Today's class is dedicated in honor of Eli Kairey.
This week's perasha discusses that after Avraham Avinu was granted his request from the Benei Chet to bury his wife, the pasuk in Bereshit 23,12 says,
וַיִּשְׁתַּ֙חוּ֙ אַבְרָהָ֔ם לִפְנֵ֖י עַ֥ם הָאָֽרֶץ׃
And Abraham Avinu bowed to the people.
Why does he bow?
The Midrash Raba in 58,6 says that what we learn from here is that one should bow on good news. The commentaries say that ‘bow’ means bow in thanks to Hashem. The Gemara in Mesechet Bava Kama 16A says that a person who does not bow at Modim, his spine turns into a snake after he is buried.
What exactly is the measure for measure? He didn't bow at Modim, so his spine turns into a snake? What's the significance of this? The Sefer Torat Chaim explains that God does constant kindness with man every day, every moment and every second. We just don't realize it. We think the world is just going along on its natural course. We don’t realize that every step and every movement and every breath is coming from Hashem, and therefore man should really be thanking Hashem every second for every movement.
As we say, Kol HaNeshama../ every soul should thank Hashem, but we can read the word Neshama as Neshima/for every breath we should be saying Thank You. And anyone that does not recognize that, and thinks the world is just going on automatic pilot, is a Kofer, a denier of God.
But man cannot go, from morning to evening, saying thank you every second of the day- he wouldn't be able to function. Therefore, our rabbis instituted that three times a day, in our prayers, we should say Modim, and that Modim covers all the things that we didn't realize happened since the last Modim.
That one thank you will cover all of the thank-yous that were necessary throughout the day. And that's why, in Modim, we say, “On our lives that are in Your hands, on our souls that are given over to You- which means every breath that we have, the miracles that happen every second, the wonders that happen every moment, that we don't know about. And that's why we bow at Modim. Bowing is a way of acknowledging and admitting what's going on. It used to be the custom that when something good happened, people would bow. There’s a pasuk in Tehilim 138,2 that says,
אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֨ה אֶל־הֵיכַ֪ל קׇדְשְׁךָ֡ וְא֘וֹדֶ֤ה אֶת־שְׁמֶ֗ךָ עַל־חַסְדְּךָ֥
I will bow in your holy hechal, and I will thank Your name for Your kindness.
So bowing is a way of expressing our Thank You. And when someone stands upright, that means he doesn't want to bow, which means he's not acknowledging. It says the snake stood tall and was a denier of God- that's why God made him go on his belly.
The Torat Chaim says that's why someone who does not bow in Modim, his spine turns to a snake. Because not bowing means he's not acknowledging God's kindness. He thinks that everything happens on automatic pilot, and he is following the approach of the snake. All negative beliefs come from that original sin, which was caused by the snake. Thus, that person deserves to have his spine, which is supposed to bow, turn into a snake.
Our lesson is that we are supposed to constantly be thanking Hashem.
Avraham Avinu, who was on the ultimate level, literally bowed on the ground when he heard good news. We don't have to bow on the ground when we hear good news, but we should have the feeling that we want bow on the ground.
Every single time we say Modim, we should be thinking of all the great things that happened, or that we don't even know have happened, since the last time we said Modim.
It's interesting that the numerical value of the word מודים Modim (40+6+4+10+40) is 100, and it says that the 100 Berachot were instituted for the same reason- that throughout the day, for every small event that happens, we're constantly saying thank you.
B’Ezrat Hashem, we’ll take this lesson of Avraham Avinu and be cognizant of God's constant kindness, and realize His constant intervention in our lives.
And B’Ezrat Hashem we will fix that sin of the snake and eventually be zoche to bow in the Bet Hamikdash. That's why, right after we say Retzeh, which talks about the service in the Bet Hamikdash, we say Modim. Because we want to actually bow in the Bet Hamikdash.
Have a Shabbat Shalom.