By the way, korbanot (sacrifices) means that we read the parashiyot (weekly Torah portions) concerning the sacrifices, including the daily sacrifices. As it says, now that the Beit HaMikdash is destroyed, our obligation to offer sacrifices, which we cannot actually do, is fulfilled by reading the portion pertaining to that particular korban. If you read the sentences concerning the korban ha'olah (burnt offering), it is as if you offered up an olah. If you read the sentences concerning the korban chatat (sin offering), it is as if you offered up a chatat.
Hashem has given us, through the Torah, a way of serving Him even with sacrifices, although we do not have the Beit HaMikdash and are not physically offering sacrifices. When we read the Torah, the sentences, and study the laws of the sacrifices, it is as if we are offering them. That is why the first section of the tefillah (prayer) is korbanot: we read the portions about the sacrifices, and we ask Hashem so that we can actually offer them. Now we can only read about them and pray.
The first section of the prayers, from Hodu through the Kaddish deRabbanan (Kaddish of the rabbis), is about bringing Hashem's light into Olam Asiyah (World of Action) and uplifting Olam Asiyah to a higher level, taking it to the next stage. Then we are on a higher plane. We say the Kaddish, and the Kaddish takes us up to Olam Yetzirah (World of Formation). Now we are the angels in Olam Yetzirah, the next stage. How do we go up? To go up, you need an elevator. You have to press the right buttons and go. Where is that elevator? The elevator is the Kaddish. The Arizal explains how the power of the Kaddish is to elevate our neshama (soul) to the next stage.
That is what Yaakov Avinu was shown in his dream. Hashem showed him that, as a human being, your physical feet are on the floor, but your neshama ascends and transcends all the way up to the higher world, and you can connect all the way up to that world. Through your actions and deeds, you can bring perfection to all the levels of creation, because you are linked to all the levels through your soul.
It is not hard for us to understand today that we can control everything remotely, from far away. You press a button, and it does wonders. You can open and close doors, and, you know, do almost anything. You can fly an airplane by remote control. So it is not hard for us to understand that through our mitzvot (commandments), our prayers, our thoughts, our words, and the connection of our soul with the higher worlds, we have the power to bring perfection into those worlds through the mitzvot we are doing. We can cause the light of Hashem to shine down upon them more and more and more. That is Hashem revealing Himself. That is the ultimate purpose of our prayers: to reveal Him within the world—she ain't ordinary vado is the ac working.
And then we say the zemirot (songs). We say the zemirot. Now that's in the Olam, the next level. Just as the malachim (angels) praise Hashem—that is the main purpose of the angels—so also we praise Hashem. We say that we join the malachim who are praising Hashem.
Every level, every verse of Tehillim (Psalms) that we say, is not just haphazardly arranged. Just as in the korbanot, every sentence we read is another step, another level of going up the rung of that ladder, Sulam Yaakov, that ladder of the dream of Jacob, so the zemirot take us up level by level. Each zemirah, each one we say, takes us from one level to another in Olam Yetzirah, until we get to the top of Olam Yetzirah. Then we say another Kaddish, and we ascend to the higher world, the third world, which is Olam HaBriyah (World of Creation). In Olam HaBriyah, we also go from stage to stage. Again, we have there the mitzvah of Kriyat Shema (recitation of the Shema), which we say, “Shema Yisrael” (Hear, Israel), and finally we come up to the fourth and highest world, Olam HaAtzilut (World of Emanation).
So we see literally that we are ascending from level to level, from the lower levels to the higher levels of all the created worlds of Hashem, to come close to Hashem through prayer. When we start the Amidah (standing prayer), we are literally facing Hashem in the highest of worlds, where He reveals Himself in the greatest revelations. His Divine Presence is even in this world, but it is very, very diluted and very, very hidden and covered. In the higher worlds, it is revealed with its ultimate force, the greatest force of revelation of Hashem's greatness.
This is the reason why, before we start the Amidah, we go back three steps and come forward three steps. These three steps show how we ascend through Olam Asiyah, Olam Yetzirah, Olam HaBriyah, and then face Hashem in the highest world, Olam HaAtzilut. When we finish the Amidah, we have to go back three steps, because now we are coming down from level to level, back into our place in this world. When we are saying the Amidah, we are literally with Hashem at the highest level possible. That is how we have to look at it. That is the power of prayer: it takes us all the way up, close to Hashem. We are facing Hashem literally and requesting from Him, standing in front of Him at the highest of levels.
“Excuse me, what if we are not conducting ourselves the right way, but we are in tefillah and doing, you know, whatever it is? What happens then with our character, our middot (traits), et cetera?”
“Okay, still okay? We are trying to be good. The main thing is that we are trying to be good, and the way the Hachamim arrange the prayers is for everyone equally. No one can say, ‘I don’t deserve to go up.’ I have to want to improve myself and go up. You’re right, you know, you could say, before you go up—let’s say someone is coming from somewhere, very properly dressed, all tidy and neat, with polished shoes, and he is coming into the shul. Another guy was working in the fields and has these huge boots on, full of mud, and he is tramping into the shul on the nice carpets, messing up the whole place. But he came to pray. He came to pray. That is also a big thing.”
“Let’s try to be clean and tidy when we come to Hashem and face Him with the right middot, with the right thoughts, with purity. That is what it is all about. Of course we have to be pure. That is also why we say korbanot before we ascend at all, because we have to purify ourselves in this world before we start ascending. The sacrifices give us kapara (atonement) for our sins and purify us. So we have to ascend in a purified way. It is mentioned in the books of the Mekubalim (Kabbalists) that at each stage a person ascends, he has to check and recheck himself to see whether he is pure enough to go up. It does say that. So you have to think that out, or at least think, ‘If I’m lacking, I’m going to try to be better. I’m going now, Hashem, to a higher level. Allow me to enter a higher level. If I’m lacking, I will try to be better. I will improve. I will do Teshuvah (repentance). I can always repent.’”
“On His throne, and His everything, as you teach us, why on the holidays does He have to come down closer to us, as they say?”
“Okay, that’s a very deep question. I will explain it a little bit. We’ll relate to it as we go on speaking about going up to Hashem. Before, we spoke about the Shekhinah (Divine Presence) being with us. So if His Divine Presence is with us, why do we have to ascend to Him? What does all this mean? And even more difficult to understand: when we mentioned before the Leshem Yichud (For the sake of unification), it says in the Leshem Yichud—it is, of course, written by the Mekubalim, and their words are very deep, and we are not on the level to understand them, but there is something we can explain—we say to join together HaKadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be He) and the Shekhinah. We know Hashem is one, Hashem is one, so what do you mean, to bring HaKadosh Baruch Hu and the Shekhinah together? How can there be such a concept at all of uniting HaKadosh Baruch Hu and the Shekhinah if Hashem is one everywhere?”
“The truth is, from Hashem’s point of view, there is no difference between up and down, and everywhere He is everywhere. He is everywhere. From His point of view, it is as if we do not exist, because His very existence is a contradiction to our existence. Hashem is considered Ein Sof. Ein Sof means no end: no end in power, no end in time, no end in space. So where am I? If I exist, there is somewhere an end, because from where I start, He isn’t. And that can’t be. So He is everywhere. That is from His point of view.
“But Hashem hides Himself from the world. That is why we say—one of the songs the Syrians sing is, ‘Hashem hides Himself from the world.’ That means He allowed His revelation in each world to be according to the level of that world. He is most hidden in this world. In this world, He is so hidden that we can almost imagine that He is not around. We can almost think that other forces rule the world. We can almost think that chance rules the world. For a person who does not want to believe, it is hard to prove otherwise. It is all a question of believing, but nothing is visible and nothing is seen.
“Hashem is so hidden. In the next stage, the higher world, He reveals much more of Himself. The angels have a much greater concept of Hashem. In the world above that, the world of the throne, He is more revealed. And the higher, fourth level is the highest possible revelation of Gilui Hashem (revelation of Hashem).
“Now, there is a contradiction we find in the words of our rabbis. On one hand, they say, for example, that the first seven generations in history were sinning. Like the Dor HaMabul (generation of the flood) and the Dor HaPelagah (generation of the dispersion), they were sinning. There were seven generations of sinners until Abraham Avinu (Abraham our father). Each generation pushed the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, out of the world one level. It went to the first Rekia (heaven), then the second heaven, the third heaven, the fourth heaven, and the seventh heaven. All the way up, they pushed the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, away. As we explained, when one sins, one pushes the Divine Presence away. When one does mitzvot, we bring the Shekhinah closer to us, and the Shekhinah will rest upon us, and the Divine Presence will rest in this world. That seems to imply that it is good for the Shekhinah to be down, and that sin pushes the Shekhinah away from this world.
“On the other hand, we just said before that the ultimate purpose is for the Shekhinah to be in Galut (exile), in exile with us, suffering. We say that the Shekhinah should go back to its height, to the height of the world where it belongs. Why is Hashem in exile with us? Because we have sinned and are in exile, and He can’t separate Himself from us, so He has to come down to be with us. And that seems to be a pagam (a lacking). We are saying we want to take Him up again, and He should go up. That is His kavod (honor), to be in the higher world. So it is a contradiction. Sometimes we say it is better that He is down, and sins push Him away; sometimes we say it is better that He should be up, and because of the Galut He is down. That is the question in a nutshell.
“The truth is that He is everywhere equally, up and down and all around, everywhere. ‘Leit atar panui minei,’ there’s no place where Hashem isn’t. He is everywhere. ‘Memale kol almin v'sovev kol almin’—He fills all the worlds and is beyond all the worlds. He is everywhere. There is no way where He is. So how do we understand all of this?
“The answer is that there are different revelations of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. There is a very high level of revelation which, because of that Galut, comes down. That revelation, we say, Hashem, has to go up again. It is a disgrace for such a great revelation to come down. But there is a certain revelation of Hashem that Hashem wants to be with us constantly in this world, and that is called Shekhinah. The closer the Shekhinah is to us and in us, in our world, and the more it is revealed in our world, the more that is the will of Hashem, and that is good.
“So those earlier generations were pushing the Shekhinah away from this world, from level to level. And we want the Shekhinah to go up. That means the level that fell down, the very high level that fell down because of our sins, we want to go up. But the level that should remain in us, we want to pull down more and more, so that it will be revealed in this world.
“Now, when we are speaking of different levels of revelation, we have to be very careful and understand: Hashem is one, He is one. These different levels are not really separate entities. God forbid, that would be completely against the principles of our religion, that Hashem is one. These separate levels are like having one source of light, with screens between the light at different stages, each screen lessening the penetration of the light. Level after level: after one screen the light is a bit lessened; after two screens, the light is lessened more; after three screens, it is lessened more; after four screens, a little bit of light, a little shadow of the light, comes through. We relate to these different levels of revelation as separate levels, but really they are all one and the same.
“So we say every mitzvah we do is to bring together all the levels of the relationship, all the levels of the revealing of Hashem’s revelations, to bring them together to be one, as they should be. ‘Hashem Echad v'Shmo Echad’ (Hashem is One and His name is One). These are very difficult concepts, but this is the purpose of our praying to Hashem, the ultimate reason being ‘Hashem Echad v'Shmo Echad.’”
“Maybe we’ll use the last half an hour we have now before we go to pray Mincha (afternoon prayer) to explain shortly the prayers we say. We’ll try to make a concise explanation of the Amidah and see how everything revolves around and is connected with the Beit HaMikdash, with Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel), and with Am Yisrael, the Jewish people, and Eretz Yisrael.
“We know the first three Berachot (blessings) of the Amidah: we are praising Hashem’s greatness and speaking positively, facing Hashem. But we start with the pasuk (verse), ‘Hashem, sefatai tiftach, ufi yagid tehilatecha’—Hashem, open my mouth and allow me to pray. We take even speech for granted. Speech is very complicated. We have five separate forms of speech: one depending on the throat, one depending on the cheek—the cheek is the palate—one depending on the tongue, one depending on the teeth, and one depending on the lips. You need complete unison between the throat, the palate, the tongue, the teeth, and the lips to pronounce almost every single word.
“Why do we say ‘alef, heh, chet, ayin’? The letters alef, heh, chet, ayin come out from the throat—the letters that are pronounced through the throat. Then you have someone whose lashon (tongue) is partly cut off. He can’t pronounce dalet. He can’t say dalet; he can’t say lamed. You need to use your lashon. Then you have words that need the teeth: zayin, shin, samech, resh. If you don’t have teeth, you have a problem pronouncing these words. And then you need the lips: bet, vav, mem, peh. You have to have the lips.
“So when you are saying a five- or six-letter word, one letter coming from the throat, one from the palate, one from the tongue, one from the teeth, and one from the lips, they are all working in coordination at the speed of a machine gun. We shoot words at the speed of a machine gun. The Hafetz Haim said you can say 200 words in a minute. He timed it, to know the value of time and how much Torah you can learn. In one minute you can say 200 words. So that is shooting bullets like a machine gun. Each time we say a word, a big miracle is taking place. The mouth, using all its parts—the throat, the palate, the tongue, the teeth, and the lips—is all working in unison, and each word comes out. We take it for granted that we can speak. We think it is no big deal. We don’t realize the great creation of a mouth that can speak.
“That is why, when Hashem created man, what did He create him as? Medaber (human beings). Four levels of creation: domem, tzomeach, chai, medaber. Inanimate objects like stone, like earth; plants which grow; animals which live; and human beings. We are called—the true greatness of a human being is that he can speak. The power of speech has been given to us, and we tell Hashem, ‘Hashem, help me to open my lips, and my mouth will praise You.’ We need that miracle, Hashem, that You allow us to speak. You have given us the power of speech to use in Your service.
“Then we say, ‘Baruch Atah Hashem’ (Blessed are You, Hashem). Of course, it doesn’t mean that we are blessing Hashem. We are saying clearly that He is the source of all blessings. Hashem, You are the source of all blessings. ‘Elokeinu,’ You are our God, ‘v'Elokei Avoteinu,’ and the God of all our fathers. Our connection with You is not new. You are the God of our fathers. We’ve known You for 4,000 years, maybe almost 6,000 years. So Adam HaRishon is also our father, and we have been serving You faithfully all these years. You are our God; we believe in You, and You are also Elokei Avoteinu, the God of our fathers.
“When we say ‘Elokeinu,’ You are our God; You run our lives. Everything that happens to us is from You. Then we say specifically, ‘Elokei Abraham, Elokei Yitzchak, Elokei Yaakov,’ mentioning our three forefathers. The Jewish people came to be through Abraham, Isaac, and Yaakov. These are our fathers, the main fathers, because until then everyone was part of the human race, and there was no definition of a chosen people. Abraham was the first person chosen by Hashem to found the Jewish nation. So from him onwards we mention ‘Elokei Abraham’ (the God of Abraham), ‘Elokei Yitzchak’ (the God of Yitzchak), and ‘Elokei Yaakov’ (the God of Jacob).
“Why do we mention Abraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov at this stage of the prayer? Because Hashem relates to the world through hesed, din, and rachamim. Hesed is loving kindness, din is judgment, and rachamim is a connection of hesed with din, and rachamim with din. Our forefathers lived their lives according to these three middot. Abraham was an ish hesed (man of kindness). He revealed the hesed of Hashem in the world. All his life he was doing hesed, hesed, hesed. I always explain that the ultimate hesed he did was with the Anshei Sedom. The Anshei Sedom were a nation of anti-hesed, and he pleaded for them: ‘Hashem, save the Anshei Sedom,’ the anti-hesed people. He asked for them; he prayed for them. That is how much hesed he did. Never mind all the other hesed he did, never mind hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests), never mind everything else he did.
“Yitzchak was din and gevurah. He was a silent servant of Hashem in a very hidden way. He was willing to be a korban. All his service to Hashem was with the midah of din, gevurah, of strength, inner strength, controlling himself, even willing to become a sacrifice. Yaakov was ‘ish tam yoshev ohalim,’ the ultimate perfection, the perfected form of a student of Torah, which is rachamim and represents rachamim.
“So we say here, Hashem, remember Abraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. We are coming to You as their children. Who made You great in the world? Abraham revealed the middah of hesed in the world; Yitzchak revealed the middah of gevurah; and Yaakov revealed the middah of rachamim. All that You do to run the world is through Abraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. They brought Your middot down into the world and revealed You in the world as the God of hesed, the God of judgment, and the God of rachamim. So we are approaching You; they are our visiting card. I am a son of Abraham, Isaac, and Yaakov. That is already an opening for us to be able to face Hashem.
“‘Ha'El hagadol, hagibor vehanora’ (The great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God)—these are the three middot that we mentioned. Gadol is hesed; gibor is strength, might, din; and hanora is rachamim. So we are mentioning the three middot that Abraham brought into the world, which are hesed, din, and rachamim. Hesed is hagadol, gibor is din, norah is rachamim. ‘El Elyon’ (God Most High). Although You reveal Yourself in this world to run the world, You are above it all. Even so, Your plan to run the world is ‘gomel chasadim tovim’: You do good with Your people. All the good comes down through You. ‘Koneh hakol,’ You created everything for Your people’s sake. Everything in the world is so that through Am Yisrael they will reveal Your greatness in the world.
“And You will remember all the good things our forefathers have done. When You judge us and relate to us, You relate to us remembering their goodness. Their goodness is always with us, and their merit is always with us. That is why it says, ‘zocher chasdei avot,’ the same—[unclear]—is forever, forever and ever and ever. We have—[unclear]—they were such great servants to Hashem that their merit is up forever. When Hashem remembers them, He has mercy on us. So we remind Hashem: look at the sons of Abraham and Jacob—they are the people who made You great in the world. They revealed Your—Your—Your—Your—Your rachamim in the world. Therefore, zocher chasdei avot: remember for us the chasadim (kindnesses), the good deeds of our forefathers. And You will bring a redeemer to their children’s children. That means we are the children of the shevatim, the twelve tribes, who were their children. Yaakov Avinu gave birth to his children, the twelve tribes, and we are their children.
“Ultimately, we are asking Hashem, for Your great name’s sake, because Your great name is suffering with us. With us, Your great name is suffering because You are linked to us and we are in the Galut. We are suffering the exile. You are suffering with us. Your great name is being disgraced. All that is taking place is a big Hashem with love, because Hashem’s love is continuously with us, even when we sin. Hashem loves us because we are the sons and grandsons and great-grandsons of Abraham. Really, when we see these words, we understand how great the connection is. Hashem remembers for us the hesed of the fathers, and He is going to bring the geulah (redemption). He is going to bring the Mashiach (Messiah) to us for His great name’s sake. Good luck. That means, of course, we have to merit it, and of course we have to work hard for it, but eventually it is going to come through His love for us, because of His connection with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“Then we say, ‘Melech, ozer, mosheia u'magen.’ Here we could say these four levels represent Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (Festival of Booths). Melech is Rosh Hashanah, when we make Hashem Melech over the world. We pronounce Him the King of the world. Ozer: He helps us do Teshuvah in the 10 days of repentance. As I said, His hand is outstretched to reach out to us and bring us back in Teshuvah. U'moshia: He saves us on Yom Kippur from all the kitrug, all the ta'anot (accusations) of the prosecutor, the Satan, who comes with fires and fires of his prosecutions against us. Hashem saves us on Yom Kippur. U'magen: on Sukkot we sit in the Sukkah, and the Sukkah is protecting us. They tell us the Sukkah is like Ananei HaKavod (Clouds of Glory), protecting us. Every single day we have Rosh Hashanah, Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, because Hashem is with us always. He is our King, He helps us do Teshuvah, He saves us from the prosecutors, and He guards and protects us. ‘Melech, ozer, mosheia u'magen.’ ‘Baruch Atah Hashem, magen Avraham,’ You are the shield of Abraham.
“Then we say the second Berachah, ‘Atah gibor le'olam Hashem.’ We speak of the greatness of Hashem. You are always great, even in the Galut you are great. ‘Mechayei hameitim Atah.’ Your greatness is such that eventually You will resurrect the dead, which is something we cannot imagine. People died, they were buried, they went back to dust. Some people drowned in the sea; they were eaten up by fish. Other people were destroyed in wars, bombed out of existence. Hashem is going to bring them back, and every piece of them is going to come piece to piece and be built up again, and the dead will be resurrected—the bones, the flesh, and every part of them. So the nes (miracle) of techiyat hameitim (resurrection of the dead) shows the greatness of Hashem. ‘Mechayei hameitim Atah, rav lehoshia.’ You save us in Your greatness. You will save us in Your greatness. You are great in saving us.
“Then we thank Hashem. In the summer we say—in the winter we say—because everything is from Hashem, nothing is to be taken for granted. You sustain all the living with Your loving kindness, with Your love for them. Eventually You are going to resurrect the dead. In Your great mercy, You support the falling, heal the sick, release those in captivity, and keep Your word with those who are even dead and buried in the ground.
“This could be explained literally, but we could also explain that these are four different stages of human beings, according to the level of our service to Hashem and how close we are to Hashem. Some of us are just stumbling. We are going in the right direction, but from time to time we stumble. Hashem is ‘Somech noflim.’ He supports us, so that we shouldn’t fall. Some people are already so far away from Hashem that they are sick. Hashem will heal us with Teshuvah. If we come to repent, He will heal us. Some people are already in captivity to the yetzer hara (evil inclination). The yetzer hara has taken complete control of them. We are handcuffed by the yetzer hara, and it is completely in control of us. Hashem will take us out of that bondage and captivity. Some people are already like the dead and buried. They have become like the afar, the dust of the earth; they have no feeling. Even these people, Hashem is going to connect up to them. If they seek it, Hashem will bring them up.
“This is the same four levels that we say in the Haggadah (Passover narrative). The Torah relates to all the levels of the children of Israel. Which is the highest level? Someone who has the potential to be on a high level but does the wrong thing. Someone who is a simpleton. Someone who has reached the level where he doesn’t even have any questions. He is just like the dead and buried. He is almost inanimate, like a rock. Even such a person Hashem can relate to. At all stages of our existence, we have hope that we can come back. Hashem wants to save us. He supports the falling, heals the sick, sets free those in captivity, and keeps His faith with those even in the afar. Every Jew has hope.
“‘Who can be compared to You, the mighty God of all strength? And who can be in any way compared to You?’ Melech, You are the King. You have all the forces in Your hand. Melech, You kill. When a person leaves the world, it is to You. You bring to life, and You are going to bring the eventual— all this is in Your might, within Your capabilities. At any moment that You will it, You can do it. And You are faithful in keeping Your word to resurrect the dead. ‘Baruch Atah Hashem, mechayei hameitim.’”
“Then the third Berachah we say, ‘Atah kadosh, v'Shimcha kadosh, u'kedoshim b'chol yom yehalelucha selah’ (You are holy, Your name is holy, and the holy ones praise You daily, forever). We can say it means this: ‘Atah kadosh’—Hashem, You Yourself, Borei Olam (Creator of the world), are holy. ‘V'Shimcha kadosh,’ Your name is holy. What is Hashem’s name? A person is called by how he is revealed. For example, if we see someone always giving charity, we say, ‘He’s an ish hesed, ish hesed.’ If we see someone always protecting the weak, we say he is a gibor, a strong guy. Any person will be called according to his actions and deeds.
“Hashem’s names all pertain to the various forms in which He reveals Himself in this world. He is revealed sometimes in hesed, sometimes as a judge, sometimes in rachamim. There are many separate forms of revelation, like we say: each one of these is one of the 13 forms of revelation through which Hashem reveals Himself in this world. Sometimes He is rachum, sometimes He is chanun. Each one is different. That is what we mean: Hashem, You Yourself are kadosh, are holy, and the various revelations of Your great name in this world are also holy. The holy ones—Am Yisrael and the angels—can praise You through knowing and recognizing Your various revelations in this world, because we can’t even call Hashem by any name as He is above it all. We can’t apply any name to Him. He is so far above it all. But we relate to Him through names, through His various revelations in this world, and we approach Him in our prayers through those revelations. So because of ‘Shimcha kadosh, kedoshim b'chol yom yehalelucha selah,’ Am Yisrael and the angels can praise You every day. ‘Baruch Atah Hashem, HaEl HaKadosh’ (the holy God).”
“Then we ask for wisdom. We say, ‘Atah chonen le'adam da'at,’ because that is the most important thing. The most important thing is Torah. We ask for wisdom. ‘Atah chonen le'adam da'at.’ Hashem, You give us intelligence. You give us brains. That is even for secular matters. We need brains for high tech. We need brains for cures, for inventions. But we ask You for special intelligence to understand Your Torah. We ask You for Torah in the concept of vast knowledge. That is called chochmah. We ask You for binah, which is the depth of understanding. We ask You for da'at, which is the capability of applying that wisdom in our everyday lives. Da'at is the most important, because if you have a lot of theory and you don’t apply it, you are lacking. We have to bring the Torah down into action in our world, to apply it, to live according to it. That is da'at.
“Then we pray for repentance. Hashem, bring us back to Your Torah. The first thing we have to come back to is the Torah. If we are not connected to our Torah, we don’t know what to do. We don’t know what Hashem wants of us. We don’t know how to keep the mitzvot. We don’t know how to work on our character traits. Everything has to be taught and learned out of the Torah. So we say, Hashem, help us repent. Bring us back to Your Torah. The first thing is, let us come back to Torah, to learn Torah, to know what You want of us. Then, Hashem, You can bring us to the next stage of being close to You and being able to serve You. Now we know how to serve You. We have learned Your Torah; we know how to serve You. Now we can come to the third level of repentance, of Teshuvah, of repairing all that we have destroyed through our sinning, all the higher worlds that we have blemished through our sinning. That is teshuvah shleimah, the final stage of repentance. ‘Baruch Atah Hashem.’ Hashem wants Teshuvah and is always there to help us repent. His hand is outstretched to us, to help us come back to Him and repent.
“Now that we’ve done Teshuvah, we have to be forgiven for what we have done in the past, because of our fast, about our past. So we ask Hashem, ‘Our Father, forgive us, we have sinned unintentionally.’ Chet is unintentionally. So someone who sinned unintentionally considers Hashem our merciful Father. ‘Forgive us, our King,’ because we have sinned intentionally. When we ask Hashem to forgive us for our intentional sinning, we say this because we fear Him now. He is a King who can punish as well, and we have sinned intentionally; it is more serious. So we see how exact the wording is. Forgive us, our Father, for our unintentional sins, and forgive us, our King, for our intentional sins as well. If we do Teshuvah, He forgives us for all our sins. You tear up all our evil decrees. You forgive us and cancel all the evil decrees upon us. ‘Baruch Atah Hashem,’ the merciful One who forgives us in abundance for all our sins.
“Then we say, Hashem, look at our suffering and fight our wars, fight our battles. Save us from all sorts of situations in this world where we are in danger and could be harmed, because You are a great redeeming God from all suffering. ‘Baruch Atah Hashem, Goel Yisrael.’
“This does not refer to the coming of Mashiach. That is later on. This is more a private redemption that we ask Hashem for, to redeem us from all sorts of sorrows, all sorts of suffering in this world. That means even if it was decreed upon us to suffer, if we had sinned and because of that we have to undergo any suffering in this world, we say, Hashem, now that we have done Teshuvah and You have forgiven us, please cancel those decrees that were decreed against us, that we should suffer. God forbid, an accident; God forbid, an illness; God forbid, a loss; God forbid, life or money, whatever. Save us from these evil decrees.
“Then we go on and say, ‘Heal us, Hashem, and we will be cured.’ What do we mean by that? Why do we say a double lashon (expression)? Because when we take medicine, medicines can cure, but every medicine that cures, later on they say, ‘Yeah, but it harms something else.’ It helps here and harms there, this helps here and that harms there. Every medicine solves one problem but brings on other problems, and most of the problems they still don’t know about. Probably many medicines are causing many deaths. They still don’t know about it. But when Hashem cures us, it is a refuah shleimah (complete healing). He gives a cure, and it cures, and that’s it. It never harms.
“If I know Hashem, and we will be cured, it also means physically and spiritually, because when we are sick, the problem is a spiritual problem. The illness is physical. We have to go to the root of the problem spiritually to cure it, and then we also get a physical refuah. So we say, ‘Refa'einu Hashem venerafe,’ spiritually; ‘hoshieinu venivashea,’ physically. ‘Ki tehilateinu Atah,’ because we always praise You and trust in You. ‘Veha'aleh refuah u'marpe,’ send remedies and cures, ‘lechol tachalu'einu,’ for all our sicknesses, ‘lechol mach'oveinu,’ for all our pains and sufferings, and for all our open wounds, because You are a kind doctor, a true doctor who cures us in Your mercy and in Your faithfulness, curing Your Jewish people. So again, if because of our sins it was decreed that we should suffer an illness, Hashem, please cure us.
“Finally, maybe because of our sins it was decreed that we lose our parnassah (livelihood). We say, ‘Barecheinu Hashem Elokeinu. Bechol ma'aseh yadeinu (in all our handiwork). U'varech shenateinu (and bless our years), with talalei ratzon. Berachah u'ndavah (blessing and generosity).’ Everything should be good for us. ‘With hiya ha'avitah,’ the whole year should be good until its end. ‘Hayim’ (life), and plenty, and shalom (peace), the good years we have known in the past, full of blessings, because You are a God of goodness and You do good to us, and You bless the years of parnassah for goodness. We thank You, Hashem, and bless You for being the makor (source), to be mashpia (to give us) all the berachot in the years.”
“Rabbi, just a question on the last two. God, are we asking for ourselves or are we asking for—”
“I don’t understand.”
“For ourselves and for all the other Jewish people. It’s in the plural.”
“But until now, these are all personal requests.”
“Until now, these are all personal requests. They can apply to each individual, and we are also praying for all of Klal Yisrael, because we always have to include all of Klal Yisrael in our prayers.
“Now the prayers are taking on another level. Now we are praying not so much for us, but literally for the Shekhinah, for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, for the ultimate Geulah for Klal Yisrael. So we say, let the great shofar of Mashiach announce the coming of Mashiach speedily in our days, and uplift the banner of Mashiach to bring together all the Jewish people in the Galut. While we are still in Chutz La'aretz (outside the Land of Israel), we should be united, because we can only come to HaKadosh Baruch Hu united. In this unity we can come. And then bring us all, gather us all together to Eretz Yisrael as one united nation. Great are You, Hashem, who are going to bring all the exiles into Eretz Yisrael. The condition is that we can only come in as a united people. We must be united in Chutz La'aretz, in the Galut, in the exile, to come united to Eretz Yisrael.
“Now, in Eretz Yisrael, the ruling over us should be through the sages, the Hachamim. So we say, ‘Hashiva’ (give us back) our spiritual leaders, the great Hachamim, the judges—[unclear]. Okay, those who lead us and guide us and advise us. Now that we are going to have the spiritual leaders, then You take away all our problems. We are being guided now by the great Hachamim. We don’t have any more problems. They solve all our problems. They are guiding us in the spirit of Torah. And now that the great Hachamim are ruling over us, now You can reveal Your kingdom upon us as one nation. The hesed of the Hachamim with hesed, and the Hachamim and tzedek u'mishpat, which is judgment. ‘Baruch Atah Hashem, Melech ohev tzedakah u'mishpat,’ which is judgment. Now that we have the Hachamim ruling over there, there is true judgment, the true halachah (Jewish law), the true din, in Eretz Yisrael and the whole world.
“Finally, we have to cleanse the land of all the resha'im, the apikorsim. So we say, ‘Laminim velamalshinim al tehi tikvah’ (Let there be no hope for informers and heretics). Laminim are like disbelievers who don’t believe in the religion. Lamalshinim (those who tell tales) report on the Jewish people to the goyim (nations). Anyone who goes and is a moser (informer) is a malshin (slanderer). ‘Al tehi tikvah.’ They should never be successful in their attempts to harm Am Yisrael. They should have no hope. ‘Vechol hara'ah keregah toved,’ and all the wicked should cease to exist. These are the ones who sin intentionally. ‘Vechol oyvecha vesonecha,’ those who are Your enemies and hate You, those who fight the Torah and fight the truth, ‘meheira yikareitu,’ completely cut them off. And then, finally, the forces of evil from the earth are completely uprooted, smashed, caused to disappear. And then ‘vetachni'em,’ which means put them down. That doesn’t make sense. You’ve already uprooted them, smashed them, made them disappear, and now you say, limit them. But these are four levels in the four worlds we spoke about. At the lowest level, we uproot them. At the next level, we smash them. At the third level, they disappear. But the highest level of evil as well is pure. That is why, when Chushim ben Dan cut off the head of Esav, his head rolled into the Ma'arat HaMachpelah (Cave of Machpelah), because his head was pure. That is what it says in Ha'azinu, which we read last night: ‘verosh petanim achzar’ (And the head of the cruel serpents). It says, ‘v'hu kamus imadi’—the head of the serpent is hidden up with Me. That means even the evil of the world, its shoresh, its root, is good, but it has to be contained and controlled. So we say, with ‘vetachni'em,’ the root of evil, which is din in its source, has to be contained and controlled. That is vetachni'em. So we just control it. ‘Baruch Atah Hashem, shover oyvim u'machnia minim zedim’ (You destroy evil and put down all the evil people in the world). Hashem, You will destroy the evil and put down all the evil people in the world.”
“I don’t know if we have time anymore. What time is Mincha?”
“7.35.”
“7.35? You know for sure? Yes? Then wait for us.”
“‘Al hatzadikim ve'al hachasidim’—now we are praying for all the righteous people. We said before, a tzadik is someone who keeps the Shulchan Aruch. A hasid is someone who does lifnim mishurat hadin, more than the call of duty. ‘Ve'al she'erit amcha Beit Yisrael,’ the remnants of Your people. ‘Ve'al pleitat soferēhem,’ the remnants of the Hachamim. ‘Ve'al geirei hatzedek ve'alenu.’ Finally, the righteous gerim (proselytes), and us. We should always ask for ourselves at the end. We don’t know what the order is here: up, down, how is it going? It is each level on its own, from the smaller to the higher. Tzadik is less than hasid. ‘Al hatzadikim ve'al hachasidim’ is one stage. Then the general people, the remnants of Your people, the remnants of the Hachamim—that is the next stage, again from the lighter to the higher. And then have mercy on us.
“I call this the Berachah of bitachon. Hashem, reward those who trust in You. We explained before what bitachon is. All those who trust in Your great name, really, in truth, not just saying it but then relying on ourselves—in truth, we rely on Hashem. Reward those who trust in You in truth. Allow us to be like them. We should always be among those who trust You. We should never be put to shame, because if you trust in Hashem, you will never be put to shame. Never. Hashem will stand there for you, because we trust in You and You will be there for us, and we continuously lean on Your continual support to us. You are there for the righteous who trust in You.
“So this is a prayer of trusting in Hashem. Then we say, come back to Your holy city once again, dwell in Jerusalem. Then take it to the next stage: let the Mashiach come, who is the son of David, and rule again in Your holy city, and rebuild Your holy city once again forever. It will never again be destroyed or disunited.
“Then we pray for the Mashiach. Why do we say it is always like a plant? Because you plant a seed in the ground, and you don’t know what is taking place. All of a sudden, one day it sprouts out and you see what is growing. That is how the yeshuah (salvation) is going to come. We don’t know what our prayers are doing. It is all underground. We don’t see it yet. Suddenly it is going to sprout forth, and we will see something sprouting out and being revealed. Let us see the growing of that sprouting tree of the Messiah, and let him be announced as the king of the world, because we continuously await and look forward to Your great saving, the coming of the Messiah.
“Finally, we say that Hashem should hear all our prayers, and we say the last three, thanking Hashem for receiving our prayers. We end by stating very emphatically that we know our prayers will only be answered if we are united, if we are praying for all our Jewish people together.
“Hashem should have mercy on us and send us, please, and the Messiah is the best. Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says, ‘The Holy Quran is the best, and the Torah is the best, and the Torah is the best, and the Torah is the best.’”