Transcript

The echo is a bit loud. The Divrei Torah on the Zchus for Refuah Sheleima of our very dear

משה יהודה הכהן בן שיינדל רחל בתוך שאר חולי ישראל. ויעתר יצחק לה' לנוכח אשתו.

Rashi and the Rashbam have the same comment: Heirba Vehiftzir in Tefila. There is a very fundamental Yesod reflected here that in Davening, Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to be Marbe, Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants Ribuy Tefila, that there should be a persistence, a perseverance in Davening. It's totally erroneous to infer that if we approach Hakadosh Baruch Hu beTefila and the Tefila is not initially accepted that, as it were, Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want to answer, or that Hakadosh Baruch Hu disapproves of the request. It's not the case at all. Yitzchak Avinu wasn't answered; a person has to be Marbe and Mafztir beTefila. The Gemara in Brachos Amru

אדם שהתפלל ולא נענה יחזור ויתפלל. קוה אל ה' חזק ויאמץ לבך וקוה אל ה'.

The ספר חיזוק בתפילה לה' Mechaber is Medayek Rashi's Lashon is Heirba Vehiftzir. Rashi has two words, not only Heirba, which he suggests means in a quantitative sense that Yitzchak Avinu Davened again and again, again, persevering, relentless in approaching Hakadosh Baruch Hu beTefila, but also Hiftzir. He suggests that the Hiftzir perhaps reflects a qualitative enhancement and a qualitative upgrade of that Tefila, that not only did he persist in the Tefila, but he reached deep, deeper and deeper, that the Tefila qualitatively also was something that he was constantly adding and enhancing. Another very important Yesod in Tefila reflected in this Pasuk, one that I'd like to dwell on a bit, the Gemara in Yevamos comments: למה נמשלה תפילתם של צדיקים כעתר. Etar is a pitchfork. So why is it that Vayeitar, to Daven, is formed from that same root which means a pitchfork? Amru Chazal מה עתר זה מהפך את התבואה ממקום למקום. When the farmer takes the pitchfork, he's overturning,

כך תפילתם של צדיקים מהפכת מידותיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ממידת רגזנות למידת רחמנות.

So too, the Koach HaTefila of Tzadikkim is also Mehapeich, it also overturns. It overturns and converts a Midas Ragzanos, a Mida Rachmana Litzlan of anger, to Midas Rachmanos, to a Mida of compassion, Rachmanos. Tefila has a Koach to be Mehapeich, a Koach to transform. It's interesting that on the calendar, the Yom Tov—not in a technical, literal sense—but the Yom Tov whose theme is Venahaphoch Hu is Purim. Purim is a Yom Tov of Venahaphoch Hu, as the Psukim in the Megilla themselves indicate. That's the whole... Thrust of the Yom Tov of v'nahafoch hu, all of Haman's planning and strategizing instead of rachmana litzlan bringing disaster and destruction and devastation on Klal Yisrael became occasion for Yom Tov. Haman's... Haman's mansion then became the... the center from which Mordechai was... was poel on behalf of Klal Yisrael. v'nahafoch hu, so Purim is a Yom Tov of v'nahafoch hu. When the Rambam tells us about... about krias ha'megillah and... and therefore by extension about the Yom Tov of Purim, so the Rambam is explaining why mitzvos d'rabbanan don't constitute a violation of bal tosif. So the Rambam says first of all Chazal have to clearly identify that a mitzvah d'rabbanan as such, meaning that they can't let it be mistaken for a mitzvah d'oraissa. Chazal tell us not to eat chicken meat with milk, so they have to indicate very clearly it's not that this is part of din d'oraissa. No, the din d'oraissa is only animal meat with milk and this is a din d'rabbanan. But then in addition the Rambam says Chazal also have to explain what din or value or emunah m'doraissa is it that this din d'rabbanan is intended to facilitate or to foster. And the Rambam then illustrates with the following example:

שהנביאים ובית דין הגדול תקנו וציוו לקרוא את המגילה בעונתה כדי להזכיר שבחיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ותשועות שעשה לנו והיה קרוב לשוועתנו כדי לברכו ולהללו וכדי להודיע לדורות הבאים שאמת מה שהבטיחנו בתורה גוי גדול אשר לו אלקים קרובים אליו כה' אלקינו בכל קראנו אליו.

So the Rambam says krias ha'megillah, so what... what din or what emunah, what fundamental emunah d'oraissa does krias ha'megillah foster? Does the mitzvah of krias ha'megillah reinforce? The Rambam says lehodia l'doros habaim, for all generations we should know that אמת מה שהבטיחנו בתורה, that the Torah tells us and it's true and it's absolute truth and we see it, we see it played out in... in our history that mi ka'Hashem elokeinu

מי גוי גדול אשר לו אלקים קרובים אליו כה' אלקינו בכל קראנו אליו.

Or in other words, the Rambam says what the mitzvah of krias ha'megillah is about is reinforcing our emunah in koach ha'tefillah, the efficacy of tefillah. So halo davar, Purim is the Yom Tov of v'nahafoch hu. The Rambam says that Purim is... is a Yom Tov again which... which celebrates, which reinforces, which reminds us about koach ha'tefillah. shnayim she'hein echad because it's koach ha'tefillah which has within it again the... the ability, the capacity to be mehapech. But well let's try to understand that a little bit more. What does it mean to be mehapech? If I have a... a wooden shtender in front of me, I can't... I can't be mehapech, I can't transform that into a golden shtender. Right? There's no... no alchemy. If it's wood, it can't be transformed into something else. And yet Chazal in... in the Gemara in Yevamos, the lashon of the Gemara is that

תפילתם של צדיקים מהפכת מידותיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ממידת רגזנות למידת רחמנות.

Chazal don't say that as a result of the tefillah of tzaddikim so then the ragzanos, the anger rachmana litzlan is displaced and in its stead rachmanos comes instead. No, the ragzanos is nehefeches. The ragzanos is transformed. But how can you transform something into... into its antithesis? How can you... I can't transform a... a wooden shtender into... into gold. In... in the brachos after krias ha'megillah,

הרב את ריבנו והדן את דיננו, ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם,

so some posks after ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם it's האל הרב את ריבנו. the one who, the one who fights our battles and the one who, the one who stands up for us and the one who, the one who avenges wrongs which are done to us. So what's the, what's the Hakeil? We already said

ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם העושה לי כל צרכי.

It doesn't have to be Hakeil העושה לי כל צרכי. So why do we, why do we need another Sheim? So I think it's the Bach who says the pasuk in Tehillim. Again, just semantically, so the name Keil implies might. Right? מי כמוכה באלים ה'. So Keil again is more or less accurately translated as almighty. That notwithstanding, the association of Keil based on the pasuk in Tehillim חסד אל כל היום. When Dovid Hamelech depicts Hakadosh Baruch Hu's chesed, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's chesed is constant, so Dovid Hamelech invokes the name Keil. Keil is associated with chesed. חסד אל כל היום. So based on this, I think it's the Bach who says the pshat in the beracha is as follows: ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם. If we would just continue with הרב את ריבנו הדן את דיננו הנוקם את נקמתנו, so then the beracha would be expressing that Hakadosh Baruch Hu also appears, Hakadosh Baruch Hu also reveals Himself as Dayan, Hakadosh Baruch Hu also reveals Himself in this world through middas hadin, and it was that middas hadin which saved us from Haman, which saved us from Amalek. But the pshat is not like that.

ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם האל הרב את ריבנו.

The Harav es riveinu, that hisgalus, that revelation of Hakadosh Baruch Hu through הרב את ריבנו הדן את דיננו הנוקם את נקמתנו was the revelation, was a manifestation of chesed of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, chesed of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. What does that mean? Again, so just to begin what it means in that context of Purim, it clearly means other things in other contexts, but in that context of Purim, to stand up and to defeat Haman and Amalek and to uproot is chesed for all the innocent people. It's a chesed to Klal Yisrael. It's not the pshat that the ultimate source of that Nokem es nikmasenu is a middas hadin. No, the ultimate source is Hakeil. חסד אל כל היום. האל הרב את ריבנו. The ultimate source of that Nokem es nikmasenu is the middas chesed of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. At its root, yes, it perhaps on the surface, on its surface, looks like justice being meted out, but at its root, the root of that is chesed, האל הרב את ריבנו. Sfas Emes has a similar comment in yesterday's Krias HaTorah.

אלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם אברהם הוליד את יצחק. אברהם הוליד את יצחק.

Yitzchak is the offspring, Yitzchak is the progeny of Avraham Avinu. We know, says the Sfas Emes, that Avraham Avinu represents, Avraham Avinu embodies middas hachesed. Yitzchak Avinu represents, embodies middas hagevura, middas hadin. So how can that be? How does a Yitzchak Avinu emerge from Avraham Avinu? How does Avraham Avinu, how does he father a Yitzchak Avinu? Says the Sfas Emes, it's the same idea because at its root, the root, the ultimate root, if a person digs deeply enough, the ultimate source of din is really chesed. Again contextually, contextually, when there's an Amalek, when there's a Haman, or in other contexts, maybe we need a hissorerus, so it manifests itself in a way that appears to us as din, but at its... I think, if I'm not mistaken, I think my brother mentioned to me once that the Vilna Gaon says something similar in the next to the last kapittel in the Psukei D'Zimra:

רוממות קל בגרונם וחרב פיפיות בידם לעשות נקמה בגוים תוכחות בלאומים לעשות בהם משפט כתוב.

Din, right? הדר הוא לכל חסידיו. Right? So the whole kapittel is tracing, again, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, again, it's middas hadin, middas hanekamah, and then Dovid Hamelech concludes, hadar hu. This is something which beautifies the chassidim. So it's kidmanee that the Gaon says something similar. He says yes, that ultimately, again, the reason that nekama has to be meted out is because that nekama ultimately is rooted in hadar, is ultimately rooted in a middas hachesed. So we asked before, how can tefillah be mehapaich? Chazal say it's not only that tefillah pushes aside the middas harogez and allows a middas harachamanus to come in its stead. But you can't, you can't take a wooden shtender and convert that into into gold. So the answer is: no, but it's latent within. Within that middas harogez, the source of everything is chesed. The source of everything is... it's latent within it. Circumstances are such that right now, the way that chesed is being manifested, it appears as a middas harogez. But the tefillah allows us to see, and that it should be manifested as it is in its source. אברהם הוליד את יצחק, and that's how tefillah can be mehapaich because it's latent within it, the ultimate source, the ultimate root of the rogez, of the middas hadin, Rachmana Litzlan, is really a middah of chesed. How does a person have to... how does a person have to daven? What happens when tzaddikim, other than who they are and what they are... how do they daven to be able to effect this... this revolution, this transformation of being mehapaich? Learning in Berachos says, if a person is koveia makom litfilaso, a person has a makom kavua for davening, so Elokei Avraham b'ezro. Hakadosh Baruch Hu who revealed Himself, identified Himself with Avraham Avinu, will come to that person's assistance. Ve'lo od, says the Gemara, that when such a person, who throughout his lifetime is koveia makom litfilaso, when he's niftar, so then people will say about him correctly, accurately, without any hyperbole: אי חסיד אי עניו. That this person was a tremendous anav, tremendously humble and tremendously devout. So Rabbeinu Yonah is bothered with the disproportionate accolades. A person has a makom kavua for davening, so because of that he's already such a tremendous anav and such a tremendous chassid, such an easy thing to do? So Rabbeinu Yonah says as follows... I'm just excerpting the part of the Rabbeinu Yonah which is relevant to us now. Rabbeinu Yonah says it means a person has a makom kavua for tefillah. So what that bespeaks, what that represents, is the chashivos, is the seriousness with which he approaches tefillah, the chashivos, the importance that he attributes to tefillah. It means this is a person who really davens, doesn't sort of daven casually, oh whenever, wherever. No, this is something... tefillah is a mainstay of his life. And therefore, says the Rabbeinu Yonah, in order to daven... A person has to, if a person is going to genuinely, sincerely daven, שופך שיחו לפני ריבונו של עולם. So a person has to experience the midas anavah. A person can't genuinely, sincerely daven unless at that moment as the hachana litfillah, through the experience of tefillah, he experiences a sense of anavah. A person can't approach the Ribono Shel Olam and daven an emesdige tefillah if there's arrogance, if there's haughtiness, a shemetz of ga'avah invalidates, it contradicts what tefillah is. Tefillah means a person comes, surrenders to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and says Ribono Shel Olam, I recognize that I'm helpless without you. Ribono Shel Olam, I recognize I'm not only absolutely dependent upon you, my very existence belongs to you, Ribono Shel Olam. A person comes and surrenders to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. A person surrenders to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that experience of tefillah has to involve, it has to entail an experience of anavah. A person who takes tefillah seriously, a person who davens the way one is supposed to daven, has to be developing, has to be experiencing that midas anavah. And then, says the Rabbeinu Yona, as the Braisa of רבי פנחס בן יאיר indicates, ענווה מביאה לידי חסידות. What else happens? What else is part of the experience of davening? So the Gemara also in Berachos says that if a person is ragil to come to shul and then one morning he doesn't come to shul, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu is shoel bishlomo. Hakadosh Baruch Hu inquires why this regular of the minyan didn't come to shul this morning. If he has what al pi din is a legitimate reason, a legitimate excuse, he's good. And if not, so then it's no good Rachmana litzlan. Why? The Gemara says because haya lo livtoach, darshening the pesukim, he should have had bitachon. He should have had bitachon. To come to shul and daven no matter what pressing or seemingly pressing mundane concerns, so to come to shul to daven is an expression of bitachon. Not to daven or to take a shortcut in the davening, daven beyechidus instead of daven betzibur, says the Gemara reflects a lack of bitachon. Similarly, Rabbeinu Yona earlier in Berachos in commenting on the importance of semichas geulah l'tefillah and why is it that Chazal say that if a person is somech geulah l'tefillah, so he's a ben olam haba? Rabbeinu Yona explains as follows:

מפני שכשמזכיר גאולת מצרים ומתפלל מיד הוא מראה שבוטח בהשם בתפילה כיוון שמבקש ממנו צרכיו שמי שאינו בוטח בו לא יבקש ממנו כלום.

Says Rabbeinu Yona, why is it that Chazal tell us that semichas geulah l'tefillah means that a person is a ben olam haba? Is because again, semichas geulah l'tefillah, if it's not just something superficial, but if it reflects the person's entire orientation, so semichas geulah l'tefillah is an expression of bitachon. A person affirms his belief in the Yad Hashem throughout our history, and then a person shows that that same bitachon, that the Yad Hashem has always been with us throughout our history, and that's why I turn to Hakadosh Baruch Hu now. Is there any connection between these two experiential aspects or facets of tefillah? Tefillah involves an experience of anavah. Tefillah involves an experience of bitachon. So David Hamelach in Tehillim in Kapitel Lamed-Zayin, Ledavid, al titchar bamereim, either don't compete or don't be angry with those who do evil, אל תקנא בעשי עולה, don't be jealous of those who practice injustice, כי כחציר מהרה ימלו וכירק דשא יבולון, for like grass will they be swiftly cut down and like green vegetation will they wither. Rather, בטח בה' ועשה טוב שכן ארץ ורעה אמונה, trust in Hashem and do good, that you may dwell in the land and nourish yourself with faithfulness. והתענג על ה' ויתן לך משאלות לבך, and rely upon Hashem for your enjoyments and He will grant you the desires of your heart. So David Hamelach again, a person has to have bitachon, has to have bitachon. And he continues, גול על ה' דרכך ובטח עליו והוא יעשה, commit your way to Hashem, rely on him and he will act. Skipping one pasuk,

דום לה' והתחולל לו אל תתחר במצליח דרכו באיש עשה מזמות,

wait silently for the salvation of Hashem and wait longingly for him. So David Hamelach again, the whole thing is a person has to have bitachon, right? That's what the kapitel is about. A person has to have bitachon. Then he switches back to the contrast with the rasha, ki mereim yikaresun, for the evildoers shall be cut off. Next pasuk, ועוד מעט ואין רשע והתבוננת על מקומו ואיננו, and just a little longer there will be no wicked one, you will contemplate his place and he will not be there. Now he's going to go back again, this contrast to the other side. He should go back to the ba'al bitachon, right? So David Hamelach the next pasuk is va'anavim yirshu aretz והתענגו על רב שלום, but the humble shall inherit the earth and delight in abundant peace. So the whole time the contrast David Hamelach has been developing is between the ba'al bitachon and the rasha. And then continuing that same contrast, so David Hamelach now speaks of not about the boteach ba'Hashem, but the va'anavim yirshu aretz. So lich'ora the simple peshat in this kapitel is that David Hamelach is saying that on one level anavah and bitachon go hand in hand. How so? Again, think of the description of anavah we were operating with before. A person davens, what's the anavah he has to experience? What's the anavah he has to feel? It's a sense of a person surrenders to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. A person can't approach Hakadosh Baruch Hu with any trace of arrogance, of haughtiness. A person has to totally surrender. But if a person surrenders himself, his very existence to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he also surrenders his problems. If my life is not my own, if my very life, my very existence belongs to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, feeds off of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, draws from Hakadosh Baruch Hu's existence, so then my tzaros are not my own either. If I stand independently, so then my tzaros are my own. But when a person surrenders to the Ribbono Shel Olam and has that experience of anavah in tefillah, again which comes from surrendering to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, realizing Hakadosh Baruch Hu I turn to you because I belong to you, my life is yours, so that again that's a sense of anavah but it's also very liberating. Because hand in hand with that goes a sense of bitachon. My tzaros are not my own either, Ribbono Shel Olam. So hence בטח בה' ועשה טוב and while the evildoers va'anavim yirshu aretz. The Baal Shem Tov is quoted as having said that if a person leaves davening anytime, he leaves davening the same as he entered davening, it's an indication that he didn't daven. When a person leaves after davening, he's supposed to leave a changed person. What's supposed to change? Some of it presumably is what we've been talking about. If I walk away from davening with as much arrogance as I entered davening, so then I didn't daven. Maybe I mouthed the words, but there was no surrender to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, which is the essence of tefillah. If a person davens kidavay, if a person davens the way we're supposed to daven, so he has to walk away from tefillah less of a baal gaiva, more of an anav, more of a baal bitachon. Tefillah, למה נמשלה תפילת צדיקים כעתר? Because just as the eisar, the pitchfork, is mahapeches ha-tvua, it overturns, so too tefillah is mahapeches middas ragzonos to middas rachamanos. That's possible because latent within that middas ragzonos is really a middas rachamanos. If you penetrate deeply enough at its root at its source, everything is chessed. But how do we accomplish that? If through a person's tefillah he changes himself, so then midah kineged midah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, your tefillah changes yourself, so then I'll allow your tefillah to have that koach to be mahapech the middas ragzonos to middas rachamanos. A person walks away from tefillah having earned that description of a chassid, an anav, by virtue of that experience of tefillah, so then that he exercised that koach ha-hipuch in terms of himself, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu says it will have that effect on external things as well. The Rav zikhrono livrakha comments it's recorded in Al Ha-Teshuva that in the halakhos the Rambam defines מצות עשה להתפלל בכל יום. In the koteret where he gives you the quintessential definition of the mitzvah, he said לעבוד את השם בכל יום בתפילה. The ma'aseh hamitzvah is davening, is saying a text of shevach, bakasha, hoda'ah, but the kiyum hamitzvah has to be avodah, avodah shebelev. So what happens in that experience of avodah shebelev? So some of what happens or some of what should happen, I think, is what we've been talking about tonight is that transformation of a deeper sense of anavah, a deeper sense of bitachon. And when a person experiences that, and as the Baal Shem Tov says, he walks away from the tefillah, he himself having been nishapech to a different person, so then the tefillah, then it's empowered with that koach of tefillas tzaddikim that it's mahapeches middas ragzonos to middas rachamanos. Halevai we should be zocheh to be able to daven properly and that the Ribbono Shel Olam should allow our tefillas to have that effect.