Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses some of the qualities of the Cohen Godol’s daily mincha offering. Unlike most meal offerings, no portion is consumed by the Cohen, as it is fully offered as a sacrifice.
Sefer Hachinuch (137) explains a possible reason for this uniqueness. If the Cohen were to eat from it, it would feel more routine—part of his daily eating habit—and would lose its sense of being a special devotional act.
I wonder, if so, why is anyone allowed to eat from any sacrifice? The answer must be that since this is a twice-daily routine, it is far more subject to losing its specialness.
For us non-cohanim, we also have a devotional service: the morning, afternoon, and evening prayers. The fact that we do this so often can also make it difficult to feel that prayer is elevating and holy. Though we are obligated to pray, we must not treat it like a burden or a rote requirement (Avos 2:13).
The Torah sought to cultivate a sense of the sacred in the Cohen’s mincha by forbidding him to eat from it. There is a parallel in our prayer. Most laypeople consider refraining from talking during davening as an important technical requirement—“here it is forbidden to interrupt”—so as not to invalidate the prayer. In actuality, it’s much bigger than that. The idea is to limit the mental noise in our heads so that we can focus on the experience of standing before God.
The halacha also requires that the place of prayer be treated with reverence, forbidding most forms of mundane speech even outside of prayer. It is worth reviewing those halachos in Shulchan Aruch (OC 151). To pray with proper concentration and continuous awareness of God’s presence requires daily, consistent practice. It’s really like training for a marathon. A person doesn’t wake up one day and decide to run a marathon; if he wants to succeed, he must train for years.
Similarly, if a person wants to succeed in having the right mindset for davening, where the mental racket in his head is somewhat subdued, it can take years of creating an emotional and mental set of cues. One part of that is treating the place and time of prayer as a sacred zone consistently. Another important behavioral pattern and cue is to take a few minutes to prepare and clear one’s mind before prayer, contemplating God’s greatness, as codified in Shulchan Aruch (OC 98).
Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
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Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, LMFT, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com