Prayer is a powerful force in this service and a venture full of peril. He who prays is a priest at the temple that is the cosmos. With good prayer he may "build worlds"; with improper prayer he may "destroy worlds." "It is a miracle that a man survives the hour of worship," the Baal Shem said.
— Abraham Joshua Heschel, Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity by Abraham Joshua Heschel, Susannah Heschel, editor