How "Wholeheartedly" Does Hashem Endorse Tefilah? (or "Insights Into Tefilah from Parashas Beshalach")

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Note: I've uploaded this shiur to Machshavah Lab AND The Tefilah Podcast because it's relevant to both and I can spare the minutes this month.This evening (1/11/22), in our tefilah shiur, we tackled a bunch of fundamental questions on tefilah, including but not limited to: (1) How "poetic" are the Torah's songs, David ha'Melech's Tehilim, and our tefilos, and what are the methodological implications? (2) If Hashem knows what we're thinking, why do we have to daven out loud and go through the motions? (3) How "wholeheartedly" does Hashem endorse tefilah? Does He consider it to be a "lechatchilah" institution, like learning Torah, or does He consider it to be a "bedieved" institution, like korbanos (according to the Rambam)? Perhaps it was too ambitious to attempt to cram all of this into 45 minutes, but I think I managed to at least raise the releant questions, present my core answers, and prompt even more questions!----------מקורות:ר' אברהם בן הרמב"ם - שמות טו:ה,יארמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים ג:לב----------This week's Torah content has been sponsored anonymously by someone whose identity even I don't know. Since I can't ask them for a dedicatory message, we'll just dedicate it to my January 10th birthday, and - God willing - to another year of learning, teaching, and life.----------If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.----------If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.If you would like to sponsor a day's or a week's worth of content, or if you are interested in enlisting my services as a teacher or tutor, you can reach me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.com. Thank you to my listeners for listening, thank you to my readers for reading, and thank you to my supporters for supporting my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone.----------YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweissBlog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.comGuide to the Torah Content of Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/2021/04/links-to-torah-content-of-rabbi-matt.htmlAmazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls