The town shoemaker would often be in a quandry about when to pray in the morning. Many of his customers were poor men who only owned one pair of shoes. He would work on repairing them all through the night in order to deliver them before their owners had to go to work in the morning.
He asked R’ Yitzchak Meir Alter, the Gerrer Rebbe, what he should do. Should he pray very quickly first thing in the morning and then go back to work? Or, should he let the time for prayer go by, but every once in a while, while raising his hammer, utter a sigh: Oy! What’s going to be? I haven’t prayed yet?
Perhaps that sigh is worth more than the prayer itself!
