All the events that happen to us are meetings with Hashem.
All the events that happen to us are meetings with Hashem.
Shiur 10 – Chazaras Hashatz of Maariv
מוֹדִֽים אֲנַֽחְנוּ לָֽךְ, שָֽׁאַתָּה־הֽוּא ה” אֱלֹקינוּ וֵֽאלֹקי אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ לְעוֹלָֽם וָעֶֽד
We thank you that you are Hashem, our G-d and the G-d of our Fathers forever.
We say thank you on behalf of the Jewish nation as a whole.
צֽוּר חַיֵּֽינוּ מָגֵֽן יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ אַתָּה־הֽוּא לְדֹֽר וָדֹֽר
You are the rock of our lives, the shield of our salvation, from generation to generation.
Hashem gives a tzura (characteristic) to each generation of Klal Yisroel.
Each generation is another edition of the Jewish nation.
עַל־חַיֵּֽינוּ הַמְּסוּרִֽים בְּיָדֶֽך
ָFor our lives that are given into Your hands
Our personal lives are in the hands of Hashem. Hashem gives us our life, but it remains in His hand–He can still take it back.
וְעַל־נִשְׁמוֹתֵֽינוּ הַפְּקוּדֽוֹת לָֽך
For our souls that are deposited with Youְ
We have a neshamah that has a tafkid.
This creates a problem since the life that Hashem has given us is not being used to fulfil its tafkid. So, how can we hope that Hashem will continue to give us life?
וְעַל־נִסֶּֽיךָ שֶׁבְּכׇל־יֽוֹם עִמָּֽנו
For Your miracles that are with us every dayּ
Even though we are not fulfilling our tafkid, every day Hashem keeps giving us life. This is a nes.
וְעַל־נִפְלְאוֹתֶֽיךָ וְטוֹבוֹתֶֽיךָ שֶׁבְּכׇל־עֵֽת
For Your wonders and Your goodness at all times
The word eis is used to refer to times which are not so good.
Since we are not fulfilling our tafkid, our lives are not totally smooth. Nevertheless, we thank Hashem that even in these troublesome times, we believe that there is good in them as well.
עֶֽרֶב וָבֹֽקֶר וְצׇֽהֳרָֽיִם
Evening, morning and afternoon
3 times a day we thank Hashem for His goodness to us.
וְכֹֽל הַֽחַיִּֽים יוֹדֽוּךָ סֶּֽלָה, וִיהַֽלְלֽוּ אֶת־שִׁמְךָֽ בֶּֽאֱמֶֽת, הָאֵֽ-ל יְשֽׁוּעָתֵֽנוּ וְעֶזְרָתֵֽנוּ סֶֽלָה. בָּרֽוּךְ אַתָּֽה ה”, הַטּֽוֹב שִׁמְךָֽ וּלְךָֽ נָאֶֽה לְהוֹדֽוֹת.
All the lives will thank You and they will praise Your name in truth, the G-d of our Salvation and our Helper. Blesses are You Hashem, Your name is good and to You is fitting to give thanks
We conclude the berocho by saying, ‘Your name is good, and to You, it is befitting to give thanks.’ This is the only berocho in which the conclusion talks to Hashem in the second person.
This requires a pshat. I have been trying to work it out for 45 years, but I still do not have a solid pshat!!
Nevertheless, the explanation for being in the third person has something to do with the fact that we are thanking Hashem for always giving us goodness, regardless of how bad the situation appears to be.
We must be aware that the thanks that we say to Hashem for giving us life, in modim and vechol hachaim, are not simply saying thank you that we are fortunate that Hashem is keeping us alive as opposed to those who have died. The thanks is far more profound than this. We are thanking Hashem, as we said before, that despite not fulfilling our tafkid for life and not deserving to be given more life, Hashem nevertheless continues to provide us with life.
שָׁלֽוֹם רָֽב עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל עַמְּךָֽ תָּשִֽׂים לְעוֹלָֽם כִּֽי אַתָּה־הֽוּא מֶֽלֶךְ אָדֽוֹן לְכׇל־הַשָּׁלֽוֹם. וְטֽוֹב בְּעֵינֶֽיךָ לְבָרֵֽךְ אֶת־עַמְּךָֽ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל בְּכׇל־עֵֽת וּבְכׇל־שָׁעָֽה בִּשְׁלוֹמֶֽךָ.
May You place an abundant peace on Yisroel forever because You are the King , the Master for all peace. May it be giid in Your eyes to bless Your people Israel at all times with Your peace.
When we use the word eis to mean ‘a time’, we are not referring to a time on the clock but to a meeting with Hashem. Here in Eretz Yisroel, we are having a lot of meetings with Hashem, which are not so pleasurable. However, it is important to realize that with all the atrocities being done by Chamas, Hashem is there doing it. Hashem is not just pulling the strings behind the scenes and making Chamas do what He says. Rather, Hashem is present at all the incidents. We are meeting Hashem all the time. (1)
בִּשְׁלוֹמֶֽך
With Your peaceָ
We ask that at every meeting we have with Hashem, there should be sholom between Him and us. In other words, even in the bad meetings that do not go well, may we be calm and at peace with Him to accept whatever He presents us with.
One of the Rishonim says on this tefillah that Chazal say that just like we bless Hashem for the good, so too we bless Hashem for the bad because בְּכׇל־עֵֽת Hashem is there. He doesn’t mean that we should make a berocho over the bad since, at the end of the day, it’s from Hashem who is pulling the strings behind the scenes. Instead, he means that we should make a berocho over the bad since we are having a meeting with Hashem during the bad. The meeting with Hashem is what necessitates the berocho, regardless of whether the meeting is positive or not.
וַיְכֻלּוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ וְכו’
The heavens and the earth were concluded
This is a testimony of witnesses. The Chazon Ish says this is a chiyuv on the tzibbur, which is to be done as a tzibbur.
It is okay to miss saying this with the tzibbur every so often. However, consistently missing it due to davening a long shemoneh esrei is a problem. We are all part of a tzibbur and a part of Klal Yisroel, and we need to participate with the tzibbur in this. (The same problem is true as far as davening a long shemoneh esrei and missing kedushah betzibbur in a consistent fashion.)
Magen avos, etc. (which we are about to discuss) is the chazaras hashatz of the maariv shemoneh esrei. The Rishonim say that it was instituted so that the tzibbur would delay before leaving at the end of davening. This was for the sake of those who had not yet finished so they would not be left alone in the field, where they had all been davening. It is important to note that the Rishonim were concerned about the people who would finish later than the others because they had arrived late for davening. Not one of the Rishonim says that the concern for people finishing late was due to them davening a longer shemoneh esrei!
If someone consistently misses saying vayechulu or kedushah with the tzibbur, they have two options. They can daven with a slower minyan or they need to speed up their shemoneh esrei.
Chazoras Hashatz-magen avos
Before we begin to discuss magen avos etc. we will introduce it by saying that Maariv corresponds to the world reaching its purpose at the end of the seventh day of creation. Minchah corresponds to the Shabbos of Olam Habo.
The chazoras hashatz of magen avos is not like the regular chazoras hashatz, which are said for the tzibbur and are about the same topics as the private shemoneh esrei. Magen Avos is not like the maariv shemoneh esrei. Instead, it expresses a new idea we do not say in our private shemoneh esrei. It gives expression to the Shabbos of Olam Habo. Although, the minchah shemoneh esrei is primarily where we speak about Shabbos of Olam Habo, here in Magen Avos we also speak about the Shabbos of Olam Habo– after all the whole Shabbos is meein olam habo.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלֹקינוּ וֵאלֹקי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, אֱלֹקי אַבְרָהָם אֱלֹקי יִצְחָק וֵאלקי יַעֲקֹב, הָאֵ-ל הַגָּדול הַגִּבּוֹר וְהַנּורָא אֵ-ל עֶלְיוֹן, קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ.
We do not say that Hashem is koneh hakol. Rather, we say koneh shomayim vooretz. We are saying Hashem has an unbelievable plan, and heaven and earth are part of it.
מָגֵן אָבוֹת בִּדְבָרוֹ, מְחַיֵּה מֵתִים בְּמַאֲמָרו
The shield of the Fathers with His word. He Who rescuscitates the dead withֹ His statement
Now, we begin to look at the world in terms of the day being meein olam habo.
Bidvoro is from the word ‘dabor’ which means guiding, like ‘dabor echod lador’-‘there is one guide for the generation.’ The zechus of the Avos is part of the world we live in. Hashem guides the world together with the zechus Avos. Hashem uses this to connect His Elokus to the world.
Mechayeh meisim, on the other hand, is a new world. This world is totally unknown to us. A world in which no one dies is against the second law of thermodynamics. The world of techiyas hameisim therefore requires a miracle. Just like Hashem created the world with 10 maamorim, the new world of techiyas hameisim will also be created with Hashem’s maamar.
כִּי בָם רָצָה לְהָנִיחַ לָהֶם
On them He wants to make them rest
There is a Sifra in Parshas Behaalosecha, perek 3 on the possuk vehisalachti besochachem that leosid lovo Hashem will go on a stroll with us. This is compared to a king going on a walk with one of his men, and this man becomes afraid and hides from the king. The king then turns to the man and asks him, ‘Why are you afraid of me since, after all, I am like one of you?’ So, too, in leosid lovo, Hashem will take a stroll with the tzaddikim in Gan Eden, and they will be afraid of Him. Hashem will turn to them and ask ‘Why are you afraid of Me, after all I am like you?’
Based on the Sifra, we can explain this phrase to mean that Hashem wants us to rest together with Him in His menuchah of Shabbos. Despite the fact that Hashem’s menuchah has nothing to do with us and He doesn’t need our interaction for it, nevertheless, since we are strolling together with Him, He wants us to join in with His personal menuchah.
לְפָנָיו נַעֲבוֹד בְּיִרְאָה וָפַחַד
Before Him we will serve in fear
The Sifra says that after Hashem says that He is like the tzaddikim and that they do not need to be afraid, the tzaddikim will still have yirah from being in front of Hashem.
There are two sides to leosid lovo. On one side, the tzaddikim will be together with Hashem taking a stroll. On the other side, they will have yirah from before Him. So too, Shabbos, which is meein olam habo, has these two sides to it. On the one hand, we rest in Hashem’s personal menuchah of Shabbos. On the other hand, we still have yirah and pachad from being in front of Him.
וְנוֹדֶה לִשְׁמוֹ בְּכָל יוֹם תָּמִיד
The avodah of leosid lovo will be to give hodaah to Hashem the whole time. There will be no yetzer Horo and we will be connected to Hashem the whole time.
מְקַדֵּשׁ הַשַּׁבָּת וּמְבָרֵךְ שְׁבִיעִי
Sanctifies the Shabbos and blesses the seventh day
Normally, we speak about Shabbos in the opposite order. First, we experience the berocho of receiving more on Shabbos, like it sometimes happens in my house. Occasionally, we receive a call shortly before Shabbos from our children saying that the fridge or freezer has just stopped working and would they be able to come for Shabbos. Of course, we say yes, and somehow, the meal that was prepared for five people suffices for an extra 6 or 7 people. There is also ample space for everyone. This is the berocho of Shabbos. After receiving the berocho of Shabbos, we realize that this day of Shabbos, with all of its berocho, is a really holy day.
Here, we reverse the order. The reason is that in leosid lovo, the great holiness of the day is connected with us, and we understand this even without experiencing the berocho.
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Editor’s note
The Rov put it in human terms. Consider a husband eating food made for him by his wife, but his wife was not in the house to present it to him. Then, consider when the wife is there and presents him with the food with a big smile. The feelings of the husband in the first scenario are a moshol for Hashem being behind the scenes whilst the second scenario is a moshol for meeting with Hashem. Having a meeting with one’s wife or lehavdil meeting Hashem affects the person’s personality.
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Written by Rabbi Rapport
