you menschen that ‘the Hebrew word l’hitpalel (to pray) actually means to judge oneself’.

My understanding is that there are two translations for tefilah. The word tefilah comes from the word pellel which means “to judge.” Tefilah is a time of self-evaluation, self-judgment, introspection, when a person looks deep inside to see his faults, what he needs from G-d etc. etc. This happens through tefilah.

Tephila also means attachment – we attach ourselves to our Creator. Tephila is thus a process taking us from a state of duality (where there is ourself & Hashem) through introspection and analysis of our needs from Hashem to a state of unity where we actually bond with Hashem.

It is also related to the name ‘Naphtali’ – derivative ‘Pesil’ – a cord – as in ‘hakanaf psil techeiles’ attach a blue cord. So tephila is like tying or attaching oneself to Hashem. Naphtali also means wrestling, whereby two entities become locked together as one.

I’m very happy to see you are back in the web business. I look foward to checking back here often. If you will be in the US soon I would love to see you.

Gemar Chasima Tova
Best wishes to the whole family

Elad