It seems that each time I am away from home, Hashem grants me new precious gifts to strengthen my tefilah and feeling of connection with Him. There have been several of these gifts over the last few months. This week, while visiting my son in Los Angeles, I ventured into a kollel for a couple of minutes. This was not my usual place of tefilah while there. I noticed a thin but oh-so powerful booklet titled “Davar B’Ito,” containing a summary of a few sichos given by HaRav Matisyahu Salomon zt”l on “the Torah hashkafah in a time of tzarah of war.” These sichos were delivered roughly ten years ago but unfortunately are extremely relevant today.
What is the proper Torah response in times such as we are currently experiencing? Essentially, through various Chazal, HaRav Salomon highlights the crucial role of tefilah and why that must be our response. We are not talking about T’hilim right now. Certainly, learning Torah and the extra T’hilim we are reciting are very important. But our primary response must come in the form of our Shemoneh Esrei tefilos. It is not possible in our limited segment to provide the details of these sichos, but we wish to present some of the major points HaRav Salomon stresses, based on various Chazal.
Hashem is seeking our t’shuvah, specifically relating to our tefilos. This is learned from midrashim. He then quotes HaRav Yerucham Levovitz (Daas Torah, B’Shalach, bei’urim) who, based on the same midrashim, concludes that the regular daily tefilos of the Avos were said as if they were in an eis tzarah. They consistently felt that they were lost without Hashem’s rachamim and chesed, and that Hashem is the only source for all their needs.
Imagine what our Shemoneh Esrei could look like if we truly felt that way. If we deeply believed that our brachah of “V’LaMalshinim” in Shemoneh Esrei is what will break our enemies and humble those who wish to harm us, what would our everyday Shacharis, Minchah, and Maariv look like? The same is true for so many other brachos in Shemoneh Esrei. Think about “Hashiveinu” for all those who have not yet returned, “Bareich Aleinu” for those in need of desperate financial help, the return of Yerushalayim and the coming of Mashiach, heartfelt gratitude in “Modim,” and so much more.
When we are davening Shemoneh Esrei, it is like Yom Kippur. We are “lifnei Hashem” – standing before Hashem. The halachos of Shemoneh Esrei in many ways are more stringent than even Shema, despite the great importance of Shema. In Shema, we speak about Hashem. In Shemoneh Esrei, we are speaking directly to Hashem. He is listening to us and desires to hear us. These are not my words. These are words of Chazal.
If we work now to improve our tefilos, that is t’shuvah on all tefilos of the past, where we might not have given tefilah the appropriate chashivus (importance) it deserves.
Rabbeinu Yonah and the Shulchan Aruch (siman 98 s’if 3), based on the Gemara in B’rachos, teach us the correct manner of tefilah. We must daven our everyday Shemoneh Esrei (even not in times of war or tzarah) as a poor person who is banging on the door, pleading for his needs. We have urgent needs and there is only One to turn to. Certainly, in our current time of tzarah, how can we not daven that way? If we exert effort to improve our tefilos to the level that we can really plead heartfully, we will be showing gratitude for the great gift that Hashem has bestowed upon us. If we make a commitment now, we can correct a lifetime of tefilos that we might not be so happy with.
The Chafetz Chaim, writing to Jewish soldiers, instructed them to be very careful in two areas of their tefilos. One, that their tefilos come from the depth of their hearts and not just from their lips. He advised them to try to arouse themselves to the level of crying in their tefilos. Two, that they have in mind before starting, that they are directing their tefilah through Eretz Yisrael, from there to Yerushalayim, and from there to the Kodesh HaKodashim, where all our tefilos rise up. This is actually a halachah brought in siman 94 in the Shulchan Aruch. These are the two points the Chafetz Chaim stressed to the soldiers.
As we have stated many times: da mah l’maalah mimcha! What is being decided up in Shamayim is dependent upon us. Rabbeinu Yonah, based on the Mechilta, writes that when one makes a commitment now and has a plan to fulfill that commitment, all the merits that will come about for years to come as a result of the improvements brought about by that commitment will be in place right now at the time of the commitment.
We have before us, now, two major days of “eis ratzon” – times of favor. Taanis Esther is actually the one day a year whose entire essence is tefilah. Esther asked B’nei Yisrael to daven for her, and those tefilos were heard and resulted in our y’shuah. We know that each day in future years contains the DNA of the original day that made it a special day. This is true of each Yom Tov and true of Taanis Esther, as well. Therefore, on Taanis Esther, we will have a unique day whose entire essence is pleading for the salvation of the Jewish people, who were in fact saved because Hashem heard and accepted our tefilos.
We also have the day of Purim. With so much going on, we may overlook the great opportunity to pour our hearts out on this day, which is considered by some the equivalent and “second half” of Yom Kippur – and by others, even a higher level than Yom Kippur. Let us do our very best to plan in advance how and when we can best pour our hearts out and plead to Hashem over the tefilos of Purim.
Imagine the stockpile of merits and brachah that can be showered upon Bnei Yisrael, our loved ones closest to us, and ourselves, if we make a firm commitment to work the Weekly Tefilah Focus Program starting now. This means either reading these segments weekly and/or listening to HaRav Mordechai Finkelman’s popular weekly shiurim on TorahAnytime, OR listening to various other speakers/resources on TorahAnytime and elsewhere (for example, Rav Yitzchak Berkovitz is in the midst of a very inspiring and informative overview of tefilah available through TorahAnytime), OR choosing a sefer of your choice on the Siddur. The key is to limit it to one shiur/pasuk/concept weekly. For that week, you focus during your tefilah more on that pasuk/concept than any other part of tefilah. After a week, you will “own” that pasuk/concept and it will reside deeply inside of you. Week after week, continue this; over time, you will transform your tefilos and your connection with Hashem, and you will shower brachah upon all of us.
To hear more about the program and its origination, click on the banner on TorahAnytime and listen to HaRav Mordechai Finkelman describe it. Over the almost nine years since the program’s inception, many people have experienced phenomenal results of their consistent efforts over time. The beauty is that this does not take much extra time weekly. The learning time may be 10-15 minutes weekly. The key is the review that week, in each and every tefilah, which is not new time invested, since we are davening in any case.
MAKE THE COMMITMENT NOW. May we all be blessed with y’shuos, r’fuos, a showering of brachah, and most importantly: the coming of Mashiach and the return of the Shechinah to the newly built Beis HaMikdash speedily in our days.
To access print versions of previous Tefilah segments, please visit OU Torah’s Search portal, select the Topic of “Tefillah,” and then select “Weekly Tefilah Focus” from the Series list.
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For Rabbi Mordechai Finkelman’s video and audio shiurim, which are based on our Tefilah Focus segments but also include his insightful and inspiring additions, please visit TorahAnytime.com or simply search for “TorahAnytime Rabbi Finkelman.”
You can direct any questions or comments to Eliezer Szrolovits at 917-551-0150.
