
The essence of tefillah is dialogue. Tefillah isn’t a means to attain our needs, nor is Hashem a go-to for help in our physical world. Tefillah is a dialogue of mutual interest that stems from and expresses our intimate relationship with Hashem. Hashem is deeply interested in and invested in our life; what’s important to us is important to Him. Tefillah is like a conversation between business partners – our every need is His personal business.
When we approach tefillah as a means to attain our needs, it’s hard to take our minds off our needs and focus on the tefillah itself. Because we view tefillah as part of our hishtadlus, we’re still caught up in our needs and our efforts to fulfill them. But if we approach tefillah as a dialogue of mutual interest, our worries disappear, for we know with absolute certainty that Hashem cares about us and will do what’s best for us. The tefillah isn’t part of our business efforts, rather through the tefillah our needs become Hashem’s business.
This lofty concept of tefillah was revealed at Yam Suf. The situation was utterly hopeless and there was no room for hishtadlus. That tefillah was clearly not in the realm of hishtadlus. It was purely an expression of confidence that their own wellbeing was Hashem’s personal business. That revelation of our intimate relationship with Hashem was what Hashem “longed” to hear.