[Avodah] She'asah Li Kol Tzorkhi

[Micha Berger]

There is a Gra I have raised her a number of times in the past that
distinguishes between two modes of prayer:

tefillah / tzelosah: fixed liturgy used to *impress* into our minds what
    Chazal expect a healthy relationship with the Borei would focus on

tachaninim / uva'iseha: *expressing* to Hashem for what's actually on
    our minds

Although I would add that it seems we should not make either mode pure --
"kol ha'oseh tefilaso keva, lo asah tefilaso tachanunim". And Elokai
Netzor started out being Mar bar Ravina's techanunim "basar tzelosa",
and the section we actually call Tachanun both became codified in the
siddur. I would guess they are intended to be trellises, and not just
to be recited as is with no embellishment.

(Think of when we say "tisqabel tzelosehon uva'usehon dekhol Beis
Yisrael...")

So much the background, now for something new:

According to the aforementioned Gra, tefillah is always in the plural. If I ask for something for myself (e.g. Elokai Netzor instead of Elokeinu leshoneinu meira...) it must be tachanunim.

Then I noticed She'asah li kol tzorkhi (Who does for me everything I
need)... And then I noticed that as a whole Birkhos haShachar flips back
and forth. The shelo asani-s are in singular, but then "ozeir Yisrael",
"oteir Yisrael" "hameikhin / asheir heikhin mitz'adei gever" are all
about the Jewish people or all of humanity in general.

I don't have a general answer, but the train of thought led to a
kavvanah....

One can say about She'asah liv kol tzorkhi, the berakhah I originally
noticed being in the singular, that part of the point is to realize
that each of us have different needs. Hashem gives me exactly what I
need. Even if that's not the level of parnasah my neighbor has, what I
have is custom-set to exactly what I need.

(When I wrote the point of that last paragraph to a small WhatsApp group,
somoene said R Chaim Kanievsky says as much in Orechos Yosher baTefillah.)


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 We are great, and our foibles are great,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   and therefore our troubles are great --
Author: Widen Your Tent      but our consolations will also be great.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                      - Rabbi AY Kook