Tefilos Shabbos – Shmona Esre Shacharis

 Shiur 21 – Tefilos Shabbos – Shmona Esre Shacharis

Everyone should be aware that the series of shiurim on tefillah that I have given and continue to provide are not intended to tell you what to think about during davening. Instead, my aim is to open up the tefillah so you can daven on your own.

Tefillah essentially cannot be expressed. The words that we say are like a ‘levush’ for the powerful encounter that we have with Hashem. The essential tefillah is far deeper than the externality of the words that we say.

We start with ‘Hashem sefosai tiftach’-we cannot even begin to open our mouths without Hashem’s help. ‘Ufi yagid‘ means that we are telling a secret (nefesh hachaim). ‘Tehillosechah‘ is based on the possuk’ lecho dumiyah tehillah’-silence is a tehillah for Hashem. This means that we are saying at the beginning of the shemoneh esrei that we need to be silent. 

Therefore, I am not trying to teach what we say during shemoneh esrei; instead, I am just offering some ideas to help us connect with the essence of shemoneh esrei.

The shemoneh esrei of Shabbos is not about attaining our needs. We are resting on Shabbos as if everything in our own lives is taken care of. Rather, we speak about kedushas Shabbos.

The general chiddush of Shabbos Shacharis is techiyas hamesim.

יִשְׂמַֽח משֶֽׁה בְּמַתְּנַֽת חֶלְקֽוֹ, כִּֽי עֶֽבֶד נֶאֱמָֽן קָרָֽאתָ לּֽוֹ

Moshe will rejoice in the gift of his portion because a trusty servant you called him.

We say yismach moshe and not somach moshe. Why?

The first luchos which Moshe brought to us and Moshe’s entering into Eretz Yisroel didn’t materialize. Moshe also said that he knew that he would die and Klal Yisroel would go and serve avodah zorah. Moshe’s personal mission for Klal Yisroel didn’t work out. This makes Moshe Rabbeinu the model for techiyas hamesim.

Just as at the time of Moshe Rabbeinu’s actions, nothing appeared to work, but in the end everything did work out, so too, things appear not to work at the time, but in techiyas hamesim we will see that everything does work out.

This is why we say ‘yismach‘ in the future tense. In the future, Moshe will be happy to see that everything will work out in techiyas hamesim. Why will he be happy? ‘ki eved neemon koroso’. He was an eved neeman who did everything Hashem wanted, even if it didn’t succeed at the time.

כְּלִֽיל תִּפְאֶֽרֶת בְּראשֽׁו נָתַֽתָּ לּֽוֹ

You gave him splendour on his head

Moshe’s face was shining. The bodies of people are not made in a way that the penimius shines through the body. The penimius is concealed. Moshe was different in this respect. This was because Moshe was connected with techiyas hamesim. Techiyas Hamesim will be a time when the body will be made in a way that it will allow the penimius to shine through.

וּשְׁנֵֽי לֻחֽוֹת אֲבָנִֽים הוֹרִֽיד בְּיָדֽוֹ

And he brought down two luchos in his hand

Moshe brought down the broken luchos. This epitomizes Moshe Rabbeinu. He was involved with things that didn’t work out. However, in the end, we will see that everything that he did will materialize.

וְשָׁמְרֽוּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל אֶת־הַשַּׁבָּֽת

And bnei Yisroel will guard the Shabbos

Everyone asks that veshomru is not in the luchos. If so, why do we quote it in conjunction with the luchos? In addition, veshomru is mentioned in the Torah (parshas Ki Sisa) before the luchos were broken, and here we are saying it after we mention that Moshe broke the luchos?

Let’s answer these questions. First, we need to understand that the luchos which Moshe broke were Hashem’s luchos and did not belong in our world. If so, how was Moshe able to bring them down into our world and break them? The answer is that shemiras Shabbos itself is written in the luchos, making it suitable to bring the luchos into our world. This is what we are saying when we refer here to veshomru-we are explaining how it was suitable for Moshe to bring the luchos down (and we are not referring to where or when veshomru was said).

בְּרִֽית עוֹלָֽם׃ בֵּינִֽי וּבֵֽין בְּנֵֽי

An eternal covenant

Shabbos is a bris between Hashem and us. An item that is a bris between two parties belongs to both parties. Therefore, each party can hold onto it. This is why Moshe could bring the luchos down.

וְלֹא־נְתַתּֽוֹ יְ-יָ אֱלֹקינוּ לְגוֹיֵֽי הָאֲרָצֽוֹת

And Hashem will not give it to the nations of the world

A bris is between two parties to the exclusion of everyone else. This is why we say here that the goyim were not privileged to be part of the bris.  Since only we have the bris with Hashem, we are the ones who have the special relationship with Hashem Elokeinu.

לְגוֹיֵֽי הָאֲרָצֽוֹת

The nations of the world are connected with the world. They might be great people, but all within being shayach to the world.

וְלֹא־הִנְחַלְתּֽוֹ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ

He is our King.

לְעובְדֵֽי פְסִילִֽים

To the worshippers of idols

A king demands to be served. However, service from those connected to the tangible world is not suitable for serving Hashem, Who is intangible.

וְגַֽם בִּמְנוּחָתֽוֹ לֹא־יִשְׁכְּנֽוּ עֲרֵלִֽים.

And also the areilim will not reside in His menuchah

Here we state that areilim will not reside within the menuchah of Shabbos. Menuchah is diametrically opposed to an absence of kedushas haguf. Menuchah means kedushah from the body.

We think that menuchas hanefesh means calmness. This is incorrect. The truth is that the prerequisite for menuchas hanefesh is not to be under the influence of great hype. This gives kedushas haguf. The body of areilim is under the influence of great hype.

So we have seen that goyei haaratzos, ovdei pesilim, and areilim are all unsuitable for Hashem and menuchah. Now we list three who, in contrast, are suitable. 

כִּי לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל עַמְּךָֽ נְתַתּֽוֹ בְּאַהֲבָֽה

To Israel You gave it with love

Yisroel amcha is in contrast to the goyey haaratzos.

לְזֶֽרַע יַעֲקֹֽב אֲשֶׁר־בָּֽם בָּחָֽרְתָּ

To zerah Yaakov that You chose

This is in contrast to the ovdei pesilim who need to fabricate who they are serving. Zerah Yaakov, on the other hand, have been chosen by Hashem, from amongst all the nations, meaning to say that we do not need to fabricate to Whom we are serving.

עַֽם מְקַדְּשֵֽׁי שְׁבִיעִֽי

The nation who sanctify the seventh day

We have a kedushas haguf. Shevii always means a tachlis. The tachlis of everything is always holy. It’s not pshat that the body is the end product, and it is orel. Rather, the end product is kedushah, and this is what we are.

So, we list three groups of people who are not suitable for the bris. They correspond to Yaakov, Yisroel and am mekadshei shevii.

כֻּלָּֽם יִשְׂבְּעֽוּ וְיִתְעַנְּגֽוּ מִטּוּבֶֽךָ

All of them will be satisfied and will delight in Your goodness

Taanug is when something is above your personal reality but touches you and elicits a feeling of taanug. On Shabbos, we have a taanug from something intangible. These are the luchos avonim, which essentially belong in shomayim but come down on Shabbos into our world; hence, they are intangible. Although they are intangible, they nevertheless touch us.

וּבַשְּׁבִיעִֽי רָצִֽיתָ בּֽוֹ וְקִדַּשְׁתּֽוֹ

You desired the seventh day

Hashem wanted the shevii because it’s a tachlis. This tachlis is part of the world, but at the same time, above the world.

חֶמְדַֽת יָמִֽים אוֹתֽוֹ קָרָֽאתָ, זֵֽכֶר לְמַעֲשֵֽׂה בְרֵאשִֽׁית.

You called it the desirable of days.

A Zecher to anything always means that it contains the essence of the thing that it is a remembrance of. If so this that Shabbos is a Zecher to maaseh bereishis means that Shabbos contains within it the essence of maaseh bereishis.

רְצֵֽה בִמְנוּחָתֵֽנוּ

Desire our menuchah

We ask Hashem to be content with our menuchah.

וְיָנֽוּחוּ בֽוֹ

And they will rest on it

We say בו and not בה. The letter vav is a connecting vav. Here, it connotes the connection between this world and the higher world. This is like the luchos, which belonged in shomayim but came down to our world, connecting the two worlds to one another.

Our aim is not to daven according to my pshatim. Rather, I am bringing to our attention the topics of the tefillah.

Words in tefillah are like a handle for something much deeper than the words themselves.  Once a year or once every six months, we might experience this. This is a sign that we really davened well.

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Written by Rabbi Rapport