A Great Speech

Especially in light of our recent "Turn it Off Tuesday", here is a wonderful drasha that Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner, a rabbi in Toronto (who writes at the blog "the Rebbetzin's Husband") gave on Rosh Hashana.  You should read the whole thing, but I'll quote some of my favorite passages:

• "When I stand in Shemoneh Esreih, I count birds," said one.
  "I count the bricks in the wall!" said another
  "I'm grateful for my head, because when I arrive at Modim it bows on its own", even if I'm not thinking about the words! said a third.
  No, these weren't answers to a shul poll – all of these lines came from amoraim, sages of the gemara, in a Yerushalmi.
  Some chachamim have offered alternative, less indicting ways to read this gemara, but as Tosafos said, the bottom line is that even our greatest sages had trouble concentrating.
• Do you know that voice someone gets when he's talking to you but he's also scrolling through his email? The longer-than-expected pauses, the repeating of the last words you said while his conscious mind catches up with his subconscious? It's not just when we're checking email, either; we hold too many goals in our minds.
•  And here's an experiment which may sound a little odd, but it has worked for me: During davening on a weekday, or during telephone calls, or while learning with a chavrusa, keep a piece of paper and pencil nearby. As extraneous topics come to mind, jot them down - not during Shemoneh Esreih, of course. This will tell us what is occupying our minds.
• A message we write to ourselves in our siddur, "Are you still focussed?" or "This part is important." I write all over my siddur.

גמר חתימה טובה.