Tefillah Avos Tiknum: Finding Hashem in Every Season of Life Through Shacharis, Mincha, and Maariv

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I want to begin with a shalom aleichem. Happy to be back. Thank you. Thank you for giving me the zchus of continuing saying the shiur. You never know who's giving more to who. I feel you're giving me more than what I'm giving you. Either way, we could argue about that later. I thank you. Yedankt zich for the zchus. We decided to try a few shiurim on Seder HaTefillah. We'll try to begin with the actual siddur, learn up, to learn up the siddur. You know, tefillah is dvarim she'omdim b'rumo shel olam. Chazal tell us it stands on the peak, rumo. The rumo shel olam, it's something so elevated, so huge, so great. Uvnei adam mezalzelim bohem. Chazal use a very strong language, shtarke loshon, mezalzelim, mezalzelim bohem. What do Chazal mean by mezalzelim bohem? Do Chazal mean that we disrespected tefillah? Does it mean that it's cheap and we behave towards it b'ofen shel zilzul? Zilzul is a very strong language. I'm sure that in the shmuzen that are given to talk about not to speak during davening and how one should be in the shul more than out of the shul during davening, I'm sure this Chazal is used. Nei, odem מזלזלים. But it's possible, rabbeisei, that Chazal are not being me'achem, not telling the Yidden, Don't behave. It's necessarily, that's not muchach that that's the lashon that Chazal is mochiach. Zilzul could mean they don't appreciate or understand. A person that gets acquainted, he gets used to something. Could you imagine peak events in a person's life? Peak events, he looks forward to it. He's excited. Ah, he comes with a ganze cheshek. The same event, if a person would be there and see it every day. Look, it's not the same chashivus and not the same excitement. Possibly Chazal are not telling us that eating bad doesn't mean chas v'shalom, that talking chas v'shalom, chas v'shalom, in the middle of Chazaras Hashatz. It doesn't have to mean that. Even though if that happens, you should take this Chazal as a good mussar. But it means, in general, we don't have a proper harachah of the tremendous thing that we have, a zechus, a tremendous ma'alah, a tremendous weapon in our artillery. When you don't understand and appreciate what you have, could you imagine three times a day, mekum, meleit, Shacharis, Mincha, Maariv, is dvarim she'omdim b'rumo shel olam, u'bnei adam mezalzelim בהם. Why? Why are people mezalzel in tefillos? Like I told you, the first thing is because it's common. Anything that a person does often enough...

He loses the chashivus for it. It's not that exciting. You know, as a rav, I test the waters, so to speak, the barometer of the waters of the davening always. In the same day, the same tefillah, Shacharis, pesukei d'zimra, comes to Hallel. Everybody is, ... Hallel, ... And I wonder to myself, vos is Hallel and vos is pesukei d'zimra? It's doch the zelbe zach. It's the same tapit. You're schmeichling. I'm telling you, I thought about it. I felt it. The same people vos shlofen durch pesukei d'zimra, ... vos is pesukei d'zimra? ... shiros v'sishbachos to the Ribono Shel Olam. Gut, ... bracha, shehecheyanu, okay, Yidden hobn lieb ton mitzvos, okay. Whoever says pesukei d'zimra and it's kein mitzvah, okay. But you'll notice, what's the difference? Well, pesukei d'zimra, huh? Gut. ... zogt mir, ich freg gut, ich bin me'orer gut. Pesukei d'zimra, try. You know what Chazal say? Pay attention in davening in shul, you'll see that I'm 100% right. When it comes, you skip, you have to quick Ashrei, quickly, ... you have to make up. It comes to Hallel, all of shrein and mekvitzhet. Can I tell you something so interesting? The beginning of Hallel is a lot stronger and a lot louder than the end of Hallel. Pay attention to that also. Maybe that's why we sing at the end of Hallel. Ready? By that time, Daf nun tes zingen a bisl, ... This is adam. It's human nature. But there's another thing. Davening takes a lot of concentration. Davening takes a lot of concentration. To say words and the mind is somewhere else is very, very difficult. Today, people have difficulty concentrating because they have so many tirdos, so many problems, so many things that don't let a person sit, concentrate for more than a minute. And that itself is another reason that people are not mechaven by davening. I like to say things simply. And again, ... Listen, ... very lucky to have us. Lucky to have him. That's the truth. But I have to say it from ... and that is he's very lucky to have Klal Yisrael. Believe me, we're good people, ... most devoted nation in the whole world. It's very difficult to concentrate when this is bothering and that, and doubt, and parnassah, and kinderlach, and shidduchim. The list is endless. The list is endless. But you know, ... that's gufa the reason we should be mechaven by davening. Hagufa. Because it's so difficult, and because we have so many tirdos, and because we have so many things that bother us, this is what we should turn to the tefillah. We should turn to davening, because this is our solution. It's not a problem, the davening; it's the solution. Bnei Adam isalzim, they don't realize what they have. ... in tefillah. They would approach davening with much greater cheshek and much greater kavanah. What's a good advice to have kavanah in tefillah? There's a beautiful peirush on siddur which we're going to use a lot, Siach Yitzchok. Siach Yitzchok, the Goyen, the Gra's siddur has the peirush Siach Yitzchok. He says that many people asked him why he wrote his peirush on siddur. Siddur, the ... it's a ... of Teisvis, of Reb Ber, ... it's a ... it's a ... What are you busy writing on siddur? Why do we need so much? And they would say, Halavai sheyichavnu bapeirush hamilos. You come and give me Torah about the words of the davening. Halavai I should just translate the words. You want us ...

Pirushim and pshatim and understanding. That's what he writes in the beginning, the hakdamah to his siddur. And then he says that they're completely wrong with this idea, because punkt farkert, the more you write and we delve into the peirush of the tefillah, the more you'll be able to be mechaven in the tefillah. The more you realize the depth, what the tefillah means, you could identify with those words, how it applies to you, and how the tefillah is giving words to your hergeshim. And that's, I added to the words of the Siach Yitzchak. We have so many hergeshim, we have so many feelings, and they're so dominant, they're so hidden. The word is dormant, excuse me, they're so dormant and they're so hidden. It's very hard to express. The tefillah gives us an outlet. If we understand peirush hamilim, the words themselves, the omek of what it means, what it stands for, gives words to the hergeshim that we have. Im yirtzeh Hashem, I'm going to explain you this a little more as we delve into the beginning of the siddur as well. He continues and he writes that when he was young, he asked, Hagon HaTzadik, Rav Naftali Hertz Av Beis Din. Rav Naftali Hertz Av Beis Din d'Poy. What is a good advice to give people they should have kavanah in tefillah? And the answer he gave was, a new pshat in the davening, a new taich in the davening. Every time you daven, you have another angle to understand the words. That's going to give you a sense of kavanah, to have timim mechaven, taich, the oymek, what it means. Don't forget the words, we're anshei Knesses Hagedolah. Same way you understand the davening Teisvis beiyun, understand the davening beiyun. Bifrat, a big chelek of the davening, ah, is pesukim. Tach pesukim. Learn the Chumash beiyun. Eder Shabbos kumt men mit Torah, a pasuk, mit a Rashi. Davening is no different. If you would come and understand, bima'ayin, the interpretation, the oymek, you'll see you'll have tremendous kavanah. You'll identify, identify with the words of the tefillah, because if you dwell deep inside you, you have all those hergeshim and all those kavanos. Got to bring it out. And the tefillah gives us a nusach, a nusach. So let's begin with the beginning of davening, which is a good question: where davening begins. So you look on the paper, you'll notice that davening begins, nu, with brachos. That's what it says, right? Brachos. Some korbanos, some Baruch Sheamar. It depends on, you know, which shul you go to, where davening begins. Okay. Actually, according to the oitzer ha-tefillos, davening begins with Ma Tovu ohalecha Yaakov. That is the beginning of davening. Ma Tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. There's a lot of talk, why is this the beginning of davening? And interestingly, it happens to be Bilam's words, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov. We borrowed from Bilam his appreciation of Tovu ohalecha Yaakov. I'm not going to go into that right now, but I first want to begin with what is the beginning of davening, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov. So in Eitz HaTefillos, it says that this is netilas reshus v'humana lamed b'makom kadosh l'hispalel. A person has to begin with an introduction, permission, just like we begin the Shemoneh Esrei, Hashem, sefasai tiftach ufi yagid tehilasecha. We must begin davening, Ma tovu, Rabbeinu shel olam, I'm coming, I'm focused, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, ani b'rov chasdecha avoi beisecha. It's Hashem, next week we're going to speak more, what does b'rov chasdecha mean? Does b'rov chasdecha mean future chasadim, looking for them? I'm looking for the future chasadim. Does it mean b'rov chasdecha, past chasadim?

V'ani b'rov chasdecha means right now that I'm zoche with Your chesed to be able to come to daven. Probably does need all three, and im yirtzeh Hashem we'll explain tefillah, if you understand. Tefillah is about the avar, tefillah is about the asid, and tefillah is about right now, the hoveh, no matter what matzav you're in. Most people come to shul and they have a lot of things that bother them and a lot of things that are meitzik them. Again, v'ani b'rov chasdecha, I understand the chesed that I can come here and daven to You. On many different levels, it's a tremendous chesed, no matter what's the tzares and what's the problem and what's eating at you. But this, im yirtzeh Hashem, we're going to leave for next week, to farteitch the v'ani b'rov chasdecha, you hear? Past chesed, or future chesed — machlokes, the Radak and other Rishonim — or it means v'ani b'rov chasdecha, now the chesed that You give me, dvarim she'omdim b'rumo shel olam u'bnei adam mezalzelim בהם. What is it based on? Based on a pasuk. The pasuk says, Beis Elokim nehalech b'ragesh. Pasuk says that when you come to the house of the Eibishter, Dovid HaMelech says, Tehillim perek nun hei, pasuk tes-vav, a person needs to come b'regesh, with an emotion, with a feeling. You're right. We come running into shul. We're ongeyakt. I'm not here to blame anybody, but that's not really what's supposed to happen. In halacha, that gebracht, that before you go into shul, before you even step foot into shul, yishah, you gotta wait a minute. I don't know how many people do that. People are running and coming, they're late. Again, I'm not blaming anybody. I'm also the same. Believe me, I'm no different. But the way it was supposed to be is, Beis Elokim, nahalech b'ragesh. Rabbeinu Yonah in Sefer HaYirah writes, סמוך לבית הכנסת. Even before you walk into shul, there's a way of how to go to shul, and that is, Yemaher pa'amav. You've got to run quickly as he goes in. שנאמר, בבית אלוקים נהלך ברגש. Even the going—not talking about once you're in there—even the going is a part of the avodah of Beis Elokim, נהלך ברגש. Ve'omer, says Rabbeinu Yonah in Sefer HaYirah, you must say, בכניסתי, ואני ברוב חסדך אבוא ביתך, אשתחוה אל היכל קדשך ביראתך. So according to Rabbeinu Yonah, when do you say, מה טובו אהליך יעקב, רבתי שלפניש? Trust me, I'm tired. I also want to go to sleep. ... You know when מה טובו officially is supposed to be said? As you go in, bichnisasei, as you go in, you're supposed to say, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov. This is a declaration of permission or excitement, mahallech b'rogesh, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael. My beisai, lomed kumin, anfangen lernen siddur. They could ask you, what did Rabbi Wolkin teach by the shiur? He taught siddur. Say, Siddur? My little baby in school learned siddur. There's nothing wrong, rabosai. Lomed lernen siddur. When Reb Dovil spoke about a bag of candies, but different type of candies. I won't give you candies, tzukeryot. I'll give you divrei Torah that you're going to walk away and say, sheinereid, you hear? My beisai, there's a lot more in Vani b'rov chasdecha, in the Ma tovu. It's not just coming and saying, I'm excited to be here. I believe it's the hakdamah to the yesod of tefillah. If you understand, and you're misamek to understand what does it mean, Vani b'rov chasdecha, what is it, you'll realize that yesodei hatefillah are being introduced.

Almost as like a heading to the beginning of tefillah. You know, says this Chavei Saitz HaZoyah. Zohar Kadosh says, V'ani b'rov chasdecha avo beisecha. Da Avraham. This is referring to Avraham Avinu. What was the midah of Avraham Avinu? Chesed. V'ani b'rov chasdecha. Everybody say, Oh, yetzlach b'seder. V'ani b'rov chasdecha da Avraham. Eshtachaveh el heichal kodshecha, do Yitzchak. B'yirasecha, do Yaakov. Oh, I'm coming here. Kum nitztamazeh. Ich kum do epes ufton. Ich kum do brengen, redden, Avraham, Yitzchak mit Yankev. Did anyone ever think this, that when he comes into shul, Ich kum. Vos kum ich? Ich kum davenen. Un vos is davenen? Avraham, Yitzchak mit Yankev. What does the Zohar mean? Vos meint the Zohar? Vos meint es, do Avraham, do Yitzchak, do Yaakov? What does it mean? Rabosai, lomer redn a bissel vos is tefillah. We all know the famous Chazal that there's two pshatim in the Gemara: what is the inyan of tefillah? Either it's neged avos or avos tiknum, depending on the different girsaos, the way it's brought down in different places. Avos. Ooh, the avos of a big sheiches to tefillah. It's not stam grade punkt avos, there's more. The avos were misaken the tefillah. The other pshat is כנגד קרבנות. It's towards the korbanos. No, towards the korbanos, avada, korban, tefillah b'makom korbanos, gut, geshmak. Habavos is tefillas avos tiknu. Vos meynt dos, avos? The avos were misaken. That doesn't mean they were misaken that you have to say it. No. It doesn't mean avos tiknum, the nusach hatefillah, the yesod from the tefillah, they were misaken. Avraham, it misaken geven Shacharis. Yitzchak, misaken geven Mincha. Un Yaakov Avinu, it misaken geven Maariv. What does it mean, avos tiknu, avos tiknu? B'choira, there's an interesting Gemara, rabosai. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah daf lamed beis brings down that you have to mention the avos in the first bracha of Shemoneh Esrei. And that's why, what do we say? Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, v'Elokei Yaakov. Rabosai, vos vil men do? Why do we have to be maskir the avos? Nu, zog pshat. Chus avos. Azoi zogtstu. Azoi zogtstu. You come from the Mishnah. Mishnah. Azoi zogtstu. You know who says what you say? Rabbeinu Bechaye. Rabbeinu Bechaye zogt zchus avos. Thing to come and say to Rabbeinu Shalom, give me, do me better. Mentioned the pasuk tells us, לולי בך חושק, ה'... כי אתה מעט, אלא כי חשק באבותיכם. So instead of bringing us, instead of mentioning us, we're mentioning the avos. Rabbeinu Shalom, haknip the avos, hakarsheit, arap all the ma'ases, to mention zechus avos. Rabosai, vos iz der kashya of them? Nu, tachlamdonim, nu, yeshiva light, what's the kashya on this? Don't know. The Gemara in Shabbos, daf nun hei amud aleph, says clearly, תמה זכות אבות. Shan arup. How much could the avos take on their bill? It's toma, it's finished already. Mit azei ful opgetom, mit azei ful problems gemacht. I mean, what, it's a blanket check of zechus avos? Tomos zechus avos. So how could you come and say, Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, v'Elokei Yaakov? We're filling up their account. We're filling up their account. Oy vey, oy yoy.

You have a very big belief in your actions. I feel like if I had to fill in the account, the check would bounce a thousand times over again. All this, me? It's not my kasha, not b'eisai. The Maharal in Chiddushei Aggados on that Gemara asked the kasha. Fragt the Chiddushei Maharal, there is no zechus avos. There is no ... zechus avos. Answered the Maharal, yeah, you can't come and say, Ribbono Shel Olam, zechus avos. Nah, come on, give me because of zechus. But in tefillah, loi tamu zechus avos. You have to daven. It's כדאי to come just with this Maharal. Hear what the Maharal is saying. ... zechus avos. ... That you can't ask. But in tefillah, in davening, meg men zאָגן the zechus avos. What's meant is, I have two kashas from your ... in the lashon of the pesukim, in the lashon of the bracha: Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, v'Elokei Yaakov. Why are we breaking it up, Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, Elokei Yaakov? Just say Elokei Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov. It's a good kasha, huh? Okay. So first of all, if you really know where this bracha comes from and where it's based on, you'll see how strong this kasha really is. The Rishonim say that this is based on that, and Rabbeinu Bechayei Dachtach even brings it. He says, V'lo charaya, you have to be maskir the zechus of the avos, because that's what Moshe did by the eigel. Atah zeh vayechal Zechal l'Avraham, l'Yitzchak, l'Yisrael, avadecha. But he didn't say Elokei, Elokei, and Elokei. He put them all together. You know what? We'll do something different. Ich will shlofen and do zogt a shiur, nu? And for the kasha, chameira d'kasha. If it's based on zechoyr, did he come and say zechoyr l'Avraham, Elokei, like ki'ilu it's Elokei Avraham? Oh, they put it together. You know, when I was a little boy, I was sitting at my grandfather's Shabbos table, and he asked us this kasha: Why does it have to say Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, and Elokei Yaakov? Nu, meine brider, a ksharfe chevra, they were little boys, gutte, eyes and a kep sharf, you know, they knew how to answer on the spot. One of my brothers, I think he must have been eight years old, not more, seven, eight, in that range, he said, because if it would say Elokei Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov, volt men gemeint zit zelbe mensch. You know, today you have three names. You have like the Toldos Avraham Yitzchak, Yisrael Reb... there's like a little—they put all the names together, mevalt gemeint Elokei Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov. Yes, a chaltz dezelbe. So we have to break it up: Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, v'Elokei Yaakov. Nu, my grandfather was very impressed. For a seven-year-old, gantz gut, but it's only good for a seven-year-old, rabosai. Once you reach after seven, you should really have a pshat in why it says Elokei Avraham. What's the teretz? Each one. That's the answer, right? Each one. Serving the Eibishter. Serving the Eibishter. Each one, right? There's another kevraham, there's another keYitzchak, and there's another keYaakov. Okay, you ready for kasha number two that you're not gonna have an answer for so fast? Why do we say Yaakov? Why don't we say Yisrael? Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, v'Elokei Yaakov. Tell me, if it's based on the pesuk, zecher l'Avraham, l'Yitzchak. How did Moshe Rabbeinu say Yisrael or Yaakov? Yisrael. Zecher l'Avraham, l'Yitzchak, u'l'Yisrael avodecha. So why does it say Yaakov? Tell me you like the kasha. You should like it. It's a mefurasha goyen. The goyen zogt, chayiv a kiyum. Why was it Yaakov? ... Yaakov is the madreigah nemuchah ... ... vegen Yankev Avinu, yeah? So why does it say Yaakov? It should have said Yisrael. You ready for a teretz?

Volt a Chassidisher gesagt and showed you that it's clear in the goynim, ... there's nothing wrong with that, but that's what you would think. Okay, you ready? Zogt der heilige goyen in pasuk in Tehillim, Lulei Hashem shehaya lanu. If not for Hashem would be with us, yomar na Yisrael. Remember the pasuk, Lulei Hashem shehaya lanu, yomar na Yisrael? Yeah? Zogt the goyen, what's the pshat? He says like this: If you take from Avraham, right, Elokei Avraham, Yitzchak, Elokei Yitzchak, v'Elokei Yaakov, how many osiyos? Yeah, you got it, unbelievable osiyos, the goyen. You ready? How many osiyos are there? Wait, he's counting by finger. Once you count it by finger, I got to give you the answer, because then you're gonna have to take off your shoes and start counting with that also. What's the pshat? It's chav-vav, okay? There's 26 osiyos, says the goyen. Shem Havayah. But if it would say Yisrael, you wouldn't have it. It's too many. Lulei Hashem shehaya lanu. If we didn't want the name of Hashem, Yisrael, ... That's the goyen for me. ... Vi kumt der goyen, vos? Shem, Shem Havayah, Lulei Hashem shehaya lanu, loy ma Yisrael, vos tut zich chav-daled. That's the ... What's he saying? He's saying that's the taych of the pasuk. Lulei Hashem, if He wouldn't want ... Yeah, Iman, now he would have said Yisrael. ... What's he saying? Okay. I want to talk to you another shaila, yeah, a tremendous shaila. What's the reason, yeah, that we mention the avos? What if us viln the avos? So there's two things we could say. The first thing we could say is that we mention the avos, like we said, b'schus. We want the zechus of the avos. Or the pshat is, we want to be davuk in the avos. We want to learn from the avos, yeah. We want to learn from the avos. I want to show you something so interesting, yeah. Davening starts with Ma Tovu. What's the next thing we say? Or, I don't know if you say it, in some old-fashioned shuls they still say it, Adon Olam. We begin with Adon Olam, yeah? Why do we say Adon Olam by Shacharis? So you would say, man, big deal, right? No, it's a big—there is a big deal. In Siach Yitzchok, he brings a me'oredike pshat, that the reason why we say—he brings it from the Maggid Tzedek—you know why we say Adon Olam? Because since Shacharis is keneged Avraham Avinu, who was the first one shekara laKadosh Baruch Hu Adon, Avraham Avinu. Mimeila, we say Adon Olam, yeah, that's right. Shacharis is about Adon Olam, Adon Olam. I saw in Chachma Musar, Chachma Musar, Rabbi Ruchem, chelek beis, amud reish tzadi gimmel, brings from sefer Pardes of Rashi. What's the taich that we say, Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, v'Elokei Yaakov? He says it's not just we're mentioning that the Rabbeinu Shalom is Elokei Avraham. He brings down, and I quote you the lashon: K'she'omrim Elokei Avraham, tzrichim lachshov b'ma'asim shel Avraham Avinu. You got to think about what Avraham did. U'mah sheyodea me'Avraham, what we know of Avraham, of how he lived his life and connected with the Eibishter, k'fi zeh yesh etzleinu Elokei Avraham. Is that what you said? What you said? Elokei Avraham. What was Avraham? Chesed. He was makir the Rabbeinu Shalom through chesed. Makir the Rabbeinu Shalom through chesed. Tell me, how many leshonos do we say? We say, okay, HaGadol, HaGibor, vHaNora. Again, three leshonos. The Ramchal in Derech Hashem, chelek daled, perek vav, siman aleph says—

Okay, lagodol, lagibor is keneged Avram, Yitzchak v'Yaakov. Okay, Avram, hagadol, Yitzchak, hagibor. I'm sorry, hagadol, excuse me. Hagadol is Avram, hagibor is Yitzchak, v'hanora is Yaakov. V'ani b'rov chasdecha avo beisecha, eshtachaveh. It actually doesn't say eshtachaveh. What does it say? Nivrcha. Nichra, nivrcha lifnei Hashem. It's three leshonos, right? How many leshonos do we say? Nichra, nivrcha, lavorcha. Three leshonos. It's based on that pasuk. Again, says the Ramchal, Avram, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Beisai, vos viln? Vos viln? So I'm going to tell you a meiredige pshat. You ready? See the time? We can end in one minute. The Maharal has a meiredige kasha. Oylam shloft vayter. How do I wake you up? You have two more minutes. You getting? The plane is landing in two minutes. You ready, chaveirei? The Maharal fregt a kasha: Do you believe that Avram, Yitzchak, and Yaakov were the first ones to daven? He says, Adam davened, Un Noach hot gedavened. So why are we making our ganze tumul, Avram, Yitzchak, mit Yaakov? Adam, Noach mitgedavened, and he has tremendous tiferes. Tiferes, tiferes, yeah. You know what I would say pashut pshat, and only because I have to end also, no choice. Adam davened tefillah of a person in this world. Noach davened, the world, mabul, chesed. Avraham is avos tiknu, avos. Avraham is the first person to daven yid tefillah, yid. Hunzo tefillos. Avraham davened hunzo, tatte. It's a different tefillah. You know, people daven, general world peace. That's another tefillah. Tatte, daven tefillah, vos a tatte daven, tatte daven tuf a kind. It's a different davening, rabosai. This is unzer tefillos. Avraham davened, Adam davened, Noach davened, and goyim pray, and there's a reason for prayer. Prayer is part of the yesod of the briah. For Adam ayin lavad es ha'adamah. That's everybody. The whole world needs prayer. But avos, tatte something מסכים given. They took the tefillah, which is the expression to the Ribono Shel Olam that a Yid has from within. They were mesaken the Shachris, they were mesaken the Mincha, and they were mesaken the Maariv. You know what the Maariv is, rabosai? What is Maariv? Maariv is choshech, Yankev Avinu in the galus. It's a whole different bitui of tefillah in the galus. We're davening to the Ribono Shel Olam, ani b'rov chasdecha. That's Shachris, and this the Maharal speaks a little bit about Shachris. It's light, it's good, it's chesed. HaKel hagadol. It's great. There are different kufos in a Yid's life. Every person goes through different kufos. There are tkufos, there are shacharis, rabosai. Then there's tkufos where there's mincha. It's not completely light. It's not completely dark. The day goes by, and this the, clearly the Maharal speaks about. And then there's zmanim of choshech, of ma'ariv, of golus, tzaros. Yaakov Avinu says that he had the most tzaros. Legiya ma'aseh, he says, Legur shanei lishnos avosai. He suffered terribly. That's tefillah of a Yid during ma'ariv, during choshech. So when is Yaakov's tefillah, when it's Yisrael, or is Yaakov's tefillah when it's Yaakov? Yaakov was mechadesh ma'ariv, not Yisrael was mechadesh ma'ariv. HaKel hagadol, hagibor. You need gevurah. There's times when Hashem is gadol, you see His greatness. Then there's a time you see Hashem's gevurah. Sometimes it's din. And then there's v'hanoira, times of...

In our Europe, a person sees Hashem. It's fear. It's dark. It's golus. Okay, lagoder, lagid Yankev. And that's the pshat, Rabosai: Lulei Hashem shehoyah lonu. We want Hashem, havayah. Where do you see havayah? We see havayah in all different matzavim. We would, if not, we would say Yisroel. The point is, the tefillah gives us an opportunity. It is a magaleh night to connect with the Ribono Shel Olam in all matzavim. In all matzavim, in every situation, there's a shacharis, there's a mincha, and there's a maariv. We could see Hashem where if we connect through the tefillah, if we connect through the davening. No matter what situation a person goes through, he has his Tehillim, he has his siddur, he has his davening. V'lomar she'omdim b'rumo shel olam. Understand this. Understand what the davening represents and what it teaches, and how much chizuk in life and kesher with the Eibishter the Yid is able to connect through tefillah, which is what he needs and what he's searching for. That's what he's searching for. The adam mis'azlin bahem because they look at it as a chiyuv, as a maaseh tefillah. This is, V'ani b'rov chasdecha avo beisecha. And I understand this. I understand the chesed that I have. It's tremendous chesed the Eibishter did for me. Eshtachaveh el heichal kodshecha b'yir'ascha. Avrom, Yitzchok, b'yir'ascha, even in times of yirah, Yaakov. And that is the maila, and this is the introduction of what we say, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisroel. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.