למנצח אל הנחילות מזמור לדוד. I don't think the Malbim comments on what the word nichilos means. Rashi has different pshatim from the grammarian Menachem he quotes that it's a type of musical instrument that this kapittel was composed to be accompanied by this type of musical instrument. From Targum Yonasan he says that nichilos, right, nichil devorim is like a swarm of bees, so it's תפילה בשיל גייסות אויבים the troops of oyvim who attack. Either way, whatever the pshat nichilos is, the Malbim says that this kapittel is divided into two halves. The first half describes what the elements of tfila are, should be, and then the second is the second half of the kapittel is Dovid Hamelech's specific bakasha. Pasuk beis: אמרי האזינה השם בינה הגיגי. So tnai hatfila the Malbim on pasuk beis, the necessary elements of hatfila hashleima of optimal tfila, haim arba'a. The first is יופי המליצה וקוצר המאמרים. Eloquence, eloquence and precision, concision, if that's a word. Is that a word? Concise, concision? Well, it is now. Okay. A reflection of just how central that aspect, that quality of tfila is, the yofi hamelitza, the eloquence. It's really quite extraordinary when you look in the Rambam in perek alef of Hilchos Tfila. So the Rambam initially describes and defines the d'oraisa of tfila. And the Rambam says how the d'oraisa of tfila had no set time, no set number of daily tfilos, there was a minimum of davening once a day, and no set text. Everyone was medaber kefi yochlo without a set text, bechol eis sheyirtzeh without a set time, vechein minyan hatfilos, יש שמתפלל פעם אחת ביום ויש שמתפלל פעמים הרבה. Then the Rambam describes that during Galus Bavel, כיון שגלו ישראל בימי נבוכדנצר הרשע, in Halacha Daled, נתערבו בפרס ויון ושאר אומות, we became intermingled with the other nations and ונולדו להם בנים בארץ הגוים, and the next generation was born in galus, ואותן הבנים נתבלבל שפתם. And that generation, their language became confused, it was a mishmash. והיתה שפת כל אחד ואחד מעורבת בלשונות הרבה. Not only couldn't they... express themselves clearly eloquently in Lashon Hakodesh, they couldn't express themselves clearly or eloquently in any one language. וכיון שהיה מדבר אינו יכול לדבר כל צרכו בלשון אחת אלא בשיבוש.
If the person were limited to one language, the language was corrupt. Right? Sometimes you hear, let's say when a person is a native speaker in one language and he's doing his best to speak what for him is a second language, so you can tell that the person is just translating from his mother tongue into the second language. And often the figures of speech and the constructs of the two languages don't align, but you realize what's happening, that the person doesn't think in the second language, hasn't really mastered the second language to know how to adjust figures of speech and the like. So even when they were limited to one language, even when they limited themselves to one language, it was bishibush. ומפני זה כשאחד מהם מתפלל, excuse me, שנאמר ובניהם חצי מדבר אשדודית ואינם מכירים לדבר יהודית וכלשון עם ועם,
pasuk in Nechemia. ומפני זה כשאחד מהם מתפלל with before the Anshei Knesset Hagedolah introduced the set text, תקצר לשונו לשאול חפציו או להגיד שבח הקדוש ברוך הוא בלשון הקודש עד שיערב עמהן לשונות אחרות.
He was just, they were inadequate to the task of expressing themselves in tefillah, whether to give shevach to HaKadosh Baruch Hu or whether to petition. וכיון שראה עזרא ובית דינו כך עמדו ותקנו להם שמונה עשרה ברכות על הסדר.
Okay. Then the Rambam continues in Halacha Heh and Vav, וכן תקנו שיהיה מניין התפילות כמניין הקרבנות, Vechen hitkinu, excuse me, וכן תקנו שיהיה מניין התפילות כמניין הקרבנות and they also coordinated the zmanei tefillah. So how come the Rambam doesn't give the background for why this was necessary? When the Rambam described the de-Oraita of tefillah, so the Rambam said the de-Oraita of tefillah was not regimented in three senses: there was no text, there was also no set time, and there was no fixed number of tefillos either. Right? So in all of those three respects, the de-Oraita of tefillah was unregimented. The Rambam gives us the historical background for why a fixed text was necessary, but he doesn't say what happened that now all of a sudden we needed to have three tefillos a day, and we needed to assign zmanei tefillah. So im k’var k’var, if the Rambam's going to tell us what prompted the Anshei Knesset Hagedolah, so explain fully. So it's clear that the Rambam did explain fully. Dahinu that these three elements, again, the no set text, the no set time, the no set number of tefillos, are three parts of one whole, dahinu that tefillah was personal expression. Personal expression is if you don't have anything to say, you keep quiet. You want to talk, you talk. How much do you want to say? Okay, again, with the caveat of once a day. But beyond that once a day, so the de-Oraita of tefillah is personal expression. There's no set time for tefila because again it's when the person feels the need to davven. There's no set number of tefilas; it's when the person feels the need. There's no set text; the person expresses the need that he feels. So when Chazal were mesakein a set text, then that dramatically changed tefila. It's still personal expression in the sense that a person is supposed to infuse, imbue the fixed nussach of Shmoneh Esrei with his personal kavanos. But it dramatically affected tefila. Once there's a set text for tefila, then I need license. It's not purely my spontaneous expression, so now Chazal need to tell me when I should davven and how often I should davven. Klomar, that that's the pshat in the Malbim. So hashta de'asinu hacha, so what emerges is, as it were, on a certain level, introducing a set text for tefila was a big bedieved because the whole essence of tefila, again, is personal expression. And yet Chazal felt, as it were, compelled to do so because of the corruption of language. So you see that this element, this inyan that the Malbim is speaking of, yofi hamelitza vekotzer hama'amarim, just how essential that is. And how do we understand it? Why is it takeh so crucial? The yofi hamelitza, the eloquence, vekotzer hama'amarim, and the precision. So perhaps two perspectives. Number one, let's say we're looking to be given an audience with an adam chashuv. An adam chashuv, were to have a minute with him על אחת כמה וכמה if it's five minutes or ten minutes, is an extraordinary privilege. So how does what's the most important, most fundamental way that a person shows, demonstrates objectively that he values, that he's machshiv the opportunity he's been given? So he certainly has to come dressed appropriately and punctually, but lachora the most important way to demonstrate that he's machshiv this opportunity is that he should use the minute. He should say things as clearly as possible. He comes in and he's given this audience, which is such an extraordinary privilege, and he just starts rambling on and on. Distilling what a person has to say into the fewest and choicest words possible demonstrates the chashivus of the audience. Distilling what a person has to say into the fewest and choicest words possible, it, it demonstrates the chashivus of the, of the, of the audience. That's, that's, sorry, I thought someone was at the door, that's, that's one perspective. A second perspective, and one doesn't need to choose between the two, in the last perek of Hilchos Issurei Mizbe'ach, the Rambam ranks various types of oils and says in halacha tes, אף על פי שכולן כשרות למנחות, even though all of them are acceptable to be mixed in with the mincha, the first that I listed is the best and then it's in descending order. Halacha yud aleph, the concluding halacha here in Issurei Mizbe'ach, excuse me, ומאחר שכולם כשרים למנחה למה נמנו? So why do you have to rank them for? They're all kosher, so why bother ranking them? כדי לידע היפה שאין למעלה ממנו, so the person should know what's the best, v'hashaveh v'hapachus. Excuse me. Sheharotze lizakos atzmo, if a person wants to earn merit, yachof yitzro hara, right, he should subdue his yeitzer hara. The yeitzer hara is to hold onto one's money and to spend as little as possible. V'yarchiv yado, a person should be generous in his expenditures for a korban, ויביא קרבנו מן היפה והמשובח ביותר שבאותו המין שיביא ממנו.
Harei ne'emar batorah, והבל הביא גם הוא מבכורות צאנו ומחלביהן, mechelveihen means the choice, hamuvchar. And as a result, וישע השם אל הבל ואל מנחתו. והוא הדין לכל דבר שהוא לשם האל הטוב שיהיה מן הנאה והטוב. אם בנה בית תפילה יהיה נאה מבית ישיבתו.
The shul should be nicer than the houses we live in. The shul that the community has, that the balabatim have, should be nicer than their own houses. He'echil ra'eiv, a person gives tzedaka, he feeds a hungry person, יאכיל מן הטוב והמתוק שבשולחנו. You give him the best food you have. Kisa arom, יכסה מן היפה שבכסותו. Hikdish davar, יקדיש מן היפה שבנכסיו וכן הוא אומר כל חלב להשם.
So is there an analogue, and if so, what is it? Is there an analogue to the cheftza shel mitzvah of a shul, the cheftza shel mitzvah of the food for the ra'eiv, the clothing for the, for the arom? In context of mitzvas tfillah, so the mitzvah consists of the words, how a person expresses himself. When a person does a mitzvah, he's supposed to do the mitzvah על צד היותר טוב, not in the cheapest way possible, but in the best way possible. When the mitzvah consists of expressing oneself, so then the expression has to be על צד היותר טוב. So that's the first of the first tna'im of tefillah ha-shleimah. Al zeh amar, that's what Dovid Ha-Melech says: Amarai ha'azinah Hashem. Beis, the second of the tna'ei ha-tefillah ha-shleimah, שתסכם המחשבה וההגיון הפנימי עם הדיבור החיצוני. Al zeh amar, that's what the concluding phrase of pasuk beis, אמרי האזינה ה' בינה הגיגי. Discern my thought. Not to daven מן השפה ולחוץ, that we say the words but our mind and thoughts are elsewhere, but our minds and thoughts should be concentrated on and reflected in and expressed in the words. Lechorah, here the Malbim, how does the Malbim know that that's what, maybe Amarai ha'azinah Hashem means Hakadosh Baruch Hu, when I speak, so hear what I say and when I don't speak, so read my thoughts. So lechorah, this is the Malbim l'shitaso. Remember back in kapitel aleph, the Malbim explained how we find in Tanach on pasuk, where was it? On pasuk beis, right, ובתורתו יהגה יומם ולילה. So the Malbim explained that ההגיון הוא הממוצע בין הדיבור והמחשבה. Because higayon means to be motzi, to bring to the fore, to bring out. So it can be to bring out if it means pure thought, then it would mean to deduce, to derive. But what it means again also is that speech represents thought which has been brought forth, which has been articulated. So therefore the binah hagigi means Hakadosh Baruch Hu, discern my thought, again higayon in the sense which is yotzei. And therefore you see is no, that's what it means, that Dovid Ha-Melech is saying that I'm not just reciting by rote a text, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu, note that it's that I'm saying it reflectively, that I'm saying it in a heartfelt fashion. Gimmel, the third element of tefillah ha-shleimah, שלא יתפלל על דברים בלתי נחוצים. A person shouldn't daven for inconsequential matters. Al zeh amar, the beginning of pasuk gimmel, hakshivah l'kol shavi, כי גדר מילת שועה הוא שצורך לישועה. Right, the word shavah is related to yeshuah, the shavah means a cry for salvation. And finally, the fourth condition, the fourth element that needs to be present in tefillah shleimah is שיפתח בתפלתו אל ה' לבדו. When a person davens, he should be trusting in Hakadosh Baruch Hu 100 percent. ולא שעם תפלתו ישים מבטחו על עזרת בשר או אמצעים בינו לבין ה'.
Al zeh amar: מלכי ואלקי כי אליך אתפלל. So it's very meduyak here in the Malbim, rabbosai. The Malbim doesn't say v'lo she-im tefillaso, he shouldn't look for help from people or shouldn't have any recourse to emtza'im. No, it's lo yasim mivtacho. A person is supposed to make hishtadlus. But the person is supposed to recognize that the hishtadlus is only that. And that there's not going to be any kochi v'otzem yadi. It's not going to be that the person, to my contact to whom I turned, the yeshuah is not up to him. We're mechuyav to make hishtadlus and therefore we make hishtadlus as is appropriate depending upon the situation and the context, but the bitachon is not in the. That's what's so meduyak here in the Malbim, ולא שם תפילתו ישים מבטחו על עזרת בשר. He's not saying that the person is supposed to be passive. The bitachon is more often than not an attitude that accompanies hishtadlus. It's not a substitute for hishtadlus. It's an attitude that defines and frames the hishtadlus. ה' בוקר תשמע קולי בוקר אערך לך ואצפה. Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the day of tefillah begins in the morning. So the first tefillah of the day, hagahm that for most in most areas of Halacha, היום הולך אחר הלילה, the day begins at night but the day of tefillah begins in the morning. That's why the issur לא תאכלו על הדם, not to eat before davening, doesn't apply to before Maariv. Because before Maariv is a different thing, a different gezeira, but it's not לא תאכלו על הדם, different parameters. לא תאכלו על הדם is before Shacharis. Why is it before Shacharis? It's לא תאכלו קודם שתתפללו על דמכם, because the day of tefillah is be'ikkar begins in the morning. So ה' בוקר תשמע קולי לעזרני תכף בקראי, you'll answer me immediately as soon as I daven, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, you answer. בוקר אערך לך ואצפה. I compare you to the morning. Right, in the Biurei Hamillos, the Malbim quotes מי בשחק יערך לה', means who in the shamayim uvega'avato shechakim, who in the shamayim, who even amongst the heavenly bodies resembles you, equals you, Hakadosh Baruch Hu? מי בשחק יערך לה'. In Bircas Krias Shema Shabbos morning, in Nussach Sefard, אין ערוך לך ה' אלוהינו, right? Or ein k'erkecha, the same thing. How does la'aroch mean to compare, to equate? Erech means value. That's say hamada veha'erecha, arachin, Maseches Arachin in Shas. It means value. When a person says erko alai, it means the value. So what do you do when you assign a value to something? When you evaluate, you say, well, if you take this object and you want to know what's comparable in cash. How do you sort of translate into comparable terms the value of this desk in cash? $100. That's what this desk represents in cash. That's what it equals in cash. So from the sense of erech meaning value, so then by extension, aroch also means comparison, to compare, to equate. So בוקר אערך לך, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, I compare you to boker in the same way boker brings an end to all the troubles of nighttime. The same way, we know that even in the natural world, fever is almost always higher at night than it is in the daytime. Boker brings an end to the troubles of night. Boker, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, in the boker, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, meichazir nishamos lifgarim. Hakadosh Baruch Hu revives us, resuscitates us when we wake up. So I compare you to boker, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that as boker again brings an end to trouble, so too you're going to bring an end to the trouble that the tzaddikim have and the resha'im will be punished and תאיר אור ישועתך אחר חשכת הצרה. And therefore va'atzapeh. Maybe we'll talk a little bit more about va'atzapeh tomorrow bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem.