In Yeshivish “davening” in addition to its primary meaning also means to recite something automatically, or with little intention. This is because almost nobody can repeat the same thing three times a day every day for their whole life and still gain some meaning from it. I have to assume that the majority of the frum world just chants the words every day with little or no kavanna and then walk away feeling like they have accomplished something.
Even if davening is important (and that’s debatable) surely the only point is if you’re paying attention to what you’re saying. So why do thousand of religious Jews feel that it is their religious duty to mutter words that they often do not understand , and do not pay attention to three times a day. Is that what prayer is supposed to be, automatic mumbling?
Ah, so why don’t people just daven with kavanna? Then they will be accomplishing something! The answer is because it’s virtually impossible. The effort required to concentrate about words that you are so familiar with and that you say so often, is huge! You have to be reeeeeeally motivated to say a long Shemoneh Esrei with all the concentration you’re supposed to have. Most people even very religious people just don’t have that’s sort of motivation. However the law is the law and no one dares question it so most people just chant the words out of rote, however pointless that might be.
Also what bothers me is the accumulation of unnecessary prayers over hundreds of years. We have in our siddur tons of pages of endless added prayers! Why is it all necessary? Most people can barely pay attention for five minutes and now they’re expected to pay attention for an hour. What a complete waste of time!
Also the content of the prayers is basically meaningless to most people. Even if you’re a firm believer, do you really, truly care about the coming of Mashiach? Does it really bother you that you have no Beit Hamikdash? Do you really care that God is holy?! People care about themselves, their families and their friends. That’s what they really want to pray for. But most of davening is dedicated to things that people do not truly care about and so most people cannot stir up enough emotion to make it meaningful.
When I was in Yeshiva the Rabbis used to drag me to davening every morning. I would slap on the tefillin and promptly slouch into my seat in semi-consciousness. I would struggle not to put my head down on the table because as soon as your head went down a Rabbi would walk over and prod you until you woke up. What bothered me more than my desire to go back to bed was the pointlessness of me sitting there doing nothing.
One day I decided enough was enough. I skipped shacharis and when the Rabbis asked me why I said “there is no point!”
“What!”they said baffled, unable to comprehend how someone could say something like that about the holy tefilla.
“I don’t pay attention, I have no kavanna, I’m half asleep! What am I accomplishing!? Is that really what God wants someone half asleep chanting words?”
“But you are still yotze your chiyuv even if you don’t have kavanna.” They said still puzzled.
“Yeah but forget my obligation, the point of davening is to commune with God or something right? So if I am not doing that then what is the point?”
“But you have to daven whether you have kavanna or not!” they exclaimed
At that point I gave up. We were obviously not speaking the same language. These Rabbis just thought in terms of thing you have to do and things you don’t have to do. Their legalistic Gemara drenched minds were not able to grasp the concept of ultimate purpose. The halacha says it you do it! You don’t try to figure out whether you’re accomplishing anything or not. It really had never occurred to them that davening without paying attention was not just discouraged but also pointless. Did they really think that because the halacha books said that you had fulfilled your obligation without paying attention that there was a point to mindlessly muttering the words? Did they think that the words were magical incantations that made God happy? I don’t know but needless to say my appeal to logic failed to exempt me from davening.
Hey I don’t mind praying once in a while. But for God’s sake what were the Rabbis of old thinking when they instituted lengthy prayers three times a day! Did they really think that it would be meaningful? It sure is not and I hate organized prayers! It seems that halacha has taken away much of the beauty of prayer and has managed turned it into another law bereft of meaning or "spirituality".
Note: Some people I know are very devout about davening and I think actually manage to have real kavanna the whole time. I suspect, however that they are an exception to what most people do.
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