Master of the Worlds, You commanded us to bring the Daily offering at its appointed time; and have the Kohanim perform their service, and the Levites [sing and play music] on the platform, and the Israelites [attend] at their Ma'amad. And now, because of our sins, the Holy Temple is destroyed, and the Daily offering discontinued; we have neither a Kohein at his service, nor a Levite on his platform, nor an Israelite at his Ma'amad. Therefore let it be Your will Adonoy, our God, and God of our fathers, that the prayer of our lips be considered, and accepted and regarded favorably before You, as if we had offered the Daily offering at its appointed time, and stood in attendance at its service, as it has been said, Let the offering of our lips replace bullocks. And it is said, And he will slaughter it on the north side of the Altar, before Adonoy; and Aaron's sons, the Kohanim, will sprinkle its blood all around the Altar. And it is said, This is the law of the burnt-offering, the meal-offering, the sin-offering, the guilt-offering, the inauguration-offerings and the peace-offerings.

(Deut. 26:16:) “This day the Lord your God is commanding you to perform.” This text is related (to Ps. 95:6), “Come, let us bow down and bend, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker!” But is not bending included in bowing down; and bowing down in bowing? So what does the instruction mean by “let us bow down and bend and kneel down?” Moses simply foresaw that the Temple was going to be destroyed and that the firstfruits were going to cease. He arose and arranged for Israel to pray three times on every day, because prayer is more pleasing to the Holy One, blessed be He, than all of the good works and all of the sacrifices. It is so written (Ps. 141:2), “Take my prayer as an offering of incense, my upraised hands as an evening sacrifice.” And when it was decreed for Moses not to enter the land in spite of all of his good works, he began to pray, and he said (in Deut. 3:25), “Please let me cross over and see [the good land].” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him (in vss. 26-27), “Enough from you; do not ever speak unto Me on this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah.” It is therefore stated (in 26:16), “[This day] the Lord your God is commanding you to perform….” What is written above the matter (in vs. 15)? “Look down from Your holy dwelling, [from the heavens and bless Your people].” R. Abbahu said in the name of R. Jose bar Hanina, “How spoiled and how great a pretext are given to those who perform the commandments [for doing so]: If someone has business with the empire, there are times when he gives some money, until they have him reach the king. When he does reach the king, he has doubts whether he will fulfill his request or not. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, is not like that. Rather when one goes down into his field [and] sees a [grape] cluster that has ripened early, a fig that has ripened early, a pomegranate that has ripened early, he puts it in a basket, goes to Jerusalem and enters and stands in the [Temple] courtyard; he [then] asks mercy for himself, for Israel, and for the land of Israel. Thus it is stated (in Deut. 26:15), ‘Look down from your holy dwelling, [from the heavens and bless your people].’ And not only that, but he would say, “I am not moving from here until You perform my requirements this day,’ as it is written next to it (in vs. 16), ‘This day the Lord your God is commanding you to perform.’” Resh Laqish said, “A heavenly voice (bat qol) comes forth and says, ‘You shall do it again on this day in the coming year.’ [He is] like one who gives fresh fruit to his friend, and [the friend] says to him, ‘Would that you would do this again, and give me some next year.’” R. Hiya bar Abba said, “How spoiled are those who perform the commandments in front of the Holy One, blessed be He. As the Holy One blessed be He, enacts a decree and the righteous ones annul it. As it is stated (Eccl. 8:4), ‘Inasmuch as a king’s command is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing.”’ Who is it [that can say it]? (Eccl. 8:5:) ‘One who obeys commandments will not know a bad thing,’ he can object to the Holy One, blessed be He.” And so with David, he said (II Sam. 23:3), “The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke about me, ‘He that rules over men must be righteous, ruling in the fear of God.” [(Deut. 26:16:) “This day the Lord your God is commanding you to perform…].” What is the meaning of this day? Had the Holy One, blessed be He, not given a command to Israel until now? And was not this the fortieth year (since they left Egypt), as stated (in Deut. 1:3), “And it came to pass in the fortieth year….” Then what is the meaning of the words, “this day?” Simply that Moses spoke to Israel as follows, “On each and every day, let the Torah be dear to you, as if you had received it this day from Mount Sinai.” Moreover, it is written in another place (i.e., in Deut. 4:9), “make them known to your children….” Then it is written (in vs. 10), “The day that you stood before the Lord [your God at Horeb].” (Deut. 26:16, cont.:) “These statutes,” these are the midrashic commentaries; “and these ordinances,” these are the court decisions. Another interpretation (of Deut. 26:16), “these statutes and these ordinances: [They are meant] to include light and heavy [commandments], inferences from analogy, and fine points of scribal exegesis. (Deut. 26:16, cont.:) “So you are to be diligent in doing them.” R. Johanan said, “When anyone performs a single commandment truthfully, Scripture ascribes it to him as if it had been given [to him] from Mount Sinai, as stated (Deut. 26:16), ‘So you are to be diligent in doing.’” Then what is the meaning of (in Lev. 25:18), “and you shall do (which can also be read as, make) them?” Rather, anyone that observes the Torah and does it truthfully, it as if he arranged it and gave it from Mount Sinai. And R. Johanan also said, “Anyone who does [what is written in] the Torah truthfully, Scripture ascribes it to him as if he had made himself; as stated (in Deut. 4:14), ‘At that time the Lord commanded me to impart [to you laws and rules to make you do].’ It does not say, ‘to do them,’ but “to make you, do them.’ From here [we learn] that Scripture ascribes it to him as if he made and created himself.” (Deut. 26:16, cont.:) “With all your heart.” Behold Scripture warns Israel and says to them, “When you pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, you shall not have two hearts, one in the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He, and one for something else.”

(The following are Mishnayos found in the fifth chapter of Maseches Zevachim.)

(2) The “prayer of Moses” is one such as no other man ever offered. The “prayer of David” (Ps. LXXXVI) is one such as no other king ever offered. Yet the prayer of the poor man is the most excellent of all, and takes precedence of the prayer of Moses or of David, or of any other man.

(3) The reason is that the poor man is broken of heart, and it is written, “God is near to the broken of heart” (Ps. 24, 19). The poor man always expostulates with God, yet God listens and hears his words. When he prays He opens all the windows of the firmament, and all other prayers which ascend aloft have to make way for that of the broken-hearted poor man.

(4) God says, as it were: Let all other prayers wait, and let this one enter before me. I require here no court to judge between us, let his complaint come before Me and I and he will be alone. And so God alone attends to those complaints, as it is written, “and poureth out his complaint before the Lord”. Truly, “before the Lord”.

(5) All the hosts of heaven ask one another: With what is the Holy One, blessed be He, engaged? They answer: He is engaged eagerly with His own vessels. None of them know what is done with that prayer of the poor man and with all his complaints. But when he pours out his tears with expostulation before the Almighty, God desires nothing so much as to receive them.

(6) Now David saw that all the windows and all the gates of heaven were opened to the poor man, and there was no other to whose prayer God gave ear so readily, so he made himself a poor man and a beggar, he stripped himself of his royal garment and sat on the ground like a beggar and uttered his prayer. Hence it says, “A prayer of David. Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and answer me”; why? “for I am poor and needy” (Ps. 86, 1). Said the Almighty to him: David, art thou not a king, the ruler over mighty kings, and thou makest thyself a pauper and a beggar? Straightway he gave his prayer another turn, and leaving the pose of a pauper he said: “Preserve my soul, for I am pious”; and in truth, all these features were in David.

(7) Said R. Eleazar to him: ‘What you have said is quite right; and withal a man in praying should make himself poor and needy in order that his prayer may enter along with that of the rest of the poor, for the doorkeepers allow none to enter so readily as the poor, since they can even enter without permission. So if a man puts himself in the position of the poor, his prayer ascends and meets the other prayers of the poor and ascends with them and enters as one of them and is favourably received before the King.

את קול הנער THE VOICE OF THE LAD — From this we may infer that the prayer of a sick person is more effective than the prayer offered by others for him and that it is more readily accepted (Genesis Rabbah 53:14).

And there was another incident involving Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa, who went to study Torah before Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, and Rabbi Yoḥanan’s son fell ill. He said to him: Ḥanina, my son, pray for mercy on behalf of my son so that he will live. Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa placed his head between his knees in order to meditate and prayed for mercy upon his behalf, and Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai’s son lived. Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said about himself: Had ben Zakkai stuck his head between his knees throughout the entire day, they would have paid him no attention. His wife said to him: And is Ḥanina greater than you? He replied to her: No, but his prayer is better received than my own because he is like a servant before the King, and as such he is able to enter before the King and make various requests at all times. I, on the other hand, am like a minister before the King, and I can enter only when invited and can make requests only with regard to especially significant matters.