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Shelach 5773Volume 9 · Issue 32
Cry of Life
Midnight Prayer
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Yom Kippur 5775Volume 11 · Issue 5
Seal of Life
…ded him to circumcise near sunset at the time of Ne’ilah, the closing prayer of the day, and sealed him for life—he and all the members of his household. This is what we say, “For Your covenant that You have…
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Ki Savo 5775Volume 12 · Issue 3
One With Torah
…ncealed from all the living; He covered Himself over with a cloud so that no prayer and cry would pass through. For the Heavenly Court already received the witnesses and claims, and presented everything in the innermost…
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Shelach 5776Volume 12 · Issue 36
Infinite Aspiration
Some earlier commentators ruled that the sky-blue thread is critical to the white threads, and to wear a prayer shawl without it is forbidden. For example, the Baal HaMaor himself whom we mentioned earlier never wore a prayer shawl in his life. In his opinion, the law forbids wearing tzitzis when there is no sky-blue thread. He would not have fulfilled
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Behar-Bechukosai 5747Volume 13 · Issue 30
Counting to the Uncountable
well known that “I” is one of God’s Names. There are times when we turn to the Creator of the World and plead, “I… deliver us now.” True, another Name of God is included in this prayer, but it does not change the fact that we address Him as “I.”
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Pinchas 5747Volume 13 · Issue 37
Attestation of Greatness
counsel to bring them to immorality, which transformed all his blessings to curse. The only exception was his blessing (Bamidbar 24:5; Sanhedrin 105b), “How great are your tents, Yaakov, your dwellings, Israel.” This refers to the houses of prayer and houses of learning.
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Lech Lecha 5754Volume 16 · Issue 6
Journey of Blessing
In Israel, the request for rain in the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer begins on the seventh of Cheshvan. “And provide dew and rain for blessing over the surface of the ground.” The sages and earlier commentators refer to it with the unmodified term “request,” as if it were the quintessence of all requests.
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Chukas 5760Volume 20 · Issue 36
Source of All Sources
Testimonial Prayer
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Behar-Bechukosai 5761Volume 21 · Issue 28
Passionate Devotion
On Rosh Hashanah, we are judged for all the curses of Ki Savo. As we say in the prayer of Unesaneh Tokef, “Who will live and who will die, who in his time and who not in his time, who will become poor and who will become rich, who will suffer and who will not.”
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Behaaloscha 5768Volume 4 · Issue 34
Continuity of Sinai
With this, we can understand the reason given by the earlier commentators to the order of prayer (Shibolei HaLeket chapter 44, Orchos Chaim, Kolbo, Machzor Vitri) for reciting the verses beginning with Uva LeTzion (Yeshayahu 59:20-21), which read, ““A redeemer shall come to Zion and to those of Yaakov who are repentant of transgression,” the words
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Ki Savo 5768Volume 5 · Issue 3
Rosh Hashanah: Strength of Infinite Joy
Thirteen Attributes of Mercy that they will never return empty-handed (Rosh Hashanah 17b).” In other words, when we turn to the Creator and recite the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, there is a covenant that guarantees that this prayer will never go unanswered.
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Shelach 5770Volume 6 · Issue 30
Tears of Return
Certainly, he meant that he would pray for its elimination—but then again, even the great miracles of Elisha were performed only after he prayed, as the Talmud clearly states (Megillah 27a).
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Shoftim 5772Volume 9 · Issue 1
Crossroads of Redemption
The Talmud (Berachos 17a) relates that R’ Alexandri formulated his own prayer to recite after the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer, while he was yet standing in the Creator’s Presence. We have chosen for ourselves a different prayer, but he would turn to the Creator after he finished his prayer and say, “Master
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Balak 5776Volume 12 · Issue 39
Truth Endures
“He sought to say that they not have houses of prayer and houses of study, but instead he said (Bamidbar 24:5), “How great are your tents, Yaakov.”
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Pinchas 5776Volume 12 · Issue 40
Sparks of Hope
entire world shall be filled with the honor of God.” Here it was promised that the Children of Israel would be exiled throughout the world and the honor of God would be revealed everywhere. There would be houses of prayer and house of study and His honor would fill the entire world. This is how the decree of all the exiles is stated in the Torah itself.
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Chayei Sarah 5776Volume 12 · Issue 9
The Teaching of Avraham
Place of Prayer
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Balak 5752Volume 15 · Issue 36
Language of Clarity
Conventionally, both blessing and curse are considered as corollaries of prayer. To bless someone means to pray for him—to turn to the Creator to bestow blessing upon him. And conversely, to curse means to turn to the Creator in the opposite direction. But this does not help us understand
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Balak 5754Volume 16 · Issue 33
Inverted to Blessing
Once he introduced this defilement in Israel, everything inverted. As the Talmud states, all his blessings reverted to curse except for houses of prayer and learning, “How great are your tents, Yaakov, your dwellings, Israel” (Bamidbar 24:5; Sanhedrin 105b). Otherwise, all the great virtues of Israel descended and evolved into the reverse.
