Kavanah: What is It and How to Attain It?

(15) Proper intention: What is implied? Any prayer that is not [recited] with proper intention is not prayer. If one prays without proper intention, he must repeat his prayers with proper intention. One who is in a confused or troubled state may not pray until he composes himself. Therefore, one who comes in from a journey and is tired or irritated is forbidden to pray until he composes himself. Our Sages taught that one should wait three days until he is rested and his mind is settled, and then he may pray.

(16) What is meant by [proper] intention? One should clear his mind from all thoughts and envision himself as standing before the Divine Presence. Therefore, one must sit a short while before praying in order to focus his attention and then pray in a pleasant and supplicatory fashion. One should not pray as one carrying a burden who throws it off and walks away. Therefore, one must sit a short while after praying, and then withdraw. The pious ones of the previous generations would wait an hour before praying and an hour after praying. They would [also] extend their prayers for an hour.

(1)One Needs to Have Concentration While Praying, containing 5 s'ifim: One who prays needs to concentrate on the meaning of the words which one brings forth from one's mouth. One should consider [it] as if the Divine Presence is opposite one, and remove all distracting thoughts from one, until one's thought and intention remain purely about one's prayer. And one should consider [it] as if one were speaking to before a king of flesh and blood, and one were organizing one's words beautifully and concentrating on them so as not to stumble, all the more [one should do so] before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, who is Blessed, who examines all thoughts. And so did the pious ones and the men of action, who would seclude themselves and concentrate on their prayers until they would transcend [their] corporeality and strengthen [their] mental power, until nearly arriving at the level of prophecy. And if another thought comes to one in the midst of the prayer, one should be silent until the thought is eliminated. And one should think about things that humble the heart and concentrate it on one's Father in Heaven, and not think about things that contain levity ("light-headedness"). Gloss: Before prayer, one should think about the loftiness of God who is raised up and the lowliness of humanity, and remove all human pleasures from one's heart (Ri, beginning of chapter "Ein Om'din" [Berachot Chapter 5] ). And it is forbidden for a person to kiss one's small children in synagogue, in order to fix in one's heart that there is no love like the love of the Omnipresent Who is Blessed (Binyomin Ze'ev siman 163 and Agudah Chapter "Keitzad Mevarchin" [Berachot Chapter 6]).

(2) One should not pray in a place where there is something that negates one's concentration, and not at a time that negates one's concentration [Tur in the name of R. Meir of Rothenburg, Hagahot Maimoni on Chapter 4 from the Laws of Prayer]. And nowadays we are not careful with all of this since we are not able to concentrate so much during prayer.

(3) One should pray in a manner of supplications, like a homeless man who asks [for something] at [someone's] entrance. And [one should pray] at a relaxed pace, so that it should not appear as a burden from which one is seeking to be exempted.

(4) The prayer [i.e. Amidah] is in place of the sacrifice (korban), and therefore one must be careful that it resemble the sacrifice with respect to intention, and not let another thought mix in, similar to an unrelated thought which would nullify the sacred offerings. And [prayer must be recited] standing, like the service [in the Temple]; and in a fixed place like the sacrifices, where each one had a fixed place for its slaughter and the sprinkling of its blood; and that nothing should separate between one and the wall [during prayer - see Orach Chayyim 90:21], similar to sacrifices where any interposition between it and the vessel would nullify it. And it is appropriate that one should have special nice garments for prayer, like the clothing of the kohanim, even though not everyone is able to spend the money on this; nevertheless, it is appropriate to have special pants for prayer, for the sake of cleanliness.

(5) One should not think "It is fitting that the Holy One Who is Blessed should fulfill my request, since I concentrated well during my prayer", because on the contrary: this recalls a person's sins (since by doing so, they scrutinize one's deeds to say one's merits are certain). Rather, one should think that Holy One Who is Blessed will fulfill [one's request] because of His kindness, and one should say in one's heart "Who am I, lowly and despised, [that I would be allowed to] come to request from the King of the Kings of Kings, the Holy One Who is Blessed if not for His tremendous kindnesses - that He is accustomed [to doing] them with His creations".