Beginning Of Elul – Working On Tefilo

Beginning of Elul Working on Tefillah

We are going to try and really work on tefillah this Ellul.

Davening is our response to the din of Rosh Hashonah

The Nefesh Hachaim says that on Rosh Hashonah, where there is a very serious judgement going on for the whole world, the response of Klal Yisroel is that we are davening. Davening is the way that Klal Yisroel relate to the midas hadin of Rosh Hashonah.

When we look back to the previous year and see all the terrible things that came out from our last Rosh Hashonah, we see that we need to improve something.

We must understand though that not all the details of all the events that will happen in a year are all a punishment for how we were on Rosh Hashonah. Hashem may have other calculations and reasons why an individual or Klal Yisroel as a whole need to be punished. However, what is fixed based on how we were on Rosh Hashonah, is how Hashem carries His plan out- whether He does it in a soft way or a harsh way.

We see that the way that Hashem has carried out the events of this last year was very harsh- there have been continual problems the whole year, almost non- stop. This tells us that there was something wrong with our last Rosh Hashonah.

Since that the main way that we are supposed to relate to the midas hadin of Rosh Hashonah is through tefillah, then this means that there was something wrong with our tefillah and we therefore need to improve it.

So, so far, we have said one reason why it is so important for us to work on tefillah. We can see another reason based on understanding the following Beis Halevi (Shemos 34,6) and this will provide us with the beginning for tefillah.

The need to identify ourselves as belonging to Torah and Mitzvos

He quotes from the Shevet Mussar that reshaim are filled with charatah. Why? They always look back on the aveiras that they did, after having done them and they then regret what they did.

They are able to do this because at the time of doing the aveiras they were filled with the taivas. However, now that the aveira is finished and they are looking back, without experiencing the taavah, now they see that doing this aveirah is not who they really are. However, at the time of the aveirah, when they were filled with the excitement of the taavos, then they saw themselves as people who do do aveiras.

The Beis Halevi then says over the Rambam where Beis Din beat the man until he says that he wants to give the get to his wife. The Rambam explains this based on the fact that the essence of every Jew is to do that what the Torah wants from him.

I would say the pshat like the Beis Halevi, only I would say it slightly differently. There is clearly a big chiddush that every Jew in his essence wants to do Torah and mitzvos. Therefore, when he looks back after having done an aveirah, without the taavos he really regrets what he did, because he identifies with his essence. However, when he looks at himself in the future, he doesn’t see himself with his essence.

This is a big problem. It means that the Jew only meets up with his essence of Torah and Mitzvos when looking backwards. But when he looks forward, he doesn’t meet up with his essence. His charatah was not in regards to his future. Therefore, when he has the opportunity in the future to do mitzvos or aveiras, the charatah in regards to his past does not help him.

The real way to build yourself up, is to identify yourself with your essence in how you see yourself in the future.

The Rambam, that the Beis Halevi mentioned, says it in an interesting way. He says that the man ‘kvar’, ‘already’ said that he wanted to divorce his wife. Why did the Rambam need to say that he already said he wants? Because, when he walks away from being beaten, he says that he no longer really wants. But the Rambam tells us that nevertheless the get is still a good get, since beforehand when he was still in beis din, he had already genuinely wanted to give it.

 This means that only when he was being beaten and his taavos were not making a problem for him then he wanted. But now, he is back with his taavos and he no longer wants to have done what the Torah wanted him to do. The Beis Halevi is saying that this is the same as the reshaim who only regret when looking back without their taavos.

We cannot identify ourselves with Torah and Mitzvos through yiras shomayim

However, this is very hard to achieve, as Rav Yisroel Salanter writes that nowadays (he was writing over 150 years ago) we are not able to base our avodas Hashem on yiras shamayim as we no longer have enough of it. This means that we do not have enough yiras shamayim to be able to identify ourselves as a person who belongs to Torah and Mitzvos in every situation. If so, we will be just like the reshaim who are only able to have the regret when looking back after the aveirah has been done.

This is a problem and for this reason we need to work on tefillah to help us in this area.

To identify ourselves as a davener

How can our work on tefillah help us in this?

We say in davening ashrenu mah tov chelkeinu umah noim..ashreinu sheanachnu mashkimim umaarivim erev vovoker paamayim bechol yom shema Yisroel. This is saying that klal Yisroel do not just daven. Rather, we are ashreinu in that we say krias shema and that we daven. Davening is an identity of klal Yisroel.

With this approach we will be able to identify ourselves as one that davens, like Dovid Hamelech said about himself that he is a tefillah. It is said about certain baalei avodah that they are daveners. This means that their identity is one that davens.

To understand a bit, what it means to be a davener let’s have a look at the beginning of this week’s parshah (Shoftim). There is an issur to have an asheirah tree next to the Mizbeach. Chazal compare this to a Dayan who is not suitable, living next to a talmid chacham.

My pshat in this is as follows. An asheira is very specific. If it is a date tree then it will produce dates. If it’s a pear tree then it will produce pears. On the other hand, the Mizbeach and avodah is not about any specific thing. Rather, it is about having the ratzon of Hashem connected with everything I do. Whether I am doing kaporah or whether I am davening, the main thing is that it is together with the ratzon of Hashem.

Similalrly, the non-suitable dayan is saying the correct psak but he is saying it only based on the fact that he knew what he was going to pasken already from the beginning, since it is like a similar case that he previously had. On the other hand, the talmid chochom is open to see any new understanding that may come out from any sugyah, however unexpected that it may be.

Davening-to attach the ratzon of Hashem to ourselves

The main idea from this is that avodah is not like a fruit tree. It is not about something specific. The main thing is to want that the ratzon of Hashem should be together with us in every situation and that we are open to it whatever His will may be.

So, this means that the essence of tefillah is not about contemplating all of the kavanos of the words that we are saying. Rather, the essence of tefillah is about making the attachment of the ratzon of Hashem to us. When we daven and ask Hashem for wisdom or for atonement, for ourselves or for Klal Yisroel, what we really are asking for is that Hashem should attach His ratzon to our wisdom or to our atonement.

When we begin our shemoneh esrei, hashem sefosai tiftach etc.- even in our speaking to Him, we are asking Hashem that He should be together with our speech. We are ashreinu with this that we are able to make Hashem be together with us.

If we can daven in this way, then we are called a davener. Then we identify ourselves as a person who davens.

The last year Rosh Hashanah was one of the worst days in Klal Yisroel’s history. We need to do something to improve for this year’s Rosh Hashonoh. We will begin next week to start working on tefillah in a very practical way.