Tefillah Beyond Words: How Hashem Hears the Heart

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Parshas Shemois begins with the galus of Mitzrayim. And even in the beginning, the Torah already starts to plant that the geulah is already being seeded. The zriyah, the seeds of the geulah already planted. The pasuk says in perek beis, pasuk chav-gimmel, Vayehi bayamim harabim haheim, vayamos melech Mitzrayim, vayeanchu Bnei Yisrael min ha'avodah, vayiz'aku. Tremendous amount of work, so anochah is a sigh, and they screamed out. Vataal shavasam el Elokim min ha'avodah. And the pasuk continues, Vayishma Elokim es na'akasam, vayizkor Elokim es briso es Avraham, es Yitzchak, ve'es Yaakov. So the Torah writes clearly that the Ribono Shel Olam is listening. He's listening. Anochah, zeakah, shavah, these are all expressions of screaming, crying, pain. Tefillah? It's not mentioned here, the word tefillah. Vayeanchu Bnei Yisrael min ha'avodah, vataal shavasam el Elokim, vayater min ha'avodah. Vayishma Elokim es nakasam. They were screaming. These are all expressions, leshonos of crying out from pain. We still don't hear clearly in the pasuk, atfilah, anusa lashon tefilah, which brings the Rishonim to explain it's not so pashut that even the psukim are referring to tefilah. You look at the Siforno, he says clearly, Ze'aka is min hakev lev al avidosam. Natal shavasam Elokim, says the Siforno, loi bishvil teshuvasam u'tefilosam. The crying wasn't teshuvah, it wasn't tefilah, says the Siforno. Betzarah. And l'cheireh it's meduyak in the pasuk: Ha'anchu Bnei Yisrael min ha'avodah. Natal shavasam Elokim min ha'avodah. Pasuk clearly seems to say it's coming from the tzarah, from being overworked, not a tefilah to the Ribono Shel Olam. Yet the Siforno throws in, Vayishma Elokim es nakasam, tefilas ktzasam. Some did daven, says the Siforno, a few davened. Who? The tzaddikei hador. Shteik, says the Siforno, the tzaddikei hador davened, ka'amarai, Va'nitzak el Hashem vayishma koleinu, aber the hamein am were just screaming from pain. Azei learned the Siforno. It's interesting, you look at the Ramban. The Ramban says it's clear these are inyanim of tefillah, to the point that he says, says the Ramban, how much times the Torah is emphasizing that the Ribono Shel Olam is hearing and He's listening. Vayishma Elokim es naakasam, Vayishma Elokim es brischa, Vayeida Elokim, Vayeida Elokim ki yadati es machovov. Ramban quotes all these many pesukim. Says the Ramban, Ki af al pi shenishla hamazman, shenigzar aleihem, lo hayu reuyim lehiga'el. That even though the time was came for the geulah to be, but they still didn't merit the geulah till they did tefillah. Kemo shemefurash al yedei Yechezkel, ela mipnei hatzaakah, kibel tefilosam b'rachamav. So the Ramban learns clearly that these were inyanim of tefillah. These were inyanim of tefillah that the Ribono Shel Olam listened to. Shtelt zach far the kasha, so why did the pasuk write it? Why does the pasuk mask it with tzaakah, naakah? What's the pshat? You take a look at the Abarbanel.

He says, taka both pshatim. Vata'al savosim Elokim, you could say means taka from the pain. Then he says the second pshat, that it's tefillah. Why taka doesn't it say clearly in the pasuk, az der mitgedavent? Az es meint tefillah. Vavoz only saying klar in the Torah, vayispalelu, mitgedavent. It's yedua from the Sifri that there are ten leshonos of tefillah, famous. ... tzaddik v'kadosh livrachah. ... But the whole sefer on these ten leshonos, this we could work on for months and months, meiredike toichen. But this Sifri is a yeduadikke Sifri that there's ten leshonos, asarah leshonos shel tefillah: za'aka, shav'a, na'aka, tza'arah, rinah, p'kiyah, nipul, pilul, atirah, amidah, chilul, chinun. I've always asked the kasha, that's twelve if you count out the numbers. Just all you have to do is add two to the ten on your fingers, and you'll notice there are twelve there. There are twelve leshonos. Why does the Medrash, the Chazal, the Sifri speak about asarah leshonos? I won't answer this today. I won't go into it today. ... ten and maybe twelve. And these are the mekoros. It's coming from these pesukim: shav'a, na'aka. Zohar. But these are leshonos of tefillah. So what's the pshat in the pasuk? If it means tefillah, why does it have to say, min ha'avodah? Just say, miktadaven. It's coming from the avodah. Why ispallu miktadaven, and ocher midafregin la'beis hei? What does it mean, vatal she'avasam? It went up. They davened to the Ribono Shel Olam. What does it mean it went up? So I always learned the pshat is there was no mechitzah. We all know there's inyanim of kitrug and mechitzah, mafsekes. Sometimes tefillos can't get through. Shaarei dim'ah lo ne'alu; they always get through. So it's an inyan of vatal, it טאקע went up, it טאקע got to the Kisei HaKavod. L'choirah, that's the chiddush. If you learn the taych, shavasam means tefillah, then vatal means it got to the Kisei HaKavod, it reached. I found this year, Baruch Hashem, in the Maharal, in Gevuros Hashem, perek nun-daled, the Ritva says this word of vatal, that there was no mechitzah, but he explains the whole pesukim so beautifully. He says there's three leshonos of geulah—I'm sorry, of tefillah—in the pesukim, and each addresses a different nekudah, says the Maharal. Vayiz'aku, tzaar, tzaar b'chol halev. Tefillah needs to come from the depth, full, full, from the heart, mimamakim kerasicha Hashem. So that's the first nekudah of vayizaku, zokt the Maharal. Sheyitzta'aru, and it should be bechol halev. Vavatal, says the Maharal, no kitrugim. Kitrug means that there's blockages, malachim that come and say, Don't accept the tefillah. Don't accept it. Go straight up. And vayishma Elokim es na'akasam, zokt the Maharal, eis ratzon. He says in order for a tefillah to be accepted, he says these are the three yesodos. Moiridike Maharal, rabosai. Vayizaku, it's to come from deep, from the entire heart. Vatal, that there can't be any kitrugim. Vayishma, that it should be an eis ratzon, that the Ribono Shel Olam should listen, and all three were there at that present time, and the pasuk is telling us that's why Vayizkor Elokim has brisoi. Rabosai, I'd like to either add or explain. It's a big sugya. I want to give a little bit of an insight into the three leshonos and the pasuk that we just learned. In Zohar, in this week's parsha, the Zohar says that sha'avo is actually the greatest level of all tefillos is sha'avo.

And the Zohar goes on to explain all the zechusim and all the toltzois of the level of tefillah of Shabbos. What is Shabbos? Says the Zohar Chiddush that Shabbos is actually not even tefillah. She'ava is without words. She'ava is not in the context of tefillah. I'm going to give a chiddush. A peledike Zohar, Rabosai. Tefillah has its gedarim, tefillah has its seder. Shabbos—what? We will go further into it, but let's begin step by step, that Shabbos is out of the context of what we call normal tefillah. Yet, says the Zohar, that it is the greatest form of tefillah, and it's the most niskabel, and the Zohar explains why, because b'ikar comes from the lev. Shabbos comes from the lev. Rabosai, I'd like to talk about that today a little bit. The lev of tefillah. What is the lev? What role does the lev play in tefillah? It's interesting, we all know that tefillah is called avodah shebalev. U'la'avdo b'chol levavchem—eizo hi avodah shebalev? Is tefillah. What is the avodas halev of tefillah? I want to tell you something interesting, Rabosai. There's a Medrash that Shibolei HaLeket brings down. The Medrash says that when the malachim saw that the Ribono Shel Olam, Vaya'anchu Bnei Yisrael, Vayizaku, Vataal Shavasam El Elokim, says the Medrash, the malachim broke out in praise of the Ribono Shel Olam. They said, Baruch Shomea Tefilah. Here, rabosai, and notice it doesn't even say Vayishma Elokim is not kasum in that Medrash. That chelek of the pasuk is not mentioned in the Medrash. The Medrash that the Shebolei HaLeket brings is just the beginning part: Vaya'anchu, Vayizaku, and Vataal Shavasam, Baruch Shomea Tefilah. Rabosai, let me tell you what I believe the pshat in this Medrash is, and hold, it's emes la'amito. Tefilah is beyond what we say. Tefilah is beyond the external where no malach could even reach. It's only the Ribono Shel Olam, who is yodea, Ribono Shel Olam who knows what's b'lev ha'adam, is able to reach in and read the lev ha'adam. Shava, anocha, what is it? It's a min avodah. It's just that it was work. Yet the Ribono Shel Olam understood the tefilah that was in it. Vataal Shavasam El Elokim min ha'avodah. It was with avodah. VaYishma Elokim es naakasam. He heard the tefillah that was in it. When the malachim saw that, they said, Baruch shemeia tefillah. How great is the Borei Olam, who is able to read like you read a sonogram, like you read an X-ray, an MRI. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is able to pinpoint and read what's in the lev. And the malachim are enthralled by this. The malachim see, meirdik, the gadlus of the Borei Olam. The person expressed himself as pain, yet the Ribono Shel Olam reads the lev, and He hears what's in the lev. I've told this to you about the shofar. Ki atah shomea kol shofar u'ma'azin teruah, v'ein domeh lecha. Baruch atah Hashem, shomea kol teruas amo Yisrael. It's all over the place. Ki atah shomea kol shofar, ma'azin teruah, v'ein domeh lecha. Baruch atah Hashem, shomea kol teruas amo. Is it kol shofar? Is it teruah? It's all over the place. And I'm saying it quickly because I mentioned in the past, and also time—it's not Rosh Hashanah time—but im yirtzeh Hashem we'll repeat it by Rosh Hashanah time, because hameivin yavin.

And the pshat is, there's a shemeia kol shofar, but in the kol shofar, the Rabbeinu Shalom is mazin, mazin from close. Hazinu hashamayim v'adabeirah. Hazinu is always, malbin mefaresh, explained from close. Rabbeinu listens closely to what? To the teruah, broken within the kol shofar. Ve'ein doinah lecha. In this there is nothing, nobody like the Borei Olam. He's able to get in there and read it properly. Baruch atah Hashem, shemeia kol teruas amo Yisrael. Klal Yisrael's teruah is a different teruah. The tefillah is a different tefillah. It comes with so much lev and so much hergesh and so much love and so much bitachon in the Rabbeinu Shleilam. Baruch atah Hashem, shemeia kol teruas amo Yisrael. Here in this pasuk, are pronouncing the same bracha, Baruch atah Hashem, shemeia tefillah. The Rabbeinu Shleilam hears tefillah. There's a Medrash, rabosai, that explains that the three leshonos of the pasuk is actually three different inyanim. Zeakah is about mamon, gazlu mimonam, that they stole their money. Shavah is from the shibud, like the pasuk says, and naakah is about harigas tapam, killing the children. So it's interesting, and the Medrash brings pesukim for this, that zeakah is about mamon, shavah is about shibud, naakah is about the children. One of the three leshonos, and I think Rabboisai the pshat is meyridik. With every tefillah and every word, the hergeshin that you put to it change the tefillah from what it is. There are many expressions of hergeshin, and I believe that's the yud leshonos, the ten or twelve leshonos. The tefillah might be standard, but it's what you put into the tefillah. It's the leiv, the hergeshin that you put into it, that changes what the tefillah is. Is it a zakah? Is it a shavah? Is it a rinah? Is it a pilul? Is it an amidah? There's a standard, but then what do you do with that? It's what you put into it is what it becomes. There's an interesting Rabbeinu Yonah. Chasidim harishonim hayu shohin sha'ah achas. They would wait one hour. K'dei sheyechavnu libam laShamayim. Lashon of the Gemara is, sheichavnu libam laMakom. Two different Chazal, and let's call it the Mishnah that Rabbeinu Yonah is on, that Chasidim Harishonim used to wait and prepare themselves. Sheichavnu libam laMakom, says Rabbeinu Yonah. It doesn't say sheichavnu libam baTefillah. She would have said baTefillah. No, it's sheichavnu libam laMakom. To the Eibishter. What? Says Rabbeinu Yonah in Gemara Brachos on that Mishnah. Taharas halev. They worked on themselves, their middos, because it's essential for the tefillah, the taharas halev. Now why is it so? Why is it so, rabosai? Why is it important that the lev should be polished? It speaks about not having taivos. That's what Rabbeinu Yonah speaks about. Other aveiros, clean them, cleanse the lev before you daven. Why? Kavanah is not by tefillah, but it's lamakom. Why? And the way we explaining tefillah, it's so beautiful, because it's the lev that creates what the tefillah is. The avodah is actually avodah shebalev. Lefi the taharah, lefi the cleanliness of the neshama, of the lev, that is the tefillah. And therefore Rabbeinu Yonah says, internally we have to work on what's going on inside when we daven, because it's not the external words that we use, but it's the mench, the lev. It's what's balev, that's what's going on inside him. And therefore, taharah, middos, yiras Shamayim, that's all goes...

To the inyan of the tefillah itself, and I have a mareh dike raaya, rabosai, to this. The Gemara in Sotah, daf mem-alef amud beis, says that someone who has chanifah, ein tefilosav nishmaos. Maybe someone listens to his tefillah. Says the Maharal, why? In Chiddushei Aggados, zogt the Maharal, it's a pashut: their chanif is an external person. He's external. Inside, his heart is saying one thing and his mouth is saying something different. Tefillah, the Ribono Shel Olam says, I'm not looking for what's on your lips. I'm looking for what's inside. And therefore the chanif, the Ribono Shel Olam says, it can't be accepted, your tefillah. I don't know what's going on inside. You have a habit of saying one thing and in your heart meaning something else. This is a raaya, rabosai, to this yesod. Now I understand pshat in the pasuk: Shivchi kamayim libeich, nochach פני ה'. It's going on tefillah. You see that the tefillah is a chelek, a gist, the heart's, shticke from the heart, vert the tefillah alone. Do you see? Shivchi kamayim libeich. It's the heart that becomes the tefillah. Pieces of the heart go up through the tefillah. Shivchi kamayim libeich, nochach פני ה'. That is tefillah. The lesson, rabosai, with a maaseh. And I will end. Tefillah, zaym debrumish shalaila. It takes work, maybe a whole life's work, to learn how to daven. Not that easy. It's not easy, rabosai. It's dvarim she'einan berumo shel olam, bnei adam מזלזלים בהם, because it takes a lot of inner work. It's called an avodah. It's an avodah shebalev. There's a lot of work that's needed internally, and that's where the tefillah lays, and that's where the klutz v'mezakt, is to internalize the tefillah instead of externalize. And I'll tell you a maisah, rabosai. I'll tell you a beautiful maisah. My zeide told me that in Radin, a Rebbe came. A Rebbe came to Radin. No, Rebbe is when they daven, and again, don't get me wrong, I'll say how Reb Sholom Shvadron used to say over, whenever he would give mussar, he would say, Mir kenen nit chayshes zayn, yevadtach yatzmo b'kanei v'kaneh mishichei. I also, rabosai, say yevadtach yatzmo b'kanei v'kaneh mishichei. So me can't be chayshesh. Maybe hevyid is meyredik. So take it for what you understand. I don't mean anything. The Rebbe, he was clacking, hand making noise during davening, you know. A Rebbe should daven. The son of the Chofetz Chaim went over to the scheba and asked him, I don't understand. I'm asking my father's the gadol hador. He says, Guys, do you see how my father davens? It's quiet. He doesn't move. If you wouldn't look at his lips, you would hardly even know he's saying any words. You know, I remember, Reb Moshe, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the gadol hador, the Rosh... Reb Moshe Feinstein. I used to study his tefillah. He would stand without any motion whatsoever, like a board. And I always thought, eimah, yirah, as they state in Shulchan Aruch. And then I started to realize, libi b'mizrach, v'ani b'sof ma'arav. Reb Moshe's neshama, Reb Moshe's lev, was all over the place. It was in the tefillah. Externally, there was nothing there. You couldn't see anything. The lev was soyer. I studied it. I studied for a very long time, Reb Moshe's davening, and I can imagine what the Chofetz Chaim's tefillah was like. And this person is davening.

Loud, making noise. So the son is asking, Look at my father's tefillah. So the Rebbe answered with such meridige chochmah, and you know what he said? He said, Take a person and throw him into a pool. If he knows how to swim, quietly he swims there and he swims back. If he doesn't know how to swim, make all these noises. He said, The Chofetz Chaim, he knows how to daven, like the swimmer who knows how to swim. Azoi a teige zach. Azoi a teige zach. He went back to the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim humbly said, ... I'm not telling you we have to do even more than just bang and clap. But the yesod of it is, ... tefillah is internal, something that we have to work on. And the Ribono Shel Olam reads that, the hergeshim that we have during the davening, maybe even more so than the words that we say. Azoi lernen from their parshah. Davening is an avodah shebalev, hergeshim, love of the Eibishter, ... on every word, every word. It's a big avodah. It takes a whole life maybe to get there. But this is the vataal shavasam el Elokim min ha'avodah. The Ribono Shel Olam is listening. He's listening to what's behind the words. This is, l'choirah, what I feel, the pesukim, the different leshonos. This we find is the geulah. The Ribono Shel Olam, Vayizkor Elokim is brisos Avraham, and Vayar Elokim is Bnei Yisrael. ... Elokim, all the ... of the ... You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.