We have very little biographical information about many many of Gedolei Yisrael throughout the generations. And we have even less autobiographical information. Remember what one once said at the Shabbos table that there was a guest who was, I think, a great grandson of one one of the Gedolim of the 19th century and the Rav asked him what if he had any Kabbalas, any family traditions in terms of the the in the inner life of of this Adam Gadol and when he responded that he didn't really, the Rav said yeah, we know very little about the inner life of Gedolei Yisrael. The reason is is, or at least one of the reasons is very understandable, Mi-ta'amei tznius. So Gedolim are megale tefach and mekhasse elef tefachim. So the questions of of how did this Adam Gadol achieve what he did, how did he rise to the level that he did, usually are questions that that we can't answer at all. And such questions don't just belong to the realm of intellectual curiosity, but they're questions of Talmud Torah and and they're questions which are very, very pertinent halacha le-ma'aseh. So when we do have occasions of for purposes of Talmud Torah and and probably for purposes of halacha le-ma'aseh when when a gadol is megale tefach it's just yekara hi mi-peninim. The Baal Shem Tov is quoted as saying that whatever he achieved in avodas Hashem was through avodas ha-tefilla. Now it obviously doesn't mean that that he didn't sit and learn. It doesn't mean that that that he was saying against תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם, but that whatever he attained was through tefilla. Undoubtedly that that comment means many things on many levels that that we can't even imagine, much less glimpse. But perhaps we can understand it at least somewhat on one or or or two exoteric levels. First of all, הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים notwithstanding, a person needs and depends upon siyata d'shamaya not only in inyanim gashmiyim but in inyanim ruchniyim as well. How is that consistent with the chutz mi-yiras shamayim? So we'll see in a minute be-ezrat Hashem. It's not to in any way diminish the bechira chofshis, the indispensability of doing everything one possibly can, but even in inyanim ruchniyim a person needs the siyata d'shamaya. The Rambam writes in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim the Rambam writes in the ikkar of Torah min hashamayim so the Rambam says that that every word in Torah is is mi-pi ha-gevurah and therefore Every word in Torah has the same kedushah and and it's a yesod ha-emunah that every word in the Torah encapsulates profound chochmah from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I, but when we, when we look at the pasuk ושם אשתו מהיטבאל בת בת what's her name? Matreid we we don't see it? we don't we don't glimpse the chochmah? So the Rambam writes in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim. In the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim he writes, you have we have to daven. We have to daven that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should let us penetrate and and understand and appreciate and and be able to grasp chochmas ha-Torah. Yitachen that it's for that reason the Gemara in Berachos when it talks about Birkas HaTorah, the sugya with which you are all familiar אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לעסוק בדברי תורה.
But רב יוחנן מסיים בהכי הערב נא ה׳ אלקינו until ברוך אתה ה׳ המלמד תורה לעמו ישראל. v'Rav Hamnuna amar אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים ונתן לנו את תורתו ברוך אתה ה׳ נותן התורה.
Then the Gemara concludes that zo hi, this bracha of asher bachar banu, hi me'ula shebebrachos. The most beautiful bracha, the choicest of all brachos. So we would have thought, okay, so we have different submissions, we're having a contest here about who who should formulate a matbei'a habracha which is most appropriate for Birkas HaTorah. So Rav Hamnuna wins. So we should say when we when we say Birkas HaTorah, we should say asher bachar banu in the morning. And yet the Gemara's conclusion is hilchach lemrinun lekulhu. So therefore we should say all of them. No, if if the asher bachar banu is the me'ula shebebrachos, say asher bachar banu. So yitachen the pshat is as follows. One pshat, not not all Rishonim would subscribe to this. The bracha of אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו so that we need because talmud Torah is not inferior, excuse me, to any other mitzvah. It should have a Birkas HaMitzvah. It's not inferior to Lulav, it's not inferior to to Hallel, it's not inferior to Ner Chanukah, it should have a Birkas HaMitzvah. The הערב נא ה׳ אלקינו is that before learning Torah, there has to be bakashah. The Rambam's yesod in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, there has to be bakashah. The asher bachar banu you would think that maybe that's dispensable. What what vital need does that fill? Oh, so zo hi me'ula shebebrachos, so we'll say this as well. But but the ha'arev na, the bakashah, the bakashah has to be there. תפילת רב נחוניא בן הקנה be-chnisaso l'Beis HaMedrash. There is a special chiyuv tefillah in in conjunction with with talmud Torah. הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים notwithstanding, there's a special, again, the chutz miyiras shamayim means don't expect the Ribbono Shel Olam to be gozeir that that we should go to morning seder, that that we should be in the Beis Medrash, that that we should work hard, that there should be yegiah. But but yeah, but we need the siyata d'ishmaya that there should be the metzia. Pasuk says לך ה׳ החסד כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו. I think this is how the pasuk goes, לך ה׳ החסד כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו. Pasuk in Tehillim, I think. לך ה׳ החסד כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו. But how is that chesed? אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו, you you pay each person in accordance with with his actions. So that lichora is, we would characterize that as a middas hadin. A person does a mitzvah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives schar. Rachmana litzlan, a person does an aveira, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is ma'anish. Why is that Lecha Hashem hachesed? I think it's the Baal Shem Tov who says that the emes is that the Ribbono Shel Olam is a partner with us in every mitzvah we do, and אף על פי כן he gives us a full measure of schar. Every mitzvah a person does, again without for a moment diminishing the absolutely pivotal and defining role of one's bechira chofshis, but lema'aseh, after exercising one's bechira chofshis and after the uvacharta bachayim, a person needs siyata d'shmaya. We say it in Tefilla Zaka also that the Chayei Adam writes that without Hakadosh Baruch Hu's help we wouldn't be able to withstand the yetzer hara. So on one level what the Baal Shem Tov is telling us that what he attained was bizchus tefilla is because inyanim ruchniyim also require tefilla. Again, not to be mistaken for a moment for any type of passivity in one's avodas Hashem, but inyanim ruchniyim also depend upon tefilla. Yitachen that the Baal Shem Tov has something else in mind as well. משל למה הדבר דומה: let's say you have two people are going to forge a business partnership, a business relationship. One of them is a whiz at analyzing market trends and knowing what products to try to develop and what products it doesn't make sense to try to develop. The other one is an excellent salesman. So each one has to know what his relationship is and what his place within the business partnership is for the business partnership to succeed. If the marketing guy is going to mess around in sales and the salesman is going to mess around in the marketing, so the business is not going to be matzliach. A relationship succeeds when bilaterally both sides understand their place within the relationship. And that's true for every successful relationship, whether it's a business relationship, whether it's a personal relationship. To succeed, to build a relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so a person has to understand his place in that relationship. If I don't understand my place in that relationship, then I'm not going to be able to build a real and proper relationship. The focus of tefilla is what the relationship is between a person and the Ribbono Shel Olam. The centrality and the emphasis upon bakasha in tefilla, why is that such a special form of avoda that it qualifies for the description of avoda shebalev? דברים העומדים ברומו של עולם. Ribbono Shel Olam give me this, give me this, give me that. So the answer is why don't I help myself? Why am I asking the Ribbono Shel Olam for everything for? Because when a person davens he realizes and expresses his absolute dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He also realizes and expresses his conviction that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is shomeia kol tfila. That Hakadosh Baruch Hu, as it were, is misaveh latfila, that as it were Hakadosh Baruch Hu desires tfila, wants to hear tfila, and then Hakadosh Baruch Hu responds to tfila. That sense of absolute dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu, there's nothing, there's nothing depressing about that understanding because again it goes hand in hand with the understanding that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is shomeia tfila and that Hakadosh Baruch Hu takes care of us כרחם אב על בנים. If a person knows how to daven, it means that a person understands what his relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, and if a person understands what our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, a person can then bsiyata dshmaya go and build a relationship and forge a relationship. But kol zman that a person doesn't or can't daven properly, how much of a relationship can there be if he doesn't understand and can't express what the respective positions are within that relationship? I had intended before this week's current events to talk about inyanei tfila this week anyway, but if we ever needed a reminder of just the complete vulnerability and dependence, mamash mavhil al haraayon. The most advanced technological society ever, the world's only superpower in its leading city was totally, totally, totally helpless before a storm that everyone knew was coming. It's mamash mavhil al haraayon, mavhil al haraayon. Hospitals, universities, businesses, all their combined resources and wisdom, when a person davens properly, a person understands that, a person knows that. He knows, he understands, he expresses what the relationship is with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, a sense of absolute dependence upon Avinu Shebashamayim. He can build, he can forge, he can advance in such a relationship. One of the biggest problems, and I don't really have such a sense of history to know whether it's only in contemporary Jewish communities or whether it dates back further, is in tfila. And the problem, as much as I've seen, isn't limited to a particular shul, a particular type of shul, a particular community, a particular type of community. It's a very widespread issue that we don't know what tfila is, we don't know how to daven. Too often we've decided for totally external, extraneous concerns. how long davening should take. And then the pace of davening is then has to conform to whether this is a 30 minute minyan or a 40 minute minyan. So if the way that that timetable was arrived at is some people can daven with better kavanah by davening relatively speaking more slowly and some people daven with more kavanah by davening relatively speaking more quickly. Okay, so then you have different minyanim that go at different paces to service everyone, to accommodate everyone's spiritual needs. So that would be, that is wonderful. But more often it's how much time we're willing to allocate to tefillah and then davening has to take only so long. Woe to the shliach tzibbur who davens a little too slowly and goes over time. He doesn't have to worry about being yelled at because when he finishes and turns around, bekoshi there's a minyan left. And then to conform with the timetable, so then there are places where you make up time. Chazarat HaShatz is there's no speed limit in Chazarat HaShatz and that's a prime opportunity to make up time and to come in, come in on schedule. And it's just all so antithetical to what tefillah is. Everything in life needs Siyata De'shmaya. Devarim gashmiyim is all Siyata De'shmaya, the chiyuv hishtadlut notwithstanding and not belittling it, but devarim gashmiyim is all Siyata De'shmaya. Devarim ruchniyim also requires Siyata De'shmaya. And the one thing that we have trouble finding time for in our schedule is tefillah. And tefillah has to conform to all other obligations that we have. Then often what one sees in the mirror, elsewhere, is there will be in the makom tefillah where a person is davening, so there are multiple minyanim, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, whatever the zmanei tefillah are. And we'll go to a minyan, not the first minyan, but the timing of which doesn't allow us to stay till the end of davening because I have to be in the office by a certain time or maybe I have to be at seder by a certain time. So lu yehi that one goes to the first minyan, and אף על פי כן, I don't know, has to be in the OR at a very early hour and even going to the first minyan, okay, so that's a special case and tzarich iyun gadol how to deal with it. But how do we go to a second or third minyan, how do we bypass the early minyan and then have to leave early from the minyan? So the answer is it's all totally understandable if tefillah is something you have to do. If tefillah is something you have to do, okay, so you have to patter up. In Yiddish, there's a verb which I think has become part of Yinglish as well, but in Yiddish there's a verb opgedavent. Again, in Yinglish it's davened up. So we know what the, what Websters, if you look up davened up in Websters, so we know what the definition. So my father zecher l'vracha used to say that as a little boy, if his mother would ask him whether he davened and he would say opgedavent, so she would tell him you're not allowed to say that. Can't say opgedavent, you can say gedavent. You can't say opgedavent. You can't say I davened up. Right? To daven up means it's bzz. Right? That's the Webster's. So again if it's something, if it's something you have to patter up, so you daven up. If it's omed lifne hamilech, if it's an amida lifne hamilech, which if it weren't a mitzva, if we only had the reshus, we would desperately, desperately want to do it because everything, everything we need and want, הן ברוחניות הן בגשמיות, again, depends in inyanim gashmiyim entirely and in inyanim ruchniyim to a degree on siyata d'shmaya. What one way to sort of describe a growth in avodas Hashem is that we all have a whole array of blind spots in our vision. A blind spot means that there isn't anything especially subtle or microscopic about what we should be noticing. No, it couldn't be more clear, couldn't be more evident, but we have blind spots. It's not that we finally noticed something subtle. I think one blind spot that some of us have is in terms of what tfila is and what attitude and what should be involved in davening and the autobiographical comment of the Baal Shem Tov should certainly, certainly energize us in trying to correct and eliminate that blind spot.