His Soul Left in Davening
The Yehudi's davening was so ecstatic that, according to Chassidic tradition, he passed away in the midst of it.
A story ofRav Yaakov Yitzchok Rabinowitz of Peshischaהרב יעקב יצחק בן אשר מפשיסחאProfile ›
Chassidim relate that the Yehudi's davening was fire. His whole being was poured into the words, and those near him could feel that he was far from the room. In Peshischa it was said that no one who saw him daven could remain unmoved.
It was the way of the Yehudi to seek truth in every word of tefillah and to examine what moved him in every avodah. Davening was where he did this most of all, for there a person stands before Hashem with nothing to hide.
In the year 5574, in the middle of Sukkos, on the third day of Chol Hamoed, the nineteenth of Tishrei, the Yehudi stood in tefillah, and his dveikus deepened more and more.
According to the tradition of Peshischa, it was in the midst of this ecstatic prayer that his holy soul departed. He was only about forty-seven years old.
The Yehudi is remembered by Chassidim as one who lived the way he taught: nothing false in his service, and nothing held back from his davening.
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica, 'Przysucha (Pshishkha), Jacob Isaac ben Asher' (died during his ecstatic daily prayers); the printed Chassidic account is not pinned.
Choose one part of your davening today, a single bracha or a line of Shema, and say it as if it were the only thing happening in the world. Slow down, understand the words, and mean them. You do not need to cry out as the Yehudi did. You only need to be present for the length of one sentence. If your mind wanders, bring it back without frustration. Try the same line tomorrow and see how it grows.