Just to add something to what Mrs. Sinensky said:
One of my favorite seforim on tefila, Sefer Hei'arat HaTefilah (it's in Hebrew, but it's really great, I would highly recommend it), explains that the great wisdom of Chazal was that although they instituted a set text, they were able to choose words that would transcend time, words that would be applicable to every person in every time period, no matter how different the people or eras may be from one another. Even more so, he explains, in their wisdom, Chazal chose the specific words that could mean something different even for the same person every time he davens. How is that possible? It’s not something that is just going to happen automatically, but rather it’s a result of kavana. If you really concentrate every time you daven and take care to try to understand the words, you will imbue them with new meaning every time you say them. It is almost guaranteed that something different will be going on in your life each time you daven that will change either what you focus on or what your perspective is, or a myriad of other things that may change your tefila in some way or another. And if for some reason nothing new is going on to change those things, then you should actively concentrate on changing them—because it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to become actively engaged in our conversations with G-d. Because that's what tefila enables us to do- to have a private, direct conversation with
G-d.
Lynn Kraft
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