Transcript

So I just wanted to take a few minutes for a little inyanei Parshat Hashavua.

ויעתר יצחק לה' לנוכח אשתו כי עקרה היא ויעתר לו ה' ותהר רבקה אשתו.

So Rashi quotes from Chazal that

זה עומד בזו וזו מתפלל, הוא עומד בזו וזו מתפלל, היא אומרת היא עומדת בזו וזו מתפללת.

So the first snapshot which the Torah gives us of Rivka and Yitzchak as a married couple is tefillah, tefillah, the davening. Similarly, when Rivka first encounters Yitzchak, when she first meets Yitzchak, that's also the context of ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה לפנות ערב. In fact, Chazal say that the gimmel avot, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, are keneged the ג' עמודי העולם of תורה עבודה וגמילות חסדים, with the correlation being that Avraham Avinu is chesed, Yitzchak Avinu is avodah, avodah is also tefillah, and Yaakov Avinu is Torah. I heard just very recently a beautiful gematria in the name of Rav Nebenzahl, that Rav Nebenzahl said if you take the gematria of Yitzchak and Rivka combined, it's 515, which is the gematria of tefillah, gematria of tefillah. So Yitzchak, Yitzchak and Rivka represent the midah of avodah, avodah zo tefillah as well, and hence that's the the Torah gives us those those snapshots into their lives when the Torah opens a window for us into their lives, so the scene which we see is one of tefillah. Now let's understand a little bit about, let's try to understand a little bit about tefillah, and also maybe get a little bit more insight into the fact that of the ג' עמודי העולם that Yitzchak Avinu represented avodah, tefillah. The Mishna says in the beginning of Ein Omdin that אין עומדין להתפלל אלא מתוך כובד ראש. When you daven, you have to daven with koved rosh. Rashi says, what does koved rosh mean? Hachna'ah. A sense of hachna'ah, submissiveness. Now what exactly, where, where does hachna'ah emerge from? What makes a person feel nichna? So it becomes clear in the Gemara because the Gemara says what's the makor, minah hanei milei, that אין עומדין להתפלל אלא מתוך כובד ראש? The Gemara says עבדו את ה' ביראה. So the pasuk of עבדו את ה' ביראה is the makor for the din of אין עומדין להתפלל אלא מתוך כובד ראש דהיינו הכנעה. So there's an equation between yirah and hachna'ah, that that a feeling of hachna'ah is an expression of yirah, that's what emerges from the Gemara. A person has a feeling of hachna'ah, of being submissive, that that comes from a feeling, from an attitude of yirah. Yitzchak Avinu, we also know, represents midas ha-yirah, midas ha-yirah, pachad Yitzchak. לולי אלוקי אבי ואברהם ופחד יצחק היה לי. So tefillah which is behachna'ah, tefillah which is behachna'ah, which is an expression of of yirah, so mameila that's the pshat that Yitzchak Avinu embodied yirah, that that was Yitzchak, Yitzchak Avinu's midah, and that Yitzchak Avinu represented the amud of avodah, tefillah is is one and the same. Those two are one and the same because tefillah is mitoch yirah, tefillah is mitoch yirah. Let's try to understand that a little bit more. The centerpiece The centerpiece of tefilla is bakasha. That's the, that's the ikar of tefilla is the bakasha. Why is that such a, such a tremendous avoda to come with a wish list and, and come to the Ribbono Shel Olam and say, Ribbono Shel Olam, here's my, here's my wish list. It's my, my birthday soon, here's my wish list and, and you, and you hand in the tzetel with what you want, 13, at least 13 general bakashos that, that you want for your, for your birthday present. So that's, I don't know, looks self-serving, it's, it's you're just looking for your, for your own gratification. Why is this such a tremendous avoda? So the answer is that the ikar of bakasha is the recognition that if we don't ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu we can't provide for ourselves, that the ikar of bakasha is the recognition that we're totally and absolutely dependent upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu for everything. That's why bakasha is such a, such an important avoda because if I ask, so it means I recognize my need and it means I recognize my dependence. The, the importance, the emphasis in tefilla is on, not on the chanenu me'itcha, but rather on the basis of the chanenu me'itcha. Why do I ask Ribbono Shel Olam? Because I recognize that אתה חונן לאדם דעת ומלמד לאנוש בינה and therefore mimmela I realize that if I don't turn to you and ask chanenu me'itcha, so I'll be totally bereft and I'll have nothing because I'm absolutely and completely dependent upon you, Ribbono Shel Olam. And even though we don't make it explicit in all the other bakashos, we only make it explicit in the first one, but that's to set the tone for all the others. That sets the tone so that we understand when we turn to the Ribbono Shel Olam and say hashivenu Avinu l'Toratecha, there's an acknowledgment, there's an implicit acknowledgment and recognition that Ribbono Shel Olam, we realize that without you we can't do this. And when we say ראה נא בענינו וריבה ריבנו וגאלנו גאולה שלמה, again there's an implicit recognition because without you, Ribbono Shel Olam, we can't. And refa'enu Hashem v'nerafeh, etc. So tefilla is an expression of our absolute dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's what tefilla represents. Matter of fact, if you take a look in the Talmidei Rabbeinu Yonah in the beginning of Berachos, where the Talmidei Rabbeinu Yonah are commenting on semichas geulah l'tefilla. What is the continuum of semichas geulah l'tefilla and why is it that Chazal say that it's such a great thing that

איזהו בן העולם הבא זה הסומך גאולה לתפילה של ערבית?

So the Talmidim from Rabbeinu Yonah quote two similar explanations. The second of the two, Rabbeinu Yonah says

מפני שכשמזכיר גאולת מצרים ומתפלל מיד הוא מראה שהוא בוטח בה' בתפילה כיון שמבקש ממנו צרכיו.

That bakasha, the reason bakasha is such an avoda is because of, of what, what underlies the bakasha. What underlies the bakasha is a recognition that we need Hashem and that we trust in Hashem to, to answer our tefillos. So tefilla is an expression of our absolute dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that's the, the continuum of semichas geulah l'tefilla. A person is מקבל עול מלכות שמיים, ה' אלוהינו ה' אחד, that ein od milvado. So obviously if ein od milvado, so that means that we are totally dependent, our very existence is from Hashem. So obviously we're very, we're totally, absolutely dependent upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu for everything. Geulah shows how, how this played out in history, how Hakadosh Baruch Hu ge'alanu miyad Mitzrayim. And then we get up and we have to act on it. It's one thing to affirm it in Krias Shema, it's another thing to document it historically in, in Yetzias Mitzrayim, but then you have to be somech geulah l'tefilla, that a person can't, can't close the Siddur after Ga'al Yisrael and then b'kochi v'otzem yadi go, go earn his parnassa, but then a person has to have bakashas tzorcho, he has to actively act, he has to act on on that recognition of absolute dependence upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So that's what the emphasis in tefilla is, it's recognizing and acting upon our absolute dependence upon haKadosh Baruch Hu. Now the Maharal in Nesivos Olam in Nesiv HaYira defines what yira is. What exactly is yira? What feeling? So he says that yira comes from understanding, I'll read you a couple of lines.

עצם היראה מה שהוא עלול אל השם יתברך שהוא העילה והעלול יש לו קיום בעילה.

Right, so ila, ila means a cause, cause, and olul means the, literally what's caused, we would call it effect. Right, so ila is cause, olul is what is caused, the effect. Ki etzem hayira, the essence of yira is that a person recognizes that what's my relation to haKadosh Baruch Hu? Olul el Hashem. A person recognizes that haKadosh Baruch Hu is the cause, the source of my existence. עלול אל השם יתברך שהוא העילה והעלול, the person yesh lo kiyum his, his existence is only ba'ila, through the ila, through the cause. Or in other words, in other words, the feeling of yira is a feeling of hisbatlus. The feeling of yira is this feeling of of absolute dependence. And the Maharal says it again, also here in Perek Aleph.

אבל היראה שהוא עושה עצמו כאילו אינו נמצא וזהו אמיתת היראה.

Amitas hayira, why does a person sort of, when a person cowers in fear and and pulls back and and shrinks away in fear? Because he realizes that he's nothing, he's nothing in the presence of haGadol HaGibbor veHaNora, especially underline underlining Nora. So it comes out so beautifully. How do you davven, says the Mishna? How do you davven, says the Mishna? אין עומדין להתפלל אלא מתוך כובד ראש. What does kovid rosh mean? It means hachna'a. What is hachna'a? Hachna'a's an expression of yira. To davven means to have yira. You can't davven without yira. Why can't you davven without yira? Why can't you davven without yira? Because what's pshat in davvening? Pshat in davvening is you stand before the Ribbono Shel Olam and say Ribbono Shel Olam, we're helpless. Of course, it doesn't mean we're passive. Of course, we're supposed to make hishtadlus, you tell us to make hishtadlus, but that's all it is. That's all it is, in every realm. It's only hishtadlus in in every realm. Even in Talmud Torah, it's only hishtadlus. Yagata umatzasa. It's still a metzia. With all the yegia, it's still a metzia. It's only hishtadlus in every realm. So a person stands before the Ribbono Shel Olam and says Ribbono Shel Olam, I recognize that we're absolutely dependent upon you. You can only do that mitoch yira because that's what the essence of yira is. The essence of yira, the Maharal explains, is this understanding of what our relationship to haKadosh Baruch Hu is. Our relationship to haKadosh Baruch Hu is the relationship of olul el ha'ila. Then the Maharal goes on, says unbelievable, unbelievable. What's pshat, what's pshat in in the famous famous Gemara in Berachos:

ועתה ישראל מה השם אלהיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה? אטו יראה מילתא זוטרתא היא? אין, לגבי משה מילתא זוטרתא היא. משל למבקשים ממנו כלי קטן ואין לו דומה עליו כגדול מבקשים ממנו כלי גדול ויש לו דומה עליו כקטן.

Okay, so the kasha is is obvious. The Torah's not supposed to reflect only Moshe Rabbeinu. So what kind of answer is that, in, legabei Moshe Rabbeinu yira is milsa zutrasa? Says, says the Maharal that pshat is like this. He says when a person is koneh chochma, a person is koneh chochma lemashal. Koneh chochma, he acquires. A person achieves, he's a ben aliyah. He's zoiche to be mkayem ahavas Hashem, so he's doveik b'Hashem. There's an attainment, there's an acquisition. He says yira is just to be a mentsh. Yira is, again, what's yira? Yira is to understand what is. What is, whether we understand it or not, is that we're alul el ha-ila. Right? That's what the relationship is, whether we understand it or whether we live our lives with self-delusion, the reality is, the metzius is that our relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is alul el ha-ila. That we have no, that our kiyom is ba-ila. Our kiyom is through Hashem. We don't have, it's not that Hashem pushed a button 5,700 whatever 66 years ago. But no, every second we exist only through Hashem, only through Hashem. So the reality is that we are alul el ha-ila and our kiyom is ba-ila. A person has yiras shamayim, he doesn't have something extra. He doesn't have something extra. That's what the Gemara says, it is a milsa zutrasa. It is a milsa zutrasa. Because a person, when he has it, realizes it's not something extra. Okay, so now I feel who I really am. Now I feel what I am. Now I know what I am and I feel and act accordingly. It's not something additional. And that's the pshat, ve'ata Yisrael, the Maharal says. Amazing. ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלקיך שואל מעמך. Like what is it in the sense of nothing? Because it isn't anything additional. It isn't anything additional. I don't know, maybe he says it, mistama he does. I didn't check, but he must say it here. But that's the pshat in what Koheles says,

כי זה כל האדם. את האלקים ירא ואת מצותיו שמור.

That's what it means, כי זה כל האדם. כי זה כל האדם because that's taka what an adam is. An adam is an alul el ha-ila. An adam is someone whose very existence and very existence is from Hashem, through Hashem. So who has the or should have, is capable of having the self-awareness and the self-consciousness of knowing, of knowing that he's an alul el ha-ila. That's taka כי זה כל האדם. And that's what Koheles says,

סוף דבר הכל נשמע את האלקים ירא כי זה כל האדם.

So mimaila, mimaila, that's why the avodas hatfilla is be-yira. Avodas hatfilla has to be be-yira. That's what we try to understand, to experience when we daven. That's pshat Yitzchak Avinu. Yitzchak Avinu's midas hayira. Yitzchak Avinu represents the amud ha'avoda which includes tfilla.