Tefilos Shabbes – Maariv – Rze Bimnuchoseinu – Machasir Shchinosou

Shiur 9 – Retzei vimnuchoseinu, retzei and vesechezenah

We will mainly discuss the tefillah elokeinu velokei avoseinu retze vimnuchoseinu. This tefillah is common to the Shabbos tefillos of Shacharis, Minchah and Maariv. Shabbos is a time when we and the world exist in a penimius state. This tefillah is all about requesting to be zocheh in this penimius world.

A proof that in this tefillah we ask for penimius can be seen from our saying kadesheinu bemitzvosechah-make us holy with Your Mitzvos. On Yom Tov we say in the tefillah vekidashtonu bemitzvosecha-You (past tense) made us holy with Your mitzvos. If so, on Shabbos we are looking for more than the kedushah which Hashem already sanctified us with. In other words we are asking for more kedushah than we practically already have. This means that in this tefillah we are asking for more penimius of kedushas hamitzvos.

אֱלֹקינוּ וֵאלֹקי אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ

Our G-d and the G-d of our fathers

Hashem is connected with us.

רְצֵֽה בִמְנוּחָתֵֽנוּ 

Want our rest

Hashem’s ratzon does not refer to instances when He wants something from us for a particular reason or purpose (not personal to Him). Instead, it refers to Him wanting something, where His want stems from His own personal interest.

Here, we ask Hashem that our menuchah should reach such a deep level  that it should be in the same place as His menuchah. We ask that just like His menuchah stemmed from His own personal interest (nobody else was involved with His rotzon for His menuchah), so too may our menuchah be so deep that it should stem from His own personal interest.

On Yom Tov we do not ask Hashem to be retze besimchoseinu. Why do we ask Hashem to be retze bimnuchoseinu on Shabbos specifically? Since He Himself was bimenuchah on Shabbos, our being in menuchah can touch and connect with that.

קַדְּשֵֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶֽיךָ

Sanctify us with Your mitzvos

Kedushah means removed from us. However, we ask Hashem to make us holy, meaning we ask to be affected by the kedushah. If so, whilst kedushah is removed from us, it is not totally disconnected from us. Whilst the kedushah is not tangible to us, the kedushah that we ask for is such that we can feel that there is something above. 

Here, we are asking for penimius for ourselves as opposed to retzei bimnuchoseinu, which asks for penimius of our menuchah to be for Hashem in His realm.

וְתֵֽן חֶלְקֵֽנוּ בְּתוֹרָתֶֽךָ

Give us our portion in Your Torah

We are not asking for hatzlocho in our learning. The proper understanding of this is like the Ramban at the end of Parshas Bo, which says that we only have a portion in Toras Moshe if we believe that everything that happens to us is neither natural nor from minhogo shel olam.

This means that if a person thinks only for five minutes that an illness is due to natural causes or that a geneivah was caused by the ganav, then they are not keeping to the level of this Ramban of having a share in Toras Moshe. 

Only if a person is living life with the recognition that everything is reward and punishment from Hashem do they have a true chelek in Torah.

People ask if they have permission to go to the doctor. It depends if they are living a natural life or one of more penimius, with everything according to the Torah‘s perspective. If they are living life within nature (which is permitted), then they should go. 

There are very few people who can live life at the level of this Ramban.

If a person’s initial reaction to a bad event is that the bad that occurred was due to natural causes, but they then convince themselves that it was the hand of Hashem, they are still not at the level of the Ramban. But, they are at least working on building their emunah.

Our request for our chelek in Torah is also a penimius request, but it is more tangible to us than the previous request for kedushah, as this request is for Torah to become a part of our tangible life.

שַׂבְּעֵֽנוּ מִטּוּבֶֽךָ

Satisfy us from Your goodness

We ask that our whole reality should be filled with Hashem’s goodness and that we should feel that we have enough.

וְשַׂמְּחֵֽנוּ בִּישׁוּעָתֶֽךָ

Make us happy with Your salvation

Reb Yisroel Salanter says that simchah is a feeling we experience when something fits with our natural kochos hanefesh. If so, this request for simchah is a request for the penimius to become part of our natural selves and give us a simchah. We are requesting that we not only be affected by the penimius world but that we should also live in it.

וְטַהֵֽר לִבֵּֽנוּ לְעָבְדְּךָֽ בֶּאֱמֶֽת

Purify our heart to serve You in truth

 We ask Hashem to clean our hearts so that we can serve Him be’emes, in truth. Without this taharah, we would not serve Him in truth.

All of our avodah must come from our simchah and kochos hanefesh. However, kochos hanefesh are such that we can use them for avodah and for things that are close to avodah but are not exactly.

Consider, for example, the koach hanefesh of menuchas hanefesh. Everybody needs to be with menuchah which means being with themselves and feeling that they are not interfered with by anything outside of themselves. However, the menuchah of Shabbos, for example, could give a person such a feeling of menuchah that they become so comfortable with themselves that this can push them to stop doing avodah.

Here, we are asking Hashem to help us use our kochos hanefesh in a way that is aligned with avodas Hashem.

וְהַנְחִילֵֽנוּ ה’ אֱלֹקינוּ בְּאַהֲבָֽה וּבְרָצֽוֹן שַׁבַּֽת קָדְשֶֽׁךָ

Give us an inheritance, Hashem, our G-d, of Your holy Shabbos with love and want.

 We ask Hashem to give us Shabbos as an inheritance, not a purchase. An inheritance means that we get Shabbos from Hashem because of our essential connection with Hashem (just like relatives inherit based on their essential connection with the deceased).

Our connection with Hashem is one of ahavah and ratzon from Hashem to us. Ahavah is connected to a matzav.[1] Having ahavah always means a love for something, such as Hashem‘s love for Klal Yisroel. Rotzon is deeper than ahavah. It is not connected to any matzav but to Hashem Himself.   

וְיָנֽוּחוּ בָֽהּ  

And we will rest on it

Here, we say ‘voh’ with the letter hai at the end. At Shabbos Shacharis, we say ‘veyonuchu vo’ with a letter vov at the end. Let’s explain the reason for the difference.

The davening of Leil Shabbos is focused on our world reaching its conclusion and destination after the six days of creation. In contrast, the davening of Shacharis is focused on the world with an additional dimension to it, primarily Moshe‘s bringing down the luchos from Hashem’s realm (these luchos do not become part of the world itself but remain above it).

The gemorah in Menachos 29b says that Olam Hazeh was created with the letter hei-the people who want to go out from this olam can do so (like the letter ‘hai‘, which has an open gap). On the other hand, olam habo was created with the letter yud, as it’s for the few tzaddikim (like the little letter ‘yud’).

At Leil Shabbos, we speak about our natural world, Olam Hazeh. Therefore, we say ‘voh’ with the letter hei. 

At Shacharis when we speak about a higher world, olam haboh, we say ‘vo‘, with the letter vov at the end, as vov is always a connecting letter. We are not speaking about our world that we live in, but about a higher dimension to the world that we at least have a connection to.

My hergesh is that the dot in the hei of ‘voh‘ is capturing the fact that we are not just in our world but that we are in a point within it-the penimius of the world. 

רְצֵֽה ה” אֱלֹקינוּ בְּעַמְּךָֽ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל וּבִתְפִלָּתָֽם

Hashem, G-d want Your people Israel and their tefillos

Hashem’s ratzon is for Klal Yisroel. Here we ask for His ratzon to be with us as one body of Klal Yisroel.

וּתְפִלָּתָֽם בְּאַֽהֲבָֽה תְקַבֵּֽל בְּרָצֽוֹן

And may You accept their tefillos with love, with a want 

Why don’t we say usefilosom beahavah uverotzon sekabel-why do we split the request for ahavah from the request for ratzon?

To immediately ask Hashem to accept our tefillos with ratzon is too large a request. Therefore, first we ask Hashem to accept our tefillos with ahavah. Once He will accept them with ahavah, only then can we ask Him to also accept them with the deeper level of His personal ratzon.

וּתְהִֽי לְרָצֽוֹן תָּמִֽיד עֲבוֹדַֽת יִשְׂרָאֵֽל עַמֶּֽךָ

And may the service of Israel, Your people, be for a constant want 

We ask that when the avodah comes back to the Beis Hamikdosh may it be leratzon tomid.

וְתֶֽחֱזֶֽינָה עֵינֵֽינוּ בְּשֽׁוּבְךָֽ לְצִיּֽוֹן בְּרַֽחֲמִֽים. בָּרֽוּךְ אַתָּֽה ה” הַמַּֽחֲזִֽיר שְׁכִֽינָתֽוֹ לְצִיּֽוֹן 

May our eyes see Your return to Tziyon with compassion. Blessed are You Hashem Who returns His Shechinah to Tziyon

The returning of the Shechinah to Tziyon is called by one of the Rishonim as the returning of a lost item to its owner. Tziyon is the place from where everything comes out to the world and therefore the Shechinah should return there, where it belongs.

Editor’s note

[1]Hashem exists in His essential existence without Klal Yisroel or anyone else. However, Hashem exists in a matzav from which He relates to Klal Yisroel. This is where we find Hashem having ahavah for us.

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Written by Rabbi Rapport