Last week we spoke about the crucial importance of Tefillah in one’s attempt to personalize one’s relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu in one’s attempt to forge an immediate, direct relationship to experience Hakadosh Baruch Hu immediately and directly. The Tefillah is very pivotal and we saw that this was the Avodah of Yitzchak Avinu and that’s why Yitzchak Avinu is identified with the Amud Haolam of Avodah of Tefillah. That’s why the Torah portrays him again, ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה ויעתר יצחק לה' לנוכח אשתו. And we explained this in light of Rav Chaim's definition of Tefillah as being Lifnei Hashem. Before we continue to some other aspects and elements of Tefillah, we just need to add that basically, and of course Talmud Torah is in a class by itself and bli neder we will have occasion to talk about Talmud Torah, but that Tefillah is really in a sense the quintessential preparation that a person makes in Olam Hazeh for Chayei Olam Haba. But what does that mean? So we can’t have any Hassagah of what life in Olam Haba is. עין לא ראתה אלהים זולתך. We have no Hassagah of what it truly is. But one thing likh’ora which we can, even without fully understanding the words themselves, nevertheless one thing likh’ora we can say is that Chayei Olam Haba in a sense is a life, is an existence of being with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Meaning in Olam Hazeh, now that's the ultimate reality, but it’s not necessarily the reality which we sense keenly or acutely 24 hours a day. Of course it’s the ultimate reality, Ein Od Milvado is of course the ultimate reality even in Olam Hazeh, it’s the ultimate reality everywhere. But it’s not necessarily the ultimate reality for us experientially. And yet that certainly is the ultimate experiential reality in Olam Haba. And again whatever else it means, which we can’t understand with the Maamarim about Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes Seudah l’Tzaddikim and whatever else such Maamarim mean and again mi yesha’er, but it also means this, it also means that Olam Haba again is experientially life with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now if you think about it in Chayei Olam Hazeh, where we live in an Olam Ha’assiyah, that’s what Olam Hazeh is of the various olamos, Olam Hazeh is the Olam Ha’assiyah. Not talking about Tzaddikim and the madreigah of Tzaddikim, but about us, we very rarely spend time simply with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Tefillah, Tefillah, again when a person engages Hakadosh Baruch Hu, when a person speaks to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, when a person is Lifnei Hashem, is me’ein, is me’ein of what the experiential reality of Olam Haba is. Me’ein in a sense again that at least for those few moments of the day, if we’re able to muster proper Kavannah, our experiential reality is being with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And the importance of that and its centrality. is difficult, difficult to exaggerate. But let's move on to another very important dimension of tefilla and why tefilla is so central to one's avodas Hashem, why the Sifrei says that avoda outside of the Beis HaMikdash is עבדהו בתפילה עבדהו בתורתו. Other than Talmud Torah, outside of the Beis HaMikdash, the only thing which can be referred to as avoda is tefilla. Why tefilla is so central. So the first again was the lifnei Hashem experience of tefilla. The second also ties in with something we discussed recently, two weeks ago. We spoke about how perhaps the defining awareness, self-awareness that a person, that a ma'amin has is his complete and absolute dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And we spoke about that in conjunction with the bakashos and bentching of נא אל תצריכנו לידי מתנת בשר ודם. Tefilla also is a mitzvah which is dedicated to experiencing that and reinforcing that. How so? The Rabbeinu Yona in Berachos discusses the fact that the gemara says that איזהו בן עולם הבא זה הסומך גאולה לתפילה. The person who is somech geula litefilla, that makes them a ben Olam HaBa. Rabbeinu Yona asks the obvious question. It seems like a rather simple feat to accomplish and it's therefore rather surprising that the sechar seems so disproportionate, that for being somech geula litefilla one is assured his chelek in Olam HaBa, that he's a ben Olam HaBa. So Rabbeinu Yona explains as follows: What it means is that a person again as every such remez has to mean, it doesn't simply mean that a person just perfunctorily goes through the motions of smichas geula litefilla, but it means that a person internalizes, that a person's life is devoted to the principle which is reflected in smichas geula litefilla. What is that? And in explaining this Rabbeinu Yona again sheds light on what the experience of tefilla should be for us. Why is it that there's an enhanced kiyum by following up Krias Shema with tefilla? So Rabbeinu Yona explains Krias Shema of course קבלת עול מלכות שמים. קבלת עול מלכות שמים to understand fully what it means, so Rav Chaim Volozhiner explains in Nefesh HaChaim. It says in Shulchan Aruch that when we say Elokeinu such as in the pasuk שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד, so the kavana, it says in the Tur, Shulchan Aruch, the kavana a person is supposed to have in saying Elokeinu is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is ba'al hakochos kulam. Rav Chaim Volozhiner explained that ba'al hakochos kulam doesn't only mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omnipotent. Of course it means that, but ba'al hakochos kulam also has the sense that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is exclusively a ba'al koach. Right, not simply that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has all the kochos and I can only lift 50 pounds, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu is ba'al hakochos kulam. No, it means much more deep, much more profound than that, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the only one who's an autonomous ba'al koach, whereas every other, every other yetzur is totally dependent upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that's what ba'al hakochos kulam means. And קבלת עול מלכות שמים again is therefore our subservience to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, again recognizing again our total dependence and subservience to Him. Now tefilla, tefilla, coming back to the Rabbeinu Yona in Berachos, the importance of bakasha. is not that a person looks for the gratification of having his bakashos fulfilled. The reason bakasha is so pivotal, the reason tefilla and bakasha which is the centerpiece of tefilla is so pivotal is because what underlies bakasha is the recognition of one's need and dependence. Right? If a person says חננו מאתך חכמה בינה ודעת, da'as bina vehaskel, a person says that, so that reflects an awareness that אתה ואתה לבד חונן לאדם דעת. And that's what the real emphasis in tefilla is, not the desire for gratification of one's bakashos, but rather the awareness that the entire range of bakashos, the entire range, the gamut of needs that we have, whether material or spiritual, that we have to turn to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that's what the integrated tzeiruf of smichas geula l'tefilla is, that by מקבל עול מלכות שמים so then we make a proclamation, we make a proclamation of ol malchus shamayim, we make a proclamation of על כל הכל כולו. And then a person walks off to the office, walks out to the office with a sense of kochi v'otzem yadi, so that totally contradicts קבלת עול מלכות שמים. But if a person follows it up with a tefilla, again with a bakasha, asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu, not only for every big thing—the הרב זכר צדיק לברכה used to say a person should ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu for every little thing, whatever he needs, whatever a person needs, whatever a person wants, he's supposed to ask, he's supposed to ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu for, again, even, even, even relatively speaking a small thing, a sense of that whatever, whatever a person is trying to accomplish, whatever a person is trying to accomplish, whatever a person undertakes to do, so a person is mispalel to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because that act of bakasha reflects a recognition and an awareness of our dependence upon him. So tefilla again is central within our lives, within our avodas Hashem for that reason as well. Number one, the reason we explored because of the experiential reality of lifnei Hashem, number two because of this reinforcement of what is one of the most basic, or perhaps the most basic feeling which a ma'amin has to have, that of his dependence upon the Ribbono shel Olam. The last dimension of tefilla I wanted to touch upon tonight is the relationship between tefilla and talmud Torah. And again this is just something we'll begin and beli neder follow up in a future occasion. You're all familiar with a Mishna in the fourth perek of Berachos where the Mishna tells us that רב נחוניא בן הקנה היה מתפלל בכניסתו לבית המדרש וביציאתו תפילה קצרה. אמרו לו מה מקום לתפילה זו? אמר להם בכניסתי אני מתפלל שלא יארע דבר תקלה על ידי וביציאתי אני נותן הודאה על חלקי.
And then the Braisa elaborates what the tefilla was. בכניסתו מה הוא אומר יהי רצון מלפניך השם אלוקי שלא יארע דבר תקלה על ידי ולא אכשל בדבר הלכה ולא אומר על טהור טמא ולא על טמא טהור ולא יכשלו חברי בדבר הלכה ואשמח בהם.
That was the tefilla bichnisato. What was the exchange between Rabbi Nechunya ben HaKanah and the chachamim when they said אמרו לו מה מקום לתפילה זו? And he answered them, אני מתפלל שלא יארע דבר תקלה על ידי. So they were asking him what kind of chiyuv tefilla is this? What kind of mitzvas tefilla is this? We know there's a din of ג' תפילות בכל יום, we know there's a din, we know there's a din of tefillas haderech, but מה מקום לתפילה זו? What's the occasion for this tefilla? And Rabbi Nechunya ben HaKanah said that Torah requires tefilla. We attempt to return to that point, being pottur from tefilla, again at a future time. Torah requires tefilla, Torah requires tefilla, and that's what he said to them, they said to him מה מקום לתפילה זו? אמר להם בכניסתי אני מתפלל. A person just can't simply sit down and learn. A person has to ask for the siyata d'shmaya to be able to do so. A special, special relationship between talmud Torah and tefilla. L'chora this is also reflected earlier in the Gemara in the sugya Birkas HaTorah, for the Gemara asks mai mevarech, what's Birkas HaTorah? So אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לעסוק בדברי תורה
or al divrei Torah. Then the Gemara says that Rabbi Yochanan m'sayyem b'hachi, הערב נא ה' אלקינו את דברי תורתך בפינו. So what was Rabbi Yochanan m'sayyem b'hachi? What was Rabbi Yochanan m'sayyem b'hachi? Apparently what Rabbi Yochanan is saying is this idea of a bakasha and a t'china that Torah requires bakasha. This special relationship that a person who undertakes to learn Torah, על אחת כמה וכמה one who strives for aliya in Torah, in yedias haTorah, that it requires bakasha, it requires special bakasha, the special siyata d'shmaya. Again, above and beyond the din we just spoke about of bakasha and siyata d'shmaya for whatever a person does. A special bakasha, a special siyata d'shmaya. So Rabbi Yochanan says this should also be reflected in Birkas HaTorah. Not only should this be reflected in b'chnisaso l'Beis HaMedrash, but it should also be reflected in one's Birkas HaTorah as well. And then, so this when we m'yached bakashos for it within Birkas HaTorah, b'chnisaso, but our general tefilla also, whether it's in Hashivenu Avinu l'Toratecha and the bakashos in Elokai Netzor, also, also tie in again with this special, special bakasha and this special link between tefilla and Torah. And if it's true, as it is, for every Jew, this special link and this special need for bakasha for one who strives to learn Torah, על אחת כמה וכמה that that link is crucial for bnei yeshiva. We'll be learning in the future weeks we'll follow up on.