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Terumah 5758Volume 19 · Issue 21
Straight from the Heart
The Talmud (Berachos 9b) relates of Rav Beruna who once juxtaposed redemption to prayer and a smile never left his lips throughout the day—despite the prohibition of filling the mouth with laughter in This World (ibid. 31a).
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Mishpatim-Shekalim 5769Volume 5 · Issue 19
Monetary Dynamic
…call to Him.” At first glance, this seems incomprehensible. In the great prayer of King Solomon, he prays that the Creator listen to every prayer of the gentile in particular, and says (Melachim I 8:43), “Do…
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Mishpatim-Shekalim 5770Volume 6 · Issue 19
Announcement of the Shekels
never attain a higher perception of the Creator than His unsurpassable esteem. This is the furthest limit that we can fathom while we are here: “There is nothing like Your value.” The subsequent praise mentioned in the prayer, “There is nothing other than You,” is currently unfathomable to us. Further removed from our conception is the praise, “There is naught beside You,” and even further, is the praise, “There is nothing comparable to You.”
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Shelach 5752Volume 15 · Issue 34
War of Profusion
The Shemoneh Esrei Prayer that the Men of the Great Assembly instituted then relates to the act of creation. There, we say, “The heavens and the earth, and all their components, were completed” (Bereshis 2:1).
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Vayechi 5761Volume 21 · Issue 16
Closed Eyes Closed Heart
In the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer, we ask, “Raise a banner to gather our exiles,” and we bless the One Who gathers the dispersed of His nation Israel.
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Rosh Hashanah 5761Volume 21 · Issue 5
Day of Remembrance
Prayer at Mount Moriah
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Ki Savo 5765Volume 2 · Issue 3
Forging the Bond of Life
…to complete the Torah and begin it again on the Sukkoth festival (Rambam Tefillah 13:1) is what warrants this. According to our custom, the reading of this portion inevitably occurs around Rosh Hashanah; therefore, to…
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Korach 5767Volume 3 · Issue 35
Interlacing Heaven and Earth
…whenever we call to Him?” The verse is difficult to understand, for prayer works for gentiles as well. King Solomon prayed in particular for their prayers to be answered, and said (Melachim I 8:41-43), “Also…
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Vayechi 5769Volume 5 · Issue 13
Bound to Hope
As of now, God is our Lord alone, but ultimately, He will be the One God over all nations. All of them bar none will accept His Kingship, as we say in the Aleinu prayer, “Let all of them accept the yoke of Your Kingship, and may You reign over them speedily forever more—because Kingship is Yours.” The Creator is the King of the world and when the time comes, it will be revealed
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Emor 5769Volume 5 · Issue 24
Reflections of Sincerity
To illustrate—the Rambam calls the leader’s repetition of the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer communal prayer (Hilchos Tefillah 8:4). The congregation prays through the mouth of the leader, who prays the one prayer for the entire congregation. This defines the concept of communal prayer by those prayers in which the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer
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Devarim 5775Volume 11 · Issue 31
Festival of Destiny
The Hebrew word for miracle is neiss, which literally means banner, as in the verse that we recite in the Musaf Prayer of Rosh Hashanah (Yeshayahu 18:3), “All inhabitants of the world and dwellers of the earth—when the neiss, the banner, is raised upon the mountains, you will see, and when the shofar is sounded, you will hear.”
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Pekudei 5752Volume 15 · Issue 25
Mindful Acquisition
In the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer, the Blessing of Knowledge is where we recite the Havdalah prayer, the separation between the Sabbath and weekdays. The Jerusalem Talmud explains (Berachos 5:2, 39b), “If the faculty of knowing is absent, from where can there be separation?” Without
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Bamidbar 5752Volume 15 · Issue 31
Engraved Portion
…orah over the course of three years, as was the ancient custom of Israel (Megillah 29b; Rashi; Rambam Hilchos Tefillah 13:1). Not always—and logically, never—would they be near these portions during these seasons. At…
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Bamidbar 5754Volume 16 · Issue 28
Planted Firm
For this reason, a section of curses must be read before Shavuos to end the year and its curses—and, as the earlier commentators add in the poetic Rosh Hashanah prayer of Achoss Ketanah, to begin the year and it blessings. In other words, the judgment on this day for the fruit of the tree renders it the beginning of a new year.
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Beshalach 5765Volume 1 · Issue 2
Song of Faith
Every blessing expresses our yearning and prayer for the revealed part that is present in the subject of the blessing to be revealed more. For this reason, the blessing opens in second person, addressing the revealed aspect of God’s deeds and Names. But it continues in third
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Vayigash 5769Volume 5 · Issue 12
Deciding our Faith
…Who was with us when man rose against us….” The clear focus of the prayer is on the rising of a man against us. He explains that while the Torah does not call any of the nations man, “You are…
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Nitzavim-Vayelech 5770Volume 7 · Issue 4
Remembering the Covenant
says to us, “Recite before Me verses of kingship on Rosh Hashanah to crown Me as King over you, verses of remembrance to elevate your remembrance before Me for goodness” (Rosh Hashanah 16a), and the section of the prayer that includes the verses of remembrance concludes, “Blessed be You, God, Who remembers the covenant.”
