The Top 10 Benefits Of Praying Netz

The one thing that I can truly say changed my life is davening Netz (praying the Shemone Esrei at sunrise). I went from being a lazy, down, and nothing-going-my-way individual to an upbeat and motivated person. I became more alert, ambitious, and developed a great urge to succeed and accomplish. Netz tends to have the power to do that to a person because the way you start your day is the way the rest of your day will be. In Russia, there is a saying, “G-d provides to those who rise early.” If the Jews in Russia lived by this concept despite the Communist Regime, how much more so should we be aware of this concept as religious Jews living here without oppression.

The ability to knock out the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination) first thing in the morning is what will allow you to be a step ahead of everyone else. Waking up early will give you ample amount of time in the day to complete everything that you need to do for that day. In fact, the Gemara in Masechet Brachot says, “for those who pray Netz, no bad news will come their way that day and they will have extra protection and Siyata DiShmaya (Divine Providence) from Hashem.” I can definitely attest to this, as I had countless unbelievable stories and experiences by praying Netz. Being that we are approaching the three weeks of bein hametzarim (from 17^th of Tammuz until the 9^th Av), I think we can all use this extra protection from Hashem.

I first started praying Netz when my son was about 6 months old and began waking me up at odd hours of the night. Around the same time, someone told me that when the Lubavitcher Rebbe used to wake up in the middle of the night, he would not go back to sleep. Taking that into consideration, together with my son’s colic cries in the middle of the night, I decided to try out Netz in Bet Gavriel in Forest Hills. It was more of an accident than anything else. At first, I remember thinking to myself, “who would be crazy enough to wake up so early every single day?” I mean, I could understand if you had an early flight to catch, or were about to embark on a long distance road trip, but to do it on a regular basis was not even in my thought process.

Slowly, after only doing Netz a few times, I decided to start going twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. After a few months, I realized my Mondays and Thursday were going so smoothly for me that I had to be a fool not to do it the rest of the week. Eventually, I began praying Netz Monday through Friday, granted there were a few hiccups along the way, especially in the early summer days when Netz is around 5:25am. After about a year, I gained more chizuk (strength) from the regulars who did Netz on a daily basis, and slowly this became a part of my life.

Now, after doing Netz for about six years straight, I would like to share the top ten benefits of rising early and praying Netz.

 

10 Benefits Of Praying Netz

You will have more time to learn Torah, which is our main purpose in life. You will also have more time for work, exercise, and spend a healthy amount of time with your family. You will even have enough time to make up for all those years you slept in as a teenager. However, I warn you, this will come with a price of feeling guilty for wasting so much potential time in your youth. You will start thinking of how much more productive and successful you could have become if you knew about this advantage earlier. Nevertheless, don’t stress it, since everything is obviously from Hashem and He clearly felt that now is the time for you to know this information. Instead, you should feel honored and privileged that you had the zechut to find out about this now and take action immediately.

You will have a natural tendency to be happy, and walk around with a zest full of life, since nothing brings more happiness to a person than the feeling of being productive. And, unfortunately, in the world we live in today, with an unbelievable amount of people that are depressed, this is a must for everyone that cares about themselves and others.

You will love people and start developing better relationships with those close to you.

You will have a proactive approach to life and all its facets.

You’ll have a boost of self-esteem, and your confidence level will rise.

You will have a much better relationship with Hashem because you will be so in tune with spirituality, since you will clearly see and experience Divine Intervention.

You will be less moody due to a significant reduction, and even a possible elimination of stress and anxiety altogether.

You will want to do more Chesed (kindness) and be G-d’s partner in improving the world.

You will not avoid nor procrastinate tasks because of your drive for productivity.

You will never experience insomnia because by the end of the day, you can pretty much fall asleep instantly.

It is well known that after the Chet Ha’Egel (sin of the Golden Calf), Hashem wanted to destroy the Jewish people and only after Moshe Rabeinu pleaded with Hashem not to destroy us, were we spared. However, Chazal teaches us that even though we were saved, what Hashem decided to do is spread out the punishment over the course of history rather than wiping us all out in one shot. The best way to look at it is rather than a huge meteor rock aiming towards the Earth for its destruction, it was broken up into a million pieces in the air and obviously not having the same harmful effect as one whole piece. In fact, most of these unfortunate episodes occur during these three weeks, so we have to be extra careful and increase our Torah learning and Mitzvas.

Similarly, each and every one of us is destined to go through some type of suffering or pain throughout the day. Some people get into car accidents, some have headaches and lo Aleinu some much worse. But the good news is that we can choose our form of pain. We can choose to stay up all night from a toothache or to stay up learning Torah instead. So too, waking up early, as hard and painful as it might be, this too is a form of suffering that will almost guarantee you a harmless day since you already went through your pain portion for the day. Wouldn’t you rather overcome that pain only once early that morning and enjoy the rest of the day with Hashem on your side? Once you have the heads up on the Yetzer Hara you will literary have a problem-free day. It will only take a few days for you to get addicted to this type of lifestyle. Granted that you will have your ups and downs and sleep in once in a while, but once you discover Netz, your life will be so amazing you will want to influence others to change their life as well.

Even though according to the Rambam the essential Mitzvah of the Shacharit prayer is dafka at sunrise and davening later is only secondary, fortunately, that is not how the Shulchan Aruch ruled. And if you feel it’s impossible to wake up for Netz, I would still strongly recommend implementing an early morning lifestyle as you’ll see it just gives you a more productive and efficient day.

It’s no secret that the top CEO’s in the world are up at 5 in the morning, or even earlier. Apple CEO Tim Cook apparently wakes up at 3:45am. Richard Branson has said he rises at 5:45am, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz reportedly gets up at 4:30am.

Another critical factor in the morning routine is the way you wake up. You need to forget or disable the snooze button. The key is to wake up like a lion as the first Halacha in the Shulchan Aruch says. There is a reason why the Maran decided to put that as the first halacha, to show how a Yid should start his day.

Being that now is the earliest time of the year for Netz, I would suggest you to reread this article in the winter time when it’s a bit easier praying Netz. At the very least you should aim for Netz on your important days like a court date, an interview or even your wedding day.

However, for those that would like to start Netz asap, there is a lot of preparation that needs to go into it. For starters, you need to pray to Hashem to have the strength to beat the Satan and wake up early. You need to eat less at night and have lighter dinners. Going to sleep early is a given, but it is easier said than done. Another trick that works for me is to put your alarm far away from your bed where you will be forced to get up to turn it off, and once you are out of bed you’re already halfway there. And last but not least don’t wake up your wife!!! (you will need to work that one out on your own).

By Anonymous Reader