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Naso 5770Volume 6 · Issue 28
Message of Sinai
They explain that six days are the days of activity during which we advance toward our destination and the seventh day is the day of rest toward which we are advancing, as we say in the Sabbath Evening Prayer, “It is the purpose of the work of heaven and earth.”
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Behaaloscha 5770Volume 6 · Issue 29
The Light of Israel
sages state (Bava Basra 25b), “One who wishes to become wise should face south, and your sign is that the Menorah was in the south.” Meaning, one who wishes to attain wisdom should incline slightly to the south during prayer and face the direction of the Menorah, which stood on the southern side of the Tabernacle. This implies that the Menorah alludes to the wisdom of the Torah.
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Haazinu 5770Volume 6 · Issue 4
Yom Kippur: Reclamation of the Self
The intermediate person, which is essentially us (cf. Berachos ibid.), is one who has a realm of communication, as it were, with the Creator. He speaks to the Creator in prayer, and he hears the Creator speak to him in Torah. From this aspect, he is righteous. But he has room for other words; he is not a person in whom it is impossible to implant foreign matter. Both the Good
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Lech Lecha 5770Volume 6 · Issue 6
Sodom Overturned
Essentially, this is the definition of the High Holiday Prayer, “And all the wickedness shall dissipate like smoke.” Smoke does not require anyone to conquer or destroy it. It dissipates on its own; it self-destructs. It integrally has no existence.
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Yisro 5771Volume 7 · Issue 18
On the Path to Mount Sinai
This follows the universal principle that the purpose is always the primary motivation of every action, as we say in the Lecha Dodi prayer, “The final act is first in thought.” One begins because one wishes to reach to the end; the destination is the very first will, the starting point of every plan. Thus, the entire course is one whose culmination is embedded
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Tetzaveh 5771Volume 7 · Issue 21
Atonement for Death
entire world. The bestowal of nourishment is through the Table and the bestowal of wisdom is through the Menorah, as the sages state (Bava Basra 25b), “One who wishes to become wise should face slightly to the south during prayer and to become wealthy to the north, and your sign is the Table in the north and the Menorah in the south.”
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VaYakhel 5771Volume 7 · Issue 23
Living in Fear
Of this, the Talmud states (Sanhedrin 105b), “All the blessings of Balaam reverted to curses, aside from his blessing regarding houses of prayer and houses of study.” This is blessing itself, the blessing of, “How good are your tents, Yaakov, your dwellings Israel.”
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Shemini-Parah 5771Volume 7 · Issue 26
The Course of Adar
letter arrangement of God’s Name that illuminates this month as the reverse of the letter arrangement that illuminates the month of Nisan. This does not follow the tradition of the Arizal, which is the version printed in our prayer books prior to Musaf of Rosh Chodesh, but it is the view of the Rama MiPano among others, and it can be inferred from some of the earlier commentators as well.
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Shelach 5771Volume 7 · Issue 33
Losing Sight
Only two limbs of man are described as good or evil. There is no such thing as evil hands, evil ears, or evil legs. We find legs that quicken to pursue evil, as we say in the Al Chet prayer of Yom Kippur, and we find hands that perform evil, but the limbs themselves are not evil; the person is evil.
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Miketz Chanukah 5772Volume 8 · Issue 12
For Glory and For Splendor
With these words, the Rambam clearly attributes the miracle of our deliverance to the Kohanim Gedolim, the High Priests. In the prayer that we recite subsequent to kindling the lights, which finds its source in the words of the sages (Sofrim 20:6), we say, “We kindle these lights for the deliverances, for the miracles, and for the wonders that You performed
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Shemos 5772Volume 8 · Issue 15
Stars of the Night
The first blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer is called the Blessing of the Fathers for it entirely concerns the Fathers. It begins with them explicitly: “Our Lord and Lord of our Fathers, Lord of Avraham, Lord of Yitzchak, and Lord of Yaakov.” But it also continues
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Yisro 5772Volume 8 · Issue 19
Need of Superfluity
This explains the prayer. “Let Moshe rejoice in the gift of his portion.” The gift of his portion refers to what the Creator had called, “Your nation, not My nation.” They are the portion of Moshe Rabbeinu within the Jewish People, which
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Bechukosai 5772Volume 8 · Issue 28
Beyond the Sabbath
We say this in our prayers as well (Sabbath Musaf Prayer), and the source is from the Talmud (Tamid 33b), ““A chant, a song for the Sabbath Day,” a chant, a song for the Ultimate Future, for the day that is entirely Sabbath,” which is the seventh millennium.
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Devarim 5772Volume 8 · Issue 36
Foundation in Ruins
“From here you learn that anyone who prays in Jerusalem is considered as if he prayed before the Throne of Glory, for the gate of heaven is open to receive the prayer of Israel, as it says, “And this is the gate of the heaven.”
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Terumah 5773Volume 9 · Issue 21
He Who Laughs Last
Dead from the Torah; he perceived that all the dead would ultimately return to life. He stood and recited the blessing, “Blessed are You, God, Who resurrects the dead,” the blessing that we recite in the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer—the first blessing relates to Avraham and the second to Yitzchak.
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Emor 5773Volume 9 · Issue 27
Ultimate Concession
Would only that we could be truly connected to everything we discussed. We must strive for this, or at least speak of this, but only out of the loftiness and transcendence of these days. In prayer, we are permitted to yearn for the slightest connection to these transcendent matters
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Bamidbar 5773Volume 9 · Issue 29
Integrated Reality
…power on its own. As stated in the Code of Jewish Law and cited in prayer books, the concept of the Name Elokim is that He is Master of all powers, which is what we must bear in mind when we say…
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Vayeira 5773Volume 9 · Issue 8
Man of War
Tosafos (ibid. 40b s.v. amar; cf. 49a s.v. baruch) cites this as one reason why the opening blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer does not contain Kingship, although it is an inviolable condition of blessings. As the Talmud states (ibid. 40b), “Any blessing in which there is no mention of the Name is not a blessing,” and, “Any blessing in which there
