PRAYER IS GREATER THAN GOOD DEEDS. The Gemara is saying that T’feeloh, prayer is greater and can accomplish more than meritorious deeds. We see that Moshe Rabainu who certainly had many meritorious deeds was able to get his wishes fulfilled only because of his prayers not because of his deeds. But Moshe when he prayed had both, good deeds and his prayers. How can we prove that prayer is more powerful than good deeds? Tosfos seems to be saying that we truly cannot. The intent of the Gemara is as follows:Prayer is greater than meritorious deeds alone, without prayer. For Moshe Rabainu o’h, even though he had meritorious deedswas not answered by Hashem because of those deeds alone and in order to get his wishes fulfilled he needed prayerto accomplish his goals.¹

footnotes: ¹ Maharsho is very upset with this explanation of Tosfos. Obviously prayer coupled with good deeds is going to be more powerful than good deeds alone. Maharsho says that Tosfos wants to prove that prayer is more important than good deeds, for despite the fact that Moshe had good deeds, he was answered because of his prayers. The verse says that Hashem told him, do not speak to me anymore about this subject and immediately after that he was told that he would be allowed to at least see Eretz Yisroel. The verse is indicating that as a result of his speech to Hashem he was somewhat successful in accomplishing what he set out to accomplish. His success was because of his prayers and not because of his deeds.

TO MY TEARS DO NOT BE SILENT. The Gemara presents this verse as proof that although the gates of prayer are closed in the period following the destruction of the temple, the gates of tears remains open. King David prayed “to my tears do not be silent”. How do we see from this verse that the gates of tears are open even when the gates of prayer are not?Rashi explained that this can be deducednot from the simple meaning of the verse, but rather from a deduction. Since the verse does not ask of Hashem “and see my tears”, we know that tears are always seen by Hashem, and we need only pray that they be accepted.

ANYONE WHO PROLONGS HIS PRAYER AND EXPECTS IT TO BE ANSWERED. When one prays a lengthy t’feeloh and expects to be answered, he will eventually suffer heartache. We are expected to pray and leave the outcome to Hashem. To expect that Hashem will answer our prayer is somewhat pretentious and it has a negative effect.The explanation is: עיון תפלהthat will result in heartache occurs when one expects his supplicationto be answered because he hadproper concentration while he prayed. Tosfos will now show us that there seems to be a contradiction between two Gemaros about whether עיון תפלה is a valuable component in praying or is it perhaps a negative component as it seems from our Gemara. This is bewildering, for here it appears that concentration while praying is not a constructive componentof prayer **and so too, it appears in perek HoRo’eh (later 55a)**where the Gemara says: Three things cause one sins to be remembered, and the Gemara there says that concentration while prayingis one of them. Obviously, that is negative. And in perek M’fanin (Shabos 127a) it does not seem that way. For the Gemara says therethat there are six things for which a person benefits from their dividends in this worldand among them the Gemara lists concentration while praying. We see that it is a positive component. Tosfos offers further proof that intent while praying is a positive component.And so too, it appears in perek Get Poshut (Bovo Basro 164b) where the Gemara says: there are threenegative **things from which a person is not saved each day.**In other words, there are three negative things that a person engages in every day, and the Gemara saysthat one of them is concentration while praying. The explanation of עיון תפלהin the context of that Gemara is that one does not haveproper concentrationwhile praying. **If so, it appears that concentration while praying is a positive component.**This is a contradiction to our Gemara and the Gemara in perek HoRoeh. And we can answer: that there are twoopposite forms of **concentration while praying.**Although the Gemara uses the same term to describe them, they are opposites. **There is the concentration while praying of our Gemara where the person praying is expecting that his supplication will be answered,**which is a negative component of prayer, and there is the concentration while praying discussed therein perek M’fanin and in perek Get Poshut **that one has proper intent while he prays,**which is definitely a positive component of prayer.

FROM WHERE [IS IT DERIVED THAT ONE MUST WAIT ONE HOUR] BEFORE HIS PRAYER? AS IT IS STATED: “HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO DWELL IN YOUR HOUSE.” How do we know that one should spend some time preparing himself mentally for prayer before he prays, because it is written “Praiseworthy are the ones who sit in Your house, they will also praise you, seloh”. First they sit and only after spending some time in preparation for prayer do they sing your praises.And for this reason they instituted to say this verse before תהלה לדוד (T’hilim 145). This comes to reject the custom of those who say many verses of אשריprior to Psalm 145.