Shalom aleichem. ואין פגיעה אלא תפילה שנאמר ואתה אל תתפלל בעד העם הזה ואל תשא בעדם רנה ותפילה ואל תפגע בי.
As we attempted to do with Amidah and Sichah, let’s see if we can understand a little bit again briefly what Pegi'ah represents as a mode of Tefillah, as a type of Tefillah. Even within each of these leshonos, Amidah, Sichah, Pegi'ah, if we speak of what it represents, even within each of these we’re only talking about one aspect of what this particular lashon Tefillah represents. So on the pasuk in Megillas Rus where Naomi is trying to convince Rus and Orpah to leave, so Rus finally says to her, Al tifge'i bi. The Ibn Ezra says there on Al tifge'i bi, he says that Inyano piyus, piyus, and his proof for that, that that’s what the Pegi'ah as a lashon Tefillah means, is when Avraham Avinu says in Parshas Chayei Sarah, ופגעו לי בעפרון בן צחר. Ad kan devarav. So what does the Ibn Ezra mean, and what does piyus mean as a lashon of Tefillah? So we find this lashon of piyus by bakashas mechilah. If a person is חוטא בין אדם לחברו, so the din is, the Rambam has the lashon in Perek Bais of Hilchos Teshuvah that he has to be mifayes him, he has to be mifayes him. And similarly in the story in Tefillas Hashachar with Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua, so Rabban Gamliel says eizeil va'afayesei, and ultimately the Gemara says that takeh piyes, that Rabbi Yehoshua was nispayes. So what does it mean? So lichora what it means is like this: piyus means there is some initial resistance, some initial distance, as in the case of cheit. Due to the cheit, there’s a resistance, there’s a distance. Yitachen, although we’re not going to talk as much about this tonight, but that piyus also has an element of acknowledging that there’s really no basis for the claim. Me-ikar hadin, mitzhad hadin, if someone sins against me, so why should I forgive him? According to middas ha'emes, middas hadin, why should I forgive him? He did what he did. It’s rooted in a sense of chessed. So to be mifayes again means to have to overcome a resistance, to have to overcome a distance, a separation, and to effect a reconciliation. In terms of ופגעו לי בעפרון בן צחר, so the Sforno comments on that pasuk that the truth is that a person doesn’t sell nachalas avosav. He references the pasuk chalila li that a person should sell nachalas avosav. So again, so the starting point for Avraham Avinu’s bakashas from Efron is that again, there’s this distance, and there’s a gap that has to be closed, because it’s not a normal, routine type of offer or negotiation that Avraham Avinu is initiating. It’s again, the... There's a gap which has to be closed. Rashi says again the Rashi obviously is not unique to Tosafos but on daled amud bais in commenting on the inyan of smichas geulah l'tfilah so he quotes a Yerushalmi יהא אדם מקרב להקדוש ברוך הוא אליו ומרצהו בתשבחות וקילוסין של יציאת מצרים והוא מתקרב אליו ובעודו קרוב אליו יש לו לומר צרכיו.
So the unit of tfilah and the broader unit of tfilah involves the continuum of smichas geulah l'tfilah is to be מקרב להקדוש ברוך הוא אליו. And that's the same inyan that we're identifying within pirus. It's interesting. The Maharsha in Chulin comments that even according to the understanding in Chazal that Vayifga, so the peshuto shel mikra not Chazal is that Vayifga means the Malbim says that one of the meanings of Vayifga is lashon pegisha, that Vayifga bamakom means that Yaakov Avinu encountered this place. He came upon this place. That would be the peshuto shel mikra. Chazal tell us that Vayifga is also a lashon tfilah. The Maharsha says but even according to this understanding of Chazal that Vayifga is a lashon tfilah, it's not necessarily the case as the Midrash says that makom refers to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, as in הקדוש ברוך הוא מקומו של עולם. Makom can still mean the Beis Hamikdash and what it means is that Yaakov Avinu davened in the Beis Hamikdash. ויפגע במקום בה הידיעה, Yaakov Avinu davened in the Beis Hamikdash. Yitzchak Avinu didn't daven in the Beis Hamikdash. ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה, and I don't know if that was in the mikdash. But Yaakov Avinu davened in mikdash. So l'chora what pgiya as a form of tfilah accentuates is that through tfilah a person tries to close the gap or the distance that exists between himself and Hakadosh Baruch Hu. On a very simplistic level, a person goes through a day. His mind is at times preoccupied with mundane affairs and perhaps to a degree necessarily and justly so. But the inyan of tfilah is again as in pirus is to close that gap. Is that a person should, there shouldn't be any distance, to totally close the gap between oneself and the Ribono shel olam. Now the lashon of Rashi is מקרב להקדוש ברוך הוא אליו. That a person is מקרב הקדוש ברוך הוא to himself as opposed to being mekarev himself l'Hakadosh Baruch Hu. מקרב להקדוש ברוך הוא אליו. Now Yaakov Avinu it says in all the sefarim that Yaakov Avinu as the pasuk itself indicates is milashon eikev, lashon heel. Moreover, we read a little bit, a few lines from Shabbos Malkusa. אלו השלושה המורים על המלכות נקראים קטנים. Halevana hamaor hakatan. And v'etzel Yaakov Avinu kesiv: Yaakov beno hakatan. And v'al David kesiv: v'David hu hakatan. ששלושה אלו הם כולם עניין אחד מידת המלכות. Let's add a little bit more and then we'll try to understand the mah shehu. וזהו העניין והסדר של קידוש לבנה שישנם מנהגים שונים וכולם שייכים לעניין בקשתנו על התגלות מלכות שמיים בעולם שהלבנה שהתקטנה והלכה לקראת סוף החודש ועכשיו מתחדשת וגדלה. וכן מזכירים את יעקב בראשי תיבות יוצרך עושך קונך בוראך.
And mazkirim דוד מלך ישראל חי וקיים. ומכל זה למדנו יסוד נוסף בעניין המלכות והוא עניין דלית ליה מגרמיה כלום וכל עניינה להוציא לאור את העניין שהיא באה לגלות. מלכות משקפת את גדולתו ועוצמתו של המלך.
Yaakov Avinu because he represents eikev, because not just by an accident of birth, but because of his mahut he's Yaakov beno hakatan. Katan in the sense of maktin atzmo. Katan in the sense of דלית ליה מגרמיה כלום that his whole essence is to reflect kvod shamayim, the same way the levana reflects the light of the sun. Precisely because of that mida of eikev, of Yaakov beno hakatan, that's the secret to how one becomes an instrument of malchus, because malchus means the revelation and projection of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's yichud within this world. Malchus again means projection, revelation. Earlier I think Rav Pinkus quotes the Gemara, and the sefarim have this as well, the Gemara in Megillah where the Gemara in Megillah elaborates the exchange between David Hamelech and Avigail, that David Hamelech was going to kill Naval because he said he was a mored bemalchus, that Shmuel has already anointed me so I have a din melech, and therefore what Naval did he's guilty of being mored bemalchus. Avigail tells him that עדיין לא יצא טבעך בעולם. That's what Avigail tells him. What's לא יצא טבעך בעולם? So tivcha, the same shoresh as the word matbeya, coin. So what does it mean? So the custom used to be that whenever there was a new king, a new monarch ascended to the throne, so he would mint new coins with his name, with his image, with whatever. And the coinage was a way of manifesting his rule. And it signifies the consolidation of his sovereignty. So what Avigail was telling him is that in order to have a full din melech, so there has to be—it's not enough that Shmuel Hanavi anointed you in private, but it has to be that befoal you exercise kingship, that befoal you demonstrate sovereignty. And that's what's contained in Midas Malchus. That's why the Yerushalmi—I remember if Pinchas quotes this—Yerushalmi asks what the status of David Hamelech when a melech sins, so he has a different—the pesukim have different korban chatas for the melech than for a hedyot. Asher nasi yecheta. So the Yerushalmi has a kasha when David Hamelech was running away from Avshalom during the midst of the mered, so what status did David Hamelech have? Did he have a status of asher nasi yecheta, or did he have the status of a yachid? Because melucha again means that there's a projection, that there's a revelation, there's an actualization. So when we say that Yaakov Avinu because of the bechina of akev, because of the bechina of Yaakov bno hakatan represents malchus, it means that he projects, he's the instrument to project, to reveal malchus shamayim in the world. Nachsor ledidan, nachsor ledidan. So יעקב אבינו תיקן תפילת ערבית, shene'emar vayifga bamakom. What's pegiya? Lashon piyus. What does piyus mean? Piyus means to close a gap, close a distance. If there's been some kind of falling out, some kind of estrangement, so there's a need for piyus. So Yaakov Avinu—this same idea of Yaakov representing, of Yaakov being ben hakatan—of Yaakov Avinu—if Yaakov Avinu brings malchus into the world, so it means that there's no gap anymore, there's no separation. It means Hashem is not just hidden remotely, but that Hashem's presence is felt and experienced in the world. That's the bechina of Yaakov and that's also what pegiya represents as a lashon of tefillah. That through our tefillah we close that gap, and that's what Rashi says, מקרב את הקדוש ברוך הוא אליו. It means that we induce Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence in the world. We make that presence more vivid, more accessible to ourselves. And that's the inyan that Yaakov Avinu davened in the Beis Hamikdash, vayifga bamakom, because the address in the world where malchus shamayim is projected most clearly and most vividly is taka in Mikdash. And that's why Yaakov Avinu's vayifga was davka bamakom. And Yaakov Avinu—Yaakov Avinu established this paradigm for our avoda of tefillah, that it's to close that gap between ourselves and Hakadosh Baruch Hu and to induce Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence in the world in a more accessible and more vivid sense than before. If you take a look, I don't want to, I think I already spent too much time talking about things that I don't know about to continue. But if you take a look in the Ramban in Parshas Yisro, so when the Ramban is talking about the night of Shabbos, the day of Shabbos, and the different aspects of Shabbos which are reflected in our tefillah in saying Veyanuchu Vah, Veyanuchu Vo, Shabbos night, Shabbos morning, so the Ramban says that's why we refer to the night, we talk about Shabbos Hamalka because this aspect we're talking about is also, also associated with night, and that also, if you think about it, also has to do with the fact that Yaakov Avinu's tefillah was pegiah, it was bamakom, and it was tefillas arvis.