Tefillah Meanings: Praying with the Angels
The big picture of Yotzeir Or that emerges from the previous posts, and how Qedushah fits in the theme.
Author: Micha Berger
Tefillah Meanings: Little things in the Creation of Light and Good, part II
Some more subtle points about Birkhas Yotzeir before we get to the embedded Qedushah.
Little things in the Creation of Light and Good, part I
Some smaller points about Birkhas Yotzeir before we get to the embedded Qedushah.
Tefillah Meanings: Gratitude for the Flow from Above
From Idea, to Identifying the Good, to Gratitude to its Provider
Tefillah Meanings: Yaaleh veYavo plus Six
Eight goes beyond this world, even the holiness of this world. It bridges to the world to come. … And, it explains the number of verbs in Yaaleh VeYavo…
Tefillah Meanings: You Chose Us
We were not Chosen, Loved, Desired, and lifted from communities of speakers of other languages because we are the bearers of Torah and mitzvos. Rather, we were given the Torah, assigned the mitzvos, made servants of the King to the point of being His representatives, His “name” in this world, because we are Chosen, Beloved, and embrace a special language and culture.
The love is inherent.
Disappears Like Smoke
Hashem attenuated His presence at Har Sinai to a level a human can tolerate by making “וְהַ֤ר סִינַי֙ עָשַׁ֣ן כֻּלֹּ֔ו — Mount Sinai was all smoke.” Smoke is a means of blocking one’s view….
And when one rises above one’s own interests to pursue His, the destructive parts of one’s self fall away, the smoke obscuring our view parts, and one can get glimpses of that Perfection.
Fear, Dread, and Yir’ah
This tefillah says that Hashem places pachad on all that He made, and eimah on that which He created. But while those two were provided by Hashem, not so yir’ah.
The Nation that knows Teru’ah
We blow teqi’ah, shevarim teru’ah, teqi’ah. Then with just shevarim in between, then teru’ah. Different communities had opinions, and R’ Avahu thought it was appropriate to unite by everyone doing all three. … His point was that you don’t understand crying until you listen to everyone’s cry
Last in Deed, First in Intent
First have to have clear what good entails. We need to make Hashem King, to commit to bringing His Will and His Good into the world. Rather than chasing whatever seems good in the moment. Or feels good even as our heads tell us it’s a mistake.
So we much first spend Rosh haShanah internalizing what we could and should be, and creating an aspiration and desire to get there.
Only then can we realize how far we are in the here and now to that aspiration, and have a true and honest regret.
Tefillah Meanings: Reflecting about the Flow from On High
For six days, we emphasize the glory of Hashem as seen through Creation.
On Shabbos, the day of rest from Creation, take a step back and watch ourselves, and how all of creation in its own way acknowledges that fact. … Which is after all the whole function of Shabbos…
Tefillah Meanings: Light and Dark
The Avudraham explains that Hashem created far more space and potential than He filled. It is humanity’s job to paint the rest of the canvas.
In his opinion darkness isn’t a thing, it’s the absence of light. When Hashem is borei space without filling all of it with light, He created darkness. Similarly, there is no such thing as evil….
Tefillah Meanings: Parsing Borkhu
What is “le’olam va’ed” (forever)? The blessing we are giving Hashem, or His inherent Blesséd nature?
Tefillah Meanings: What is a Davar Shebiqdusha?
… It would seem, therefore, that a defining feature of a Davar shebiQdushah is that it expresses the idea of making Hashem’s Holiness manifest in this world, as a part of getting to a more complete experience of Him.
In this world, we have different berakhos for major events: For good ones, “Shechiyanu” or “haTov vehaMeitiv” if many are impacted. And for ones we experience as tragic — “Dayan haEmes”. But when we get to Olam haBa, we get a clearer picture …
Tefillah Meanings: Qaddish
If Chazal are the Creator’s secretaries setting the agenda for the meeting, the items in the agenda should be addressed based on what you need to actually say.
Tefillah Meanings: Mitzvos and Torah
Someone working on vetahei libeinu is the person who seeks to be satisfied with His Good.
Someone who is in the midst of truly serving Hashem, avodah be’emes, is looking at what yeshu’os are still needed.
Tefillah Meanings: Good and Redemption
We aren’t asking for more Good, there isn’t more Good to be had. Here the preposition has to be -מִ, allow us to experience simchah from Your Good, good we are already getting. Make it easier for us to be makir tov, to recognize and notice the Good that we get.
… [But t]here is a profound difference between “Tuvekha — Your Good”, and “Yehu’asekha — Your deliverance”. One refers to things we can recognize as good times. The other acknowledges the experience of bad times, times we need to be delivered from.
Tefillah Meanings: Shabbos of the World to Come
Shabbos is a day to stop striving, and to take stock in how far we have come, and think about what we really want to be striving for. Less time on doing, and more on being and becoming. The Shabbos we speak about at Minchah is not only the Me’ein Olam haBa, the glimpse of the World to Come, but also of the Shabbos of today as the means to get ourselves there.
Tefillah Meanings: You Are One
The first thing you may notice about the middle, Shabbos-related, berakhah of Shabbos Minchah is that the opening parallels the berakhah immediately before it….
Salt and Honey
Why does every qorban have salt, but you aren’t allowed to offer anything with honey?
Salt is used to enhance existing flavors. Honey is used to change them to something sweeter.
Does Hashem Wear Tefillin on Shabbos?
The gemara on Berakhos 6a states something very intriguing: אָמַר רַבִּי אָבִין בַּר רַב אַדָּא, אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק: מִנַּיִן שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַנִּיחַ תְּפִילִּין שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״נִשְׁבַּע ה׳ בִּימִינוֹ וּבִזְרוֹעַ עֻזּוֹ״. Rabbi Avin bar Rav...
For the Jews There was Light
“לַיְּהוּדִ֕ים הָֽיְתָ֥ה אוֹרָ֖ה וְשִׂמְחָ֑ה וְשָׂשֹׂ֖ן וִיקָֽר׃
The Jews enjoyed light and joy, happiness and glory.”
The gemara explains that … Orah means Torah, Simcha is Yom Tov, Sason is Beris Milah, and Yeqar – Tefillin.
So then I had to ask: Why doesn’t the pasuq just get to the point and say, “ליהודים היתה תורה, יום טוב, מילה ותפילין”? Why use code words?
Tefillah Meanings: Great Peace
Shalom rav is the unity and wholeness of self that eliminates all obstacles from the path of the lover of Torah. Sheleimus within each heart being expressed as sheleimus within humanity as a whole.
…
And since learning this idea, I have had a warm spot for the Shalom Rav, as I didn’t see this thought in the Sim Shalom version.
Until I noticed something. There are two lists of berakhos that we ask Hashem to bestow on us in Sim Shalom
Tefillah Meanings: Good, Compassionate, Kind
Modim ends, “בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ הַטּוֹב שִׁמְךָ וּלְךָ נָאֶה לְהוֹדוֹת – … Your name is ‘The Good’, and it is pleasant to praise You.”
Yes, I believe we are saying Hashem’s name is “HaTov”, and not that His name / reputation in the world is known to be good.
Tefillah Meanings: For All That You Do
We already saw the Gra explained that we receive from Hashem in four ways. And that this also feels to me like a key part of the requests that are the heart of Shemoneh Esrei…
And so, it should be unsurprising that in Modim we thank and face our need to be dependent on Hashem for four things.
Tefillah Meanings: And the Fire-Offerings of Yisrael
Retzeih is old, a version of it was said by the Kohanim in the Beis HaMiqdash (Mishnah Tamid 5:1), in the oldest standardized Jewish liturgy…. It not only talks about Avodah in the Beis haMiqdash, but we are also continuing that chain. With only an insertion in the middle to make it applicable to living during Galus, we are actually saying something originally said as part of that Avodah. You could hear the generations of ancestors talking through us.
Tefillah Meanings: The Prayers of Your Nation Israel
Shema Qoleinu usually ends either
“כִּי אַתָּה שׁוֹמֵֽעַ תְּפִלַּת עַמְּ֒ךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּרַחֲמִים”…
“תְּפִלַּת כָּל־פֶּה”, or “תְּפִלַּת כָּל פֶּה עַמְּ֒ךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּרַחֲמִים”…
So there are really two which become three different ways of seeing what the berakhah is about: …
Between classic Ashkenaz and the Chassidic Sfard, there is a second split….
Exists Through His Word
“Shehakol nihyeh bidvaro”, this meat, egg, or candy I am about to eat, or juice I am getting ready to drink, they exist because Hashem is still “Saying” them.
Tefillah Meanings: The Great Shofar
Why do we describe Hashem’s ingathering of the exiles as a “Great Shofar”? … In this berakhah we ask Hashem to give us the wake-up call, the opportunity and the inspiration to return to our homes. Not to force us to come.
Practicing Tzimtzum
Rav Yosef Ber Soloveitchik zt”l describes two mitzvos as emulating Tzimtzum: … The physical emulation of Tzimtzum is the mitzvah of Hachnasas Orechim… The Middah of Anavah is an internal emulation of Tzimtzum…. We need to emulate Tzimtzum. Not just to constrict ourselves, but to make room within ourselves for the other. We need to constrict our attention to the “atzmi”, the “self” in the limited sense inhabiting this body, to grow an “I” (as Rav Shimon Shkop puts it), that is a network of relationship to other people, to Hashem, and to the world around us. To make a place where we can connect…
Tefillah Meanings: Years
Birkhas haShanim … an interesting structure. The thesis appears to be about prosperity … But why does it begin and end talking about time…? It is a berakhah that we earn that wealth. And in a way that displays honesty and integrity and provides a service to others. So that we have the wealth in the here-and-now and the growth that will get us greater happiness in the World to Come.
Tefillah Meanings: Forgive Us, Pardon Us
In Vidui, we desperately beg for whatever we can get … But the berakhos of Shemoneh Esrei are organized by cause and effect….
In this berakhah we ask that the restoration plays out to completion. Once Hashem leads us to where we can return to the path that He laid for us, we can ask Him for the secondary effects of that mess as well.
Ohr haTzafun: Chillul HaSheim and the Tzelem Elokim
The Alter of Slabodka has a very different take. (Ohr haTzafun, Bamidbar #3, “דקות תביעות התורה”)
A person is betzelem Elokim, in the “image” of the Divine. This image is Hashem’s name in this world.
When they do something inappropriate, that image is tarnished. The action removes G-dliness from the world by removing some of the fidelity of His Image and thus some of observability of His Presence in it
Chilul hasheim refers to this tarnishing as a desecration of the image and thus His name.
Tefillah Meanings: Revisiting Gevuros
Three weeks ago, I shared that the body of the berakhah “Atah Gibbor” became for me more of a request than the intended praise…. Three weeks ago, I shared that the body of the berakhah “Atah Gibbor” became for me more of a request than the intended praise. … Don’t force a meaning on the prayer. As life and our situations change, we have different things to say to our Creator.
Or haTzafun on Eternity (and the Conservation of Matter)
One of the central themes Ohr haTzafun is that “Hashem founded the world with wisdom” (Mishlei 3:19) And also, “the world is built of lovingkindness.” (Tehillim 89:3)… In particular, the human soul, but also our bodies, and the universe as a whole.
Hashem is beyond time. And thus, so is His Wisdom.
The sin of eating from the Eitz haDaas only caused us to lose sight of our inherent eternal nature. Both of the soul and the body. And mitzvos restore our ability to experience it.
Tefillah Meanings: Return Us
“הֲשִׁיבֵֽנוּ אָבִֽינוּ לְתוֹרָתֶֽךָ — Restore, our Father, to Your Torah…” Are we are asking Hashem to do our teshuvah for us? That defeats too many givens about free will!
One could argue that the act of turning to Hashem to ask for it is itself a form of teshuvah, but we are saying it in the plural. And many of the non-repentant are not going to be joining us in prayer.
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