poor farmer was returning from the market on his cart driven by oxen. It was getting late, and he was passing through a forest when suddenly one of his wheels came off. After an hour trying to fix it, he realized that he would not be getting home in time for his evening prayer.

He spread a rough blanket on the ground and looked for his prayer book in his bag.

“Oh no! It’s not there. Where did I put it?”

His anxiety quickly reached panic proportions as he his frantically searched his ox cart.

“I must have left it at home. Oh God, what am I to do? You know very well that my poor brain has never been able to commit a single line of prayer to memory.”

He fell to his knees, wringing his hands. “Oh Lord, I am so sorry. I have made a terrible blunder today. I did not foresee that I could have been delayed so long. In the future, I will always take my prayer book with me.”

He paused and took a deep breath.

“OK, this is what I will do, my Lord. I will say five times, and very slowly, the letters of the alphabet. You know all the prayers. Please arrange the letters together in a way that pleases You.”

God told his angels, “This prayer I like, because it is coming from a simple heart.”

This tale from the Hasidic tradition teaches in a simple and direct manner the essence of true prayer—an innocent utterance of love, with the absolute conviction that it will be heard. As the Christian mystical writing The Cloud of Unknowing expressed it, “A short prayer pierces heaven.”

Tales of Revelation | Tales of Prayer
 Tales of Worlds within Worlds | Tales of Karma

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