Tfilos Shabbos – Mincha

Shiur 23 – Tfilos Shabbos – Mincha

We will speak about Shabbos Minchah.

וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּתִי לְךָ יְ-יָ עֵת רָצוֹן, אֱלֹקים בְּרׇב חַסְדֶּךָ עֲנֵנִי בֶּאֱמֶת יִשְׁעֶךָ׃

And I am a tefillah to You, Hashem at a desirable time.

This is unique to Shabbos. Shabbos is an eis ratzon.

Shlomo Hamelech speaks about 28 ‘itim’ (‘eis lintoah etc.). Shlomo Hamelech doesn’t include ‘eis ratzon’ in his list. Why not? 

Eis ratzon is not a time for a specific thing. Instead, the ratzon of an es ratzon is very general. It can be all different types of ratzonos. Seeing as this eis is so general, Shlomo Hamelech didn’t include it in the list.

At a time of eis ratzon, everything goes up leratzon of Hashem.

So, why is minchah specifically the eis ratzon? In our world, the day starts by becoming progressively lighter. It should keep getting more and more light without stopping. Similarly, essentially, our world should be such that more and more kedushah keeps getting added. However, this is not so. The day starts by getting lighter and lighter, but then it starts getting darker.

In leosid lovo, it will get lighter and lighter without ceasing. Even at night, it will continue to get more light. This happens at minchah on Shabbos in the penimius (we do not see it, but in the penimius this is what happens). This means that the kedushah of Shabbos continues to increase until the end of the day.

אַתָּֽה אֶחָֽד וְשִׁמְךָֽ אֶחָֽד

You are One and Your name is One.

Giluy yichud.

וּמִֽי כְּעַמְּךָֽ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל גּֽוֹי אֶחָֽד בָּאָֽרֶץ

And who is like Your nation Israel, one nation in the land

We talk about the yichud of Hashem, and then we proceed to talk about the yichud of Kllal Yisroel. How do these fit together? This resembles the famous writer who wrote ‘Churchill is dead. Napoleon is also dead, and I also don’t feel well.’ These things are incongruous with one another-how do they fit together?

The Tanna deBei Eliyahu (towards the end of perek 14) says that Eliyahu Hanavi was asked to pick between ‘ohev’, ‘ahavah’ and ‘gevurah’-which one comes first. One is Klal Yisroel, one is Yisroel, and one is Torah. Eliyahu said that people say Torah comes first, but he says Klal Yisroel comes first. 

Eliyahu was saying that people who live in olam hazeh correctly say, from their perspective, that Torah is the most important thing, since it brings them to olam habo and is the beginning of everything. Eliyahu says that from his perspective (Eliyahu will bring the geulah), Klal Yisroel is the most important. Everything depends on Klal Yisroel. Klal Yisroel is the sibbah for everything. Sibbah does not mean ‘reason’ but ’cause’.

Minchah on Shabbos is meein leosid lovo. At this time, it is revealed that Klal Yisroel are and have always been the cause of everything.

אַתָּֽה אֶחָֽד וְשִׁמְךָֽ אֶחָֽד וּמִֽי כְּעַמְּךָֽ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל גּֽוֹי אֶחָֽד בָּאָֽרֶץ.

You are One, and Your name is One.

Now we can understand why Klal Yisroel becoming one nation fits with the giluy yichud of leosid lovo. Klal Yisroel is the cause of everything, including the giluy yichud.

תִּפְאֶֽרֶת גְּדֻלָּֽה

Great splendour

Tiferes means to impress others. It is only possible to be mispaer if you are in front of someone else. So too tiferes of Hashem ‘needs’ to be done in front of Klal Yisroel. Without Klal Yisroel, there is no tiferes. This was what Eliyahu meant that Klal Yisroel comes ahead of everything else.

The greatness of Hashem is not His being the ruler. Instead, the greatness of Hashem is His tiferes.

וַֽעֲטֶֽרֶת יְשׁוּעָֽה

A crown of salvation

Chazal call Klal Yisroel Hashem’s daughter, Hashem’s sister, and even His mother. Chazal say that Klal Yisroel is like a mother when we gave Hashem a crown. We are considered like a mother who is the cause of bringing the baby into the world.

This shows that all the yeshuos we have are because we are the cause of them. The atarah is the yeshuah.

יֽוֹם מְנוּחָֽה וּקְדֻשָּֽׁה

A day of rest and holiness

During the day, we work. At the end of the day we contemplate what we have done and what additional points have been added to our personalities. This contemplation happens when we are in menuchah.

At Shabbos minchah, when we recognize that we are the cause of everything, the menuchah is taken to a higher level. This is a time of es ratzon. The reason why this state of recognition is so good is that we are the cause of everything.

אַבְרָהָֽם יָגֵֽל יִצְחָֽק יְרַנֵּֽן יַֽעֲקֹֽב וּבָנָֽיו יָנֽוּחוּ בֽוֹ

Avrohom will rejoice, Yitzchak..,Yaakov..

Besides the first berachah of the shemoneh esrei, where we mention elokei Avraham, elokei Yitzchak, etc., we don’t mention the Avos in the middle of the shemoneh esrei. On minchah, we mention the Avos. Why?

As Eliyahu Hanavi said, Klal Yisroel comes first-Klal Yisroel is the cause of everything. The Avos are Klal Yisroel, and Klal Yisroel was created from them.

מְנוּחַֽת אַֽהֲבָֽה וּנְדָבָֽה

A rest of love and generosity

Nedavah always means that it comes from you and it’s your own thing. This means that the menuchah is ours.

מְנוּחַֽת שָׁלֽוֹם וְשַׁלְוָֽה

A rest of peace and tranquility

Klal Yisroel come first. Therefore, nothing can enter into our menuchah.

מְנוּחָֽה שְׁלֵמָֽה שָֽׁאַתָּֽה רֽוֹצֶה בָּֽהּ

Complete rest that You want

This sort of menuchah can only come from Hashem. He makes it seem as if Klal Yisroel are first and most chashuv (as Eliyahu Hanavi said).

יַכִּֽירוּ בָנֶֽיךָ וְיֵֽדְעֽוּ כִּי-מֵֽאִתְּךָֽ הִֽיא מְנֽוּחָתָֽם וְעַל-מְנֽוּחָתָֽם יַקְדִּֽישׁוּ אֶת-שְׁמֶֽךָ.

Your sons will recognize, and they will know that from You is their rest

This menuchah comes from Hashem, and it’s a source of kiddush Hashem.

When Hashem told Moshe that Klal Yisroel needed to take revenge against Midyan, Moshe said that Klal Yisroel needed to take the revenge of Hashem against Midyan.

Bilaam tried to make bnos midyan cause us to sin. Hashem responded that Klal Yisroel needed to take revenge so as to establish Klal Yisroel as Klal Yisroel. Moshe Rabbeinu said based on this that we needed to establish Hashem. Moshe said something that sounded different from what Hashem had said, but it wasn’t really. Since Hashem and Yisroel are one thing, therefore establishing Hashem and establishing Klal Yisroel is really the same thing. This is אַתָּֽה אֶחָֽד וְשִׁמְךָֽ אֶחָֽד וּמִֽי כְּעַמְּךָֽ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל גּֽוֹי אֶחָֽד בָּאָֽרֶץ. Klal Yisroel comes first because Hashem and Klal Yisroel are one and the same. Everything comes from Hashem, but if Klal Yisroel and Hashem are one thing, then Klal Yisroel can be like Eliyahu Hanavi said, ‘ Yisroel kodem’.

וְיָנֽוּחוּ בָֽם יִשְׂרָאֵֽל מְקַדְּשֵֽׁי שְׁמֶֽךָ

And they will rest on them

The didkuk of the word בָֽם leads some people to think we are referring to multiple Shabbosos. The Ramban says on the possuk’ vees shabsosai tishmoru’ that it refers to the two aspects of Shabbos-zochor veshomor. If so, Shabbos, which includes multiple things, need not refer to multiple Shabbosos. Instead, it refers to different elements within one Shabbos.

At the time of es ratzon on Shabbos, when Klal Yisroel becomes ‘one nation in the land,’ everything becomes one. So too the two aspects of Shabbos become one. This is why we say בָֽם, rather than בה, which we say on Friday night.

צִדְקָתְךָ צֶדֶק לְעוֹלָם וְתוֹרָתְךָ אֱמֶת 

Your righteousness is an eternal righteousness and Your Torah is true

The Ramban in his hakdamah to the Torah says ‘I am only afraid of Hashem. He should save me from His anger. He should save me from mistakes and all chatoim and aveiras. He should guide me on a straight path. He should open for us gates of light, and I should be zocheh to Mashiach, etc.’ He then brings three possukim that begin with the letter tzaddi, which seemingly bear no connection to what the Ramban had been saying.

According to my understanding, the idea of these possukim is that the geulah will come with the letter tzaddi. The Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer says that the geulah from Mitzrayim happened with the letter pei-‘pokod pokadati’. But the geulah of leosid will be with the letter tzaddi, like ‘es Tzemach Dovid’.

I think that the Ramban meant to say that he might not be zocheh to the geulah, but he was davening that his divrei torah should be with Klal Yisroel until the geulah. 

צִדְקָתְךָ צֶדֶק is the tzidduk hadin. Moshe Rabbeinu passed away, and this is the tzidduk hadin of Shabbos minchah. The three possukim of tzidkoscha are with the letter tzaddi since they refer to the future geulah.

To conclude our series of shiurim on tefillas Shabbos, I will say one thing about atoh chonantonu. Chazal say that if there is no daas, there is no Havdalah. This doesn’t mean that if you are not so intellectual, then you cannot discern havdalos between things. Instead, it means that if you have daas, then you discern the difference between the daas of Shabbos and the daas of the whole week. When you make Havdalah, you discern that now you are being mavdil between the daas of Shabbos and the daas of the entire week.

This is why in atoh chonantonu we ask Hashem that, even when we have the daas of the rest of the week, may He help us not to commit any aveiras, and for this we need emunah. 

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Written by Rabbi Rapport