Chazal identified the the Avos with with the Gimmel Amudei Olam of the Torah, Avodah, and Gemilus Chasadim. In in that correlation, so Yitzchak Avinu is identified with the amud of of Avodah of of Tefillah. That's the the snapshot the Torah gives us of Yitzchak Avinu of of Rivka Imeinu, ויעתר יצחק לה' לנוכח אשתו זה עומד בזווית זו זו עומדת בזווית זו.
My my daughter told me besheim of Rav Nebenzahl that Pa'ar Os L'Chochmah that that he pointed out that the gematria of Yitzchak and Rivka, Yitzchak 208, Rivka 307, is Tefillah, 515. So apropos of that, maybe we'll spend a few minutes discussing a little bit about Tefillah. The question is is popularly a popular question which is raised: what the need for Tefillah is. Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows what we need, what we're thinking, what we want. And what we're going to talk about what will relate to this as well bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem. But let's let's perhaps pose a different question. Not what need is there for us to be shoel tzorchim from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but how can we be shoel tzorchim from Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Do we really know, does a person really know what he needs, a person really know, does a person really know what's best for him? How often does it happen that a person thinks a certain job is the right for him, a certain shidduch is right for him? And igla milsa that it isn't right for him. So for that reason takeh in when we bentch Rosh Chodesh based on on the Tefillah of Rav, the tachanunim of Rav acharei tefillaso, so we takeh append that ימלא ה' משאלות לבנו לטובה. We takeh add that caveat that Ribbono Shel Olam, if what we're asking for is not really letovaseinu, so then we withdraw the bakashah. But why not just so why shouldn't our Tefillah just be Ribbono Shel Olam, You know what's good for us, asei na letovaseinu? Why takeh do we have a mitzvah to be mifaresh our tzorchim given the very real fallibility we have in doing so? The Rambam in the beginning of Hilchos Tefillah, אלא חיוב מצוה זו כך היא שיהיה אדם מתחנן ומתפלל בכל יום ומגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ואחר כך שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להם בבקשה ובתחינה ואחר כך נותן שבח והודיה לה'.
It's interesting lashon: שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להם. It's a little bit a little bit repetitious. אחר כך שואל צרכיו, no? The tzorcho that a person doesn't need? אחר כך שואל צרכיו. Ela mai, so lichora what the Rambam here is is telling us is that the mitzvah of Tefillah is that a person should feel need, person should feel needy. שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להם means not just okay well objectively these seem to be tzorchim, but shehu tzorich. And it's that which constitutes the mitzvah of tefillah, that a person should feel and experience that need and express that in tefillah. That's why the Tachanunim achar tefillato, we sometimes think of it only in terms of an opportunity, which of course it is, but the emes is, it's mamash at the heart of tefillah, because given that we now have a set text from the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, it's possible for a person to be sho'el tzorakhav without the shehutzrakh lahem. So he's reading the list; this is what the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah told me to ask for, but lav davka that he's feeling it. So avada that we're supposed to. But certainly when a person adds in the Tachanunim achar tefillato, again it's not stam a hosafah. That's what tefillah is, that a person should feel tzorach shehutzrakh lahem and that's what should result in his petitioning, in his imploring HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Even more fundamentally, in tefillah a person is supposed to experience his dependence upon HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The significance of she'elat tzorakhim, which is the core, which is the centerpiece of tefillah, is not the gratifications shebo, but the acknowledgement, the underlying awareness and acknowledgement that Ribbono Shel Olam I have to turn to You for Chochma Binah V'Da'as because I recognize that אתה חונן לאדם דעת, and even though we don't make that statement explicitly in all the subsequent berachos of bakasha, but that's the significance is the awareness of neediness, the awareness of dependence upon HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And yitachen that this provides an approach for a problem that so many of us struggle with. According to Tosafos's understanding, it's one of the גמל עבירות שאין אדם ניצול מהם בכל יום, the difficulty of maintaining, of sustaining kavanah in tefillah. The problem is of such dimensions that one is tempted to think that it's not something I'm capable of. I don't know how others do it, but it's not something I'm capable of. But the emes is, and kemedumeh that most if not everyone has such an experience to draw upon. If we think to a time when we experienced an eis tzarah, a communal, a national עת צרה רחמנא ליצלן, a personal eis tzarah in one's family Rachmana litzlan, and in that situation we davened, so then takeh we were able to muster and maintain kavanah. So what's the pshat? The pshat is in order to daven with kavana, a person taka has to feel his neediness. And the emes is, even though intellectually, cognitively, when we take a step back and think about it, so who doesn't recognize his, his neediness, his absolute dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu? But generally it's not something that's at the forefront of our consciousness. Generally it's not something that we feel on a daily basis if Baruch Hashem bli ayin hara we're feeling good, there don't seem to be any major issues in our lives. So we don't feel that sense of dependence. If a person doesn't feel the tzorach lahem, so it's taka going to be a very uphill climb to try to, to try to have kavana. A little bit of omek in that, the Maharal says on רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצוות.
So the Maharal addresses the obvious question. How is the ribui mitzvos, which would seem to also give us more opportunity to be nichshal rachmana litzlan, to neglect, to be mevatel, how is that, how is that being mezakeh es Yisrael? So the Maharal explains as follows. He says that for every mitzvah Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us, Hakadosh Baruch Hu programs us for success, so for every mitzvah Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us, he gives us kochos hanefesh to be able to discharge that mitzvah. Accordingly, the more mitzvos, so the, the greater, the richer the kochos hanefesh with which we're endowed, and that's the רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted that we should have a great neshama, a neshama with such, again, far-reaching kochos hanefesh. So רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל since again, the kochos hanefesh of the neshama are coordinated with mitzvos hatorah, so לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצוות. So apply that in our context, the mitzvah of tefillah is to be omed lifnei Hashem and to be miskavein. So it means that we have the kochos hanefesh for it. It means we have the kochos hanefesh for it. But we have the kochos hanefesh, again, if we're, if we're engaging in tefillah. To engage in tefillah means to feel צרכם שהוא צורך להם, to feel that neediness, to feel the dependence. If I feel the dependence, so then I taka have the kochos hanefesh to maintain kavana. But if I'm trying to maintain kavana without that sense of need, without that sense of dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu... Nefesh Hachayim and other sefarim have it as well, seemingly give a, a different and even contradictory perspective on tefillah. Nefesh Hachayim talks about how the real kavana a person should have in tefillah and the real kavana which the Anshei Knesses Hagedola had in the, in the tefillah which they formulated for us is tzorach gavoah. It has to do with kavod shamayim, not with our, not with our needs. So lichora ordinarily, I don't know we don't really understand these things, but ordinarily we, we assume that the nistar-dikke level of a mitzvah maybe is a deeper level, something which complements, which supplements, which runs deep. But but that it should be contradictory to the niglehdike level of the mitzvah is hard to understand. But ella mai yitachen yitachen that the Kasuv HaShlishi is that what the Nefesh HaChaim is talking about is telling us that Chassidim v'Anshei Ma'aseh, that their tefillah is all tzorech gavoah. The prerequisite for that is that they feel, they experience, they have such a concern for kvod Shamayim that they feel the tzorech gavoah as their own tzorech. And takeh maybe it's only then that a person is in a position to be mekayem the mitzvah on the level that the Nefesh HaChaim is telling us. In which case, it's takeh the same definition of mitzvas tefillah that the Rambam gives us, that tefillah is צרכים שהוא צריך להם. Ella mai, so on our, on our level, so what are the צרכים שאני צריך להם? So I need, I need health and I need parnassah and I need the Ribbono Shel Olam's siyata d'shmaya in my daily life and my efforts and endeavors. Chassidim v'Anshei Ma'aseh, what's the tzrachim she'tzarach lahem? What are the tzrachim that they feel? What do they feel acutely? They takeh feel for kvod Shamayim. Oh, so then that takeh becomes their mitzvas tefillah. Okay, so al kol panim this is again one understanding, one level, one dimension of mitzvas tefillah, the feeling of neediness, the feeling of dependence upon HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Ramchal says the following regarding tefillah in Derech Hashem: ענין התפילה הוא כי הנה מהסתורים שסידרה החכמה העליונה הוא להיות הנבראים מקבלים שפע ממנו יתברך צריך שיתעוררו הם אליו ויתקרבו לו ויבקשו פניו וכפי התעוררותם לו כן יומשך עליהם שפע ואם לא יתעוררו לא יומשך להם.
That the way HaKadosh Baruch Hu arranged the world is that in order for the nivraim, in order for His creatures to receive shefa from him, they have to engage in tefillah. I think Rav Pinkus gives a mashal, I believe he gives this mashal, he's talking about this idea, I don't know if he cites Ramchal in particular, but I believe he gives the following mashal. He says imagine that someone arranges for you to have a delivery from a supermarket and the supermarket's going to deliver everything you need, the groceries and household items, everything you need for the foreseeable future. And they're going to deliver it, they're going to leave it on the doorstep. Still, to be able to receive the delivery you have to open the door. You have to open the door. The way HaKadosh Baruch Hu created and set up the briyah is that the shefa is ready to come, the delivery is there, but the tzinoros, the channels, are opened, the pipelines through which the delivery comes are opened through tefillah. And that's what Ramchal is describing here as well. Dehainu, and I believe Rav Pinkus makes this point. In this context, it's not necessarily the case that as it were, it's through tefillah we're first becoming... Worthy of receiving the shefa and that until the tefillah the shefa wasn't going to be forthcoming. No, in this context the pshat is even that shefa which Hakadosh Baruch Hu has kaveyachol as it were already decided to bestow upon us, but the tsinoros, the pipelines through which the shefa comes are opened through tefillah. Emes, Chazal already say it, Rashi quoting, elaborating from the Gemara in Chullin, וכל שיח השדה טרם יהיה בארץ וכל עשב השדה טרם יצמח כי לא המטיר ה' אלקים על הארץ ואדם אין לעבוד את האדמה.
So Rashi elaborating on the Gemara in Chullin, מאי טעמא לא המטיר? Why is it that the trees and the vegetation hadn't emerged because there was no rain? And why hadn't Hakadosh Baruch Hu provided the rain? ומאי טעמא לא המטיר לפי שאדם אין לעבוד את האדמה ואין מכיר בטובתן של גשמים.
Adam was not there to recognize to appreciate tovasan shel geshamim. וכשבא אדם וידע שהם צורך לעולם התפלל עליהם. So Rashi basically connects, Rashi bridges these two perspectives on tefillah. The Rambam's perspective, again call it the experiential, that tefillah emphasizes that a person has to shehu tsorech lahem, has to feel his neediness, has to feel his dependence. Ramchal's sort of metaphysical depiction of tefillah as that which releases the shefa which Hakadosh Baruch Hu has been gozer for the world. So Rashi says heim heim hadevarim. It's two sides of the same coin. Why is it or what's the significance, how are we to appreciate again that this is the סדרים שסדר החכמה העליונה that it's tefillah which releases the shefa, which opens the tsinoros through which the shefa comes to us is so that a person will recognize his neediness. וידע שהם צורך לעולם, a person knows and recognizes his neediness, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu provides the shefa. Ramchal continues, skipping one point, the truth is it's part of what we're talking about, and then gives yet another perspective on tefillah. הנה היה מחסדו יתברך לתת לאדם מקום שיתקרב לו יתברך.
From the kindnesses which Hakadosh Baruch Hu does for us is he gives us occasion, he gives us opportunity to come close to him. אף על פי שכפי מצבו הטבעי נמצא רחוק מן האור ומשוקע בחשך.
Even though according to our natural state in Olam Hazeh, a person is very distant from light, from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, umshuka bachoshech and is immersed in darkness. So what's the chesed? היינו שנתן לו רשות שיעמוד לפניו ויקרא בשמו. The reshus that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us is to engage in tefillah. And when a person engages in tefillah, אז יתעלה מן השפלות אשר לו וחוקו לפי שעה. When a person engages in tefillah, he's elevated from that lowliness which is his portion, וימצא מקורב לפניו ומשליך עליו יהבו and is close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and he casts his burden upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So tefillah represents an opportunity for kirva. Dehainu, when a person addresses himself to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so it’s not stam pshat. Okay, when I walk on the street, so I’m walking on the street in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. When I say the words of tefillah, I’m saying the words of tefillah in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. No. Heyos, that what tefillah represents is speaking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so there’s a kirvas Elokim which can be created, which can be generated through tefillah. It’s interesting, if you take a look, Hilchos Tefillah in the Rambam is, of course, the second set of halachos in Sefer Ahava. So the Rambam at the beginning of Mishneh Torah explains what he includes in each of the Yud Daled Sefarim. So he says, Sefer Sheni, Ahava, אכלול בו כל המצוות שהן תדירות. So I’ll include in Sefer Ahava all the all the daily mitzvos, all the regular mitzvos, שנצטוינו בהם כדי לאהבה המקום ולזכרם. The Rambam here says, if you want to understand what the mitzvos in Sefer Ahava are about, so these mitzvos especially are intended to induce ahavas Hashem. So the mitzvah of tefillah, mitzvah of tefillah, that a person recognizes his dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because the hanhagas habriah is that it only comes, Ramchal would add, as a result of tefillah. That experience of tefillah and the kirvas Elokim which a person can experience through tefillah, all of that is conducive כדי לאהבה המקום ולזכרם. Lichora, and with this we’ll stop. The Gemara in Yevamos which comments on the pasuk of הקדוש ברוך הוא מתאוה לתפילתן של צדיקים. And that’s why they had to overcome being akarim, akaros, in order to have children. הקדוש ברוך הוא מתאוה לתפילתן של צדיקים is expressing this idea, expressing the idea that even that shefa which Hakadosh Baruch Hu, again, kavyachol, wants to give and is poised to give. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu designed the world in such a way that it requires our tefillah. It requires, and again, a tefillah based upon our sense of neediness and dependence, and that’s the pshat: הקדוש ברוך הוא מתאוה לתפילתן של צדיקים.