Prayer requires both preparation and intent of the heart: One must approach prayer unhurriedly and with consideration, with a joyous state of mind, and after having performed an act of kindness for the poor.

The Sages taught: One may not stand to pray in an atmosphere of sadness or out of laziness, or while laughing, or while engaging in mundane conversation, or while engaging in frivolity, or while engaging in idle activity. Rather, one must stand to pray in an atmosphere imbued with the joy of performing a mitzva.

Rabbi Elazar would first give a peruta to a poor person, and only then would he pray. He said that is as it is written: “Truly [betzedek], I shall see Your face” (Psalms 17:15).

Rav Hana bar Bizna says that Rabbi Shimon Hasida says: One who prays must see himself as though the Divine Presence itself were opposite him, as it is stated: “I set the Lord before me always” (Psalms 16:8).

One stands and begins to pray only from a state of seriousness. The early pious men would wait one hour and pray, so that they would direct their hearts to their Father in Heaven. Even if a king greets a person, he should not respond to him; and even if a snake is wound around his heel, he should not interrupt his prayer.

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving a particular pious man who was praying while on the road when a high-ranking gentile officer came and greeted him, but the pious man did not respond with a greeting. The officer waited for him until he completed his prayer.

After he completed his prayer, the officer said to him: Empty one! Isn’t it written in your Torah: “Only beware, and protect your lives” (Deuteronomy 4:9)? And it is also written: “You shall greatly beware for your lives” (Deuteronomy 4:15). When I greeted you, why didn’t you respond with a greeting? Were I to behead you with a sword, who would hold me accountable for your blood?

The pious man said to him: Wait for me to appease you with my words. The man said to him: Had you been standing before a flesh-and-blood king and someone else came and greeted you, would you return his greeting? The officer said to him: No. The pious man continued: And had you returned his greeting, what would the king’s officers have done to you? The officer said to him: They would have beheaded me with a sword.

The pious man said to him: Isn’t this matter an a fortiori inference? You, who were [hypothetically] standing before a flesh-and-blood king who is here today and in the grave tomorrow, you would have done so and not responded. I, who was standing before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who lives and endures for all eternity, all the more so that I could not respond. The officer was immediately appeased, and that pious man returned home in peace. (Berakhot 2a; Bava Batra 10a; Sanhedrin 2a; Mishna Berakhot 5:1; Berakhot 32b–33a)