Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Join Rav Shlomo Katz in uncovering מעלת תפילת נשים—the unique spiritual power of a Jewish woman’s tefillah.
Drawing from Chazal, halacha, and pnimiyut, and learning deeply from the Biala Rebbe’s "Zechut Nashim Tzidkaniyot", we explore why women’s hearts, rooted in רגש טהור (innate emotional purity) and holy bitul, move heaven and earth.
Together we’ll clarify classic questions (time-bound mitzvot, obligation vs. essence), learn the siddur through the eyes of our sages, and translate inspiration into avodah that nourishes real life, especially as we enter Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
This series is both a celebration and a strengthening of the women who daven with fire, carry Am Yisrael with love, and teach us how to speak to Hashem with truth.
Good morning everyone, thank you for coming. In the month of Tevet, we're learning לעילוי נשמת לוי בן יוסף and לעילוי נשמת בתיה פיגא בת ישראל and this week is sponsored by the Finns for the refuah sheleimah for דוד נתנאל בן איילה אהובה. Okay, here we have pages here. We have a very simple shiur today.
Not a complicated shiur at all. And in the past when I say that it becomes the most complicated shiur, but today I really checked. Yeah? Okay. In the past when I've said it, it hasn't been so true, but today be'emet משהו מאוד מאוד קל, there's something very easy be'ezrat Hashem for us to be plugged into.
And tremendous chizuk for the neshot am Yisrael, for the mothers, for the daughters, for the sisters of am Yisrael. This is from the Bialer Rebbe sefer, מבשר טוב מעלת תפילת נשים, on daf kuf ayin hey. So as a little bit of hakdama, it's one page, double-sided, just one page, one page, one page double-sided. So a question that quite often I get asked, and even from people actually not in this room right now, but people that come and learn with the shiur, is that there's such a hoda'ah, there's such a gratitude to Hashem once life kicks in and you're a mommy, you're a mother, you're busy, one kid, two kids, doesn't matter, but life gets very consuming with very important things, and there's this sense of, there's a sense inside that there's a little bit of a, of like this, this, not chalila charata, but more a sense of, but Ribono shel Olam, it's very hard for me that I don't have the ability to daven like I used to daven before I had children.
Now that's a, that's it's come up many times. I don't have the time, I don't have the setting, and I definitely don't have the headspace to be able to daven the way that I, the way that I want to daven, the way that I used to daven. So too with learning as well. And that's true for every stage in life when life is what it is, a lot of different things to take care of.
You know, I wish men would have the same problem, that they would feel the same thing, but they're just a more on robotic energy, so they get up, they go to shul and daven, because that's what they have to do. But I wish they would also say, man, I wish I could still daven like a bachur when I was just in oros and feeling so high and no problems, no real issues. It's a ke'ev, it's a real interesting apparent pain that quite often I hear from different people. And there's many, and here baruch Hashem I'm very happy and proud that baruch Hashem I see plenty of women that are coming on a daily basis to minyanim, which is to me just really, it's really incredible and it's very rare, but it's very beautiful and it's very, very inspiring as well.
But what we're going to be addressing today in the shiur is what does it mean to really daven to Hashem if we really boil things down to it, if we really crack things down to it. When you say, I wish I could daven like I used to daven, what are you actually talking about? What are you referring to? So that's why I think that what, like we said in the beginning, a very smooth, easy approach to addressing this issue of when I don't have all the time like I used to have to daven, how do I fill in that place in me? How do I fill in that gap? How do I fill in that hole? But it demands of me to re-examine what davening even means. What it really looks like. What is it supposed to look like? I always wondered when they talk about the Avot and the Imahot.
Let's go to Yitzchak and Rivka. You know Yitzchak and Rivka that famous scene in the beginning of Parshat Toldot where they're each one of them is in the corner of a room and it says Yitzchak was davening and Rivka was davening. What sefer do you think they pulled off the shelf to daven to Hashem to have a kid? What kapitel Tehillim do you think Rivka chose and what chapter of Tehillim do you think Yitzchak chose, right? What do you think? So obviously, can we say the Avot and Imahot didn't daven? Gamur, that they davened. They davened like it's no one's business.
And that's a lost art that needs to be reclaimed again. And we're going to be'ezrat Hashem delve into that.
נשים טרודות בגידול ילדיהן.
נשים טרודות בגידול ילדיהן.
והנה לפעמים היצר הרע מונע.
מונע את נשות ישראל מתפילה משום שהן עמלות וטרודות מאוד בגידול הילדים וצורכי הבית ובפרט נשים צדקניות שבדורנו העוסקות בעבודה לפרנסת הבית כדי לתת לבעל ולילדים אפשרות לעסוק בתורה ונשאר להן רק מעט זמן לצורכי הבית ואין להן שום פנאי להתפלל את כל התפילה כסדרה מהחל ועד כלה. So, two things are going on here. Remember the world that he's addressing, the Bialer Rebbe.
It's a very—we always have to remember this in this shiur. He's addressing a world of women that quite often—and it's not for us to make an opinion about it, I don't want to go into that at all—but quite often the seder in the house is: the woman really does more or less everything, and even has a side job in order to enable the husband to sit and learn in kollel all day and for the kids to learn in Talmud Torah. And that's a shita, that's a way of life of hundreds of thousands of people. And there's a big erech to it.
We don't live in that world so much, so when we speak about it, it seems like, "Are you kidding me?" But I don't want to go into that, that's bichlal not our parsha. But the point of this is saying, what about lemaiseh a woman that wants to be able to daven from beginning to end? Let's just say Shabbos, okay? Let's just say Shabbos. But the kid, after 10 minutes, has had enough of groups. It's happened, nachon? It's happened after five minutes they've had enough of groups.
And it's happened, and then one of the other kids or whatever is coming, "Mommy, I need this," whatever. A woman that wants to be able to fully daven and it just doesn't work for her, it doesn't mesh out for her, it doesn't—it doesn't become her metzius. That's a thing that he's saying needs to be addressed, which already I see is something very beautiful. Are there enough pages at the end over there? You have.
Okay, good. Which is already a beautiful metzius that there's even a ratzon, because you could easily—and you tell me how you feel about this—if I came out and said, "I'm a rav, I'm giving you all a p'tor," which you don't need me to give you a p'tor, you have Chazal that give you a p'tor from the davening, "but I'm even paskening: none of you should even try to daven because it'll just mess you up and make you feel bad. And trust me that by just saying Birkas Hashachar, you'll be yotzei everything with even more kavana than a man could do in five hours in a shul." How would you feel? Besides wanting to throw a chair at my face. Baruch Hashem that no one's looking for that.
That's my point. That's a beautiful—no one's looking. I've never gotten a question like that. I've never—I have gotten questions of saying, "Listen, between Shacharis, Mincha, and Maariv, which one should I daven?" So we all know that it's become pretty widespread—I don't know if you know this, but which tfilah do most women have more or less taken on during the week? Mincha.
Yeah, Mincha. Obviously, it's the shortest, and Mincha's Mincha's the shortest and Mincha has become—for many people, many women have taken on. But there's a ratzon for more. What a beautiful thing.
And this is what he's addressing, and this is what we're going to be addressing as well. But a woman that has so much of a ratzon and it seems that she doesn't have the ability, it can cause this inner stress inside that we're going to be dealing with today. Vehinei omros le'atzmam, second paragraph, הרי אנו עתה מלאות טרחה, we're so busy, ועסוקות בדברים הטורדים את המוח והלב, and we're busy with things that take a lot of time both from mind and heart. Uvizman shenitpaneh legamrei, when we finally finish packing that last lunch, or throwing in that last load, or making that last, whatever it is, or finally finishing checking every single person's update on WhatsApp and Facebook and Instagram, when I finish all those things that I have to do, kivyachol, so to speak, uvizman shenitpaneh legamrei, לא יהיו לנו טרדות ונהיה במנוחת הנפש וישוב הדעת אז נוכל להתפלל.
And that's true for everybody. We always have this thing of saying, "When I get through that shlav in life, then I'll have the yishuv hadaas and the menuchas hanefesh to be able to daven." I don't know anyone that's ever reached that shlav in life. That's an imaginary shlav in life that says, "When I get through that shlav, when I'm—" That that whole notion of when I'll have the time, it never really happens and in many areas in life. I have a good friend, Baruch Hashem, a matzliach businessman.
When I met him he was 27, 28, killing it. And he's still killing it. Now he's, I'm not going to tell you how old he is because I don't want you to start to figure out who he is, but he's much later in life. And I had a conversation with him over Chanukah and I said, you know, when I met you you said that your goal is to make enough money that by the time that you're 35 you never have to work again, you could sit and retired, retire and sit and learn.
Because he's plenty of years after 35 and Baruch Hashem he's still matzliach and the retirement didn't happen. Why didn't it happen? Because that place that's called when I get there doesn't usually ever arrive. Kimat ever. Kimat ever.
Sometimes you have certain people that are very disciplined. I don't know many people like this but sometimes like very disciplined and they're like okay once I finish this shlav in my life, then I will dedicate it fully to. Sometimes you meet people like this and it's very inspiring. But in general to wait for a time in life where you imagine that you'll be done with what you're busy doing now and then you'll have yishuv hadaas and menuchas hanefesh rarely, rarely appears.
Rarely comes. And I don't mean to be a downer, chas v'shalom. Just saying life is life and things are constantly popping up, things that we're unaware of are popping up. It is what it is.
This is how our lives are structured. Whether you have kids or don't have kids, it's bechlal, it's nothing to do with it. Life, just bechlal, life. Az nuchal l'hitpallel, then we'll be able to davven.
V'yesh lanu ladaas, so the Rebbe's addressing something and saying you have to understand this and know this deep in your heart. She-ikar hatfillah, what davvening's really about, היא הדיבור עם השם יתברך בשפת הלב. Real davvening is really about talking to Hashem with the language of the heart.
כי כל דיבור שאדם מדבר בשיחה בעלמא עם השם יתברך פועל בשמים.
This is amazing. Did you ever like while you're driving or while you're, honestly I'm going to say very mundane things, while you're doing your nails, while you're I don't know shopping, did you ever start talking to Hashem while you're doing one of these things, just like Ah Hashem, right? I asked Hashem to help me get onto a highway before when I was in Chutz La'aretz because I was never the driver, my husband alav hashalom was sick and I said like Hashem and he said like what'd you say honey? I said no I was just talking to Hashem and I didn't realize I was doing it until he pointed it out to me. That's amazing. That's beautiful.
This is pre-Waze days. Pre, yeah, yeah, a few years before Waze, right. Whatever. No, it's okay, we're not going to go into dates right now.
Just regular, just that one pniyah, oh Hashem. Now usually let's be honest, usually oh Hashem is usually oh Hashem! It's never like like your day's you're having a nice day, things are working out, it's beautiful like wow Hashem. That that that's more rare than Hashem! Right? But it doesn't matter, any pniyah to Hashem that's on any level, the Rebbe's saying over here why isn't that davvening? Why isn't that considered davvening? Who says that's not davvening? Because you're not in shul? Because you're not in a minyan? Because you're not davvening out of a siddur? And it's and we have to stop thinking like that. And I think we are.
I think we are Baruch Hashem. And it's got to get stronger and stronger. So again ויש לנו לדעת שעיקר התפילה היא הדיבור עם השם יתברך בשפת הלב כי כל דיבור שאדם מדבר בשיחה בעלמא עם השם יתברך פועל בשמים. Any conversation, any word that you happen to speak with Hashem about poel bashamayim, it does something in shamayim.
ואפילו מה שמדברים אל השם יתברך תוך כדי שיחה עם הזולת נחשב תפילה. Now I don't know if this has happened to you, but even while you're having a conversation with someone and you start talking to Hashem while you're talking to the person, that's also poel bashamayim. That does big things in shamayim. Meaning, sometimes you can there's two two things, two possibilities here.
One is that you may sound and look a little bit delusional while you're talking to someone and then you're basically, oh so I went to... But the greatest example of talking to someone while you realize that you're always talking to Hashem is from this Parsha. Why? What's the second word of the Parsha? Come on, what's the second word of our Parsha? Vayigash. What's the second word? Elov.
Elov. Vayigash Elov Yehuda. All the Meforshim are asking why doesn't the Pasuk say ויגש יהודה אל יוסף? That's what happened. The Zohar HaKadosh explains to us that it was crystal clear that omnam it's true Yehuda had to approach this person that was in front of him, to Yehuda it was clear this person is a Shliach min haShamayim.
So therefore, Vayigash Elov Yehuda. And Yehuda, when you see him speaking, he's mamash doing Vidui before Ribbono shel Olam. And he's giving over the whole life story. So Yehuda's the greatest example of in our lives when we're with people and we realize that every person is a shliach is a shlucha.
So I could talk to someone with the consciousness of I'm speaking to the Ribbono shel Olam right now. Not that I'm making them God, you understand? It's not the point. But that the conversation that's coming about is one that leads me to realize I'm standing before Hashem right now. And our Parsha is the greatest example for it.
This word Elov. Vayigash Elov Yehuda. Vayomer and then just to continue with that vort, Vayomer and then he says Bi Adoni. Which in Chasidus they explain that Yehuda opens up his plea to Hashem and he starts off by saying, listen, you're in me.
There's a piece of you that's in me. So have rachmanus on yourself. Bi Adoni. Gevalt, right? In me is you Hashem.
So have rachmanus. Have rachmanus on the piece of you that's inside of me. So this came about because the Rebbe said here even when you speak to people but it's a Hashem consciousness in the room, that's davening. That's considered Tefila.
כמובא בספר חלקת יהושע, like it's brought down in the Sefer Chelkas Yehoshua the father of the Rebbe that we're learning from.
כמה דאיתא בשם הרבי רבי נפתלי מרופשיץ from the Ropschitzer Rebbe.
כל שיח תדשא ותושיע, it's a pasuk that says every plant shall sprout forth and bring salvation. But we also know that the word siach means sicha, conversation.
ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה, lasuach means to have a conversation. So the Rebbe writes over here, כל שיח תדשא ותושיע, every single blade of grass slash every conversation, every word that's uttered will sprout forth tadshe milashon deshe, will bring about a growth of something.
ותושיע כי אם האדם זוכה אז פועל בלא תפילה אלא מדבר דברים בעלמא בינו לבין חברו. We're not talking about shul.
We're talking about a mundane conversation.
וזהו שכתוב כל שיח תדשא ותושיע אפילו שיחה בעלמא כדרך בני אדם עושה פירות ותדשא ותושיע לנו ברוחניות ובגשמיות. By Chasidim, a very, very holy and important inyan is a Farbrengen. Now what's a Farbrengen? Is it davening? No.
Is it learning? Not necessarily. Is it being together and sharing hearts? Yes. So is that davening? Yes. Is that learning? Also.
This is the reframing of words that we just have to, we just have to reframe these words and sharpen them a little bit better.
ואם דיבור כדרך בני אדם פועל ישועות. If speaking just normally like a person does does big miracles in the world, כל שכן כאשר אם יהודייה מסוככת עם השם יתברך ופונה אליו ודאי שלכל מילה שהיא מוציאה מפיה יש השפעה לטובה. He's saying if any word that any Yiddishe says and speaks about with Hashem consciousness does things in the world, everything we learned until now about the ma'ala of a Jewish mother, of a Jewish woman, על אחת כמה וכמה, how much more so is the power of a word that comes out of your mouth, the word just a p'niyah Hashem, just that Hashem.
that one time that Hashem how much it can bring good down to the world. Ume'atah bottom paragraph.
כאשר אשה נושאת את עיניה כלפי מעלה בפשטות ובתמימות when a woman turns her eyes up to Hashem just like this with with utter simplicity and with utter tmimus with no shtick no no ulterior motives just because I know I only have you.
משום שהיא מאמינה שרק השם יתברך יכול לעזרה because she knows only Hashem can help her.
וכמו שאנו אומרים בהושענא like we say on Hoshanna Rabba בלתיך אין להושיע הושענא it's only you that can help any situation please help us.
ופונה היא אל השם יתברך בצעקה מתוך הלב פנימה and she turns to Hashem with an inner heart scream.
ומתחננת ואומרת לפניו אבא אבא אני צריכה את עזרתך Abba Abba I need your help כי רק אתה יכול להושיעני because only you can help me u'biladecha mi yoshieni.
ובפרט אם היא מתפללת בבכי and if tears come down of course even more.
הרי שתפילתה מעוררת רחמים גדולים ותתקבל ברצון that type of davening shakes the heavens and is accepted immediately.
כמו שאמר הרב הקדוש מקוזמיר so the Rebbe Rebbe of Kuzmir his name was Reb Hezekel Chatzkel of Kuzmir and he is the grandfather of the Modzitzer dynasty and the dynasty of Modzitz you've heard of Modzitz before right? Has anyone ever not heard of Modzitz? Modzitz you've never heard of Modzitz? You've heard their niggunim that's for sure. Modzitz have the best niggunim like Havdala that we do that's a Modzitzer niggun or that's Modzitz one more Modzitz Lecha Dodi that's also and many many more. So they come from Reb Chatzkel of Kuzmir and he said like this שאופן תפילתנו צריך להיות בעיקר the way we really have to daven should be like this כתינוק קטן שאינו יכול לדבר כראוי like a kid that can't even speak properly שכאשר הוא קורא אבא אבא מיד מתעוררים רחמי האב immediately the compassion of a father comes down when all he does is hear you know we're getting so excited that our Chava our Chava is what 15 months old now? 16? That she's uttering a few words that sound like Abba and wow.
Or Mama mama we're I think Mama I'm I was davening that Mama comes before Abba this time it was by the other kids I think it did but Abba somehow was came out first. You hear that first Abba right? What does it do? It's m'orer rachamim oh my gosh it awakens such a compassion such a ratzon wow you're saying that's that's what davening is. We think we have to come to Hashem like a talmid chacham we think we have to come to Hashem that someone that knows the pnimiyus of all of davening in order to be eligible for sitting at the table sitting at the shtender sitting at the shul the siddur. Bichlal lo!
וקורא אבא אבא מיד מתעוררים רחמי האב לעזור לו בכל הדברים למנוע ממנו כל צער ולמלא את צרכיו and a father wants at that moment when he hears Abba Abba to take away any pain and to fill all their needs.
Let me ask you a basic question over here. Why is it that when we learn it like this it makes sense to us but b'shas ma'aseh we don't buy this? How come we don't buy this b'shas ma'aseh? B'shas ma'aseh because what does our brain what does the yetzer hara tell us before we start davening or if we're going to daven like this? What are some of the claims of the yetzer hara? You tell me. It's not real tfila. One it's not a real tfila what else? Think about this because it happens all the time.
What else is the yetzer hara how is he getting in there and what what is the yetzer hara saying? Let's say you haven't davened in like four months or five years okay? And then you have this ratzon to just say Abba Abba or Mommy mommy or Mother Earth like whatever your whatever you're I have a lot of friends they'd never say Abba. They'd probably say Mother Earth before they'd say anything else or Galaxy or whatever it is. What Universe right? You know for me sometimes also like... Instead of saying when talking to Hashem, I'll just keep on saying, "Master of every single thing that I know and don't know of." That helps me more than just saying Hashem.
Sometimes, whatever. What's the voice? What is that voice that sneaks in? What does it tell you? I'm not worthy. Ah, that's for sure. Why aren't you worthy to daven like that? Why? Because I haven't been davening.
Yes, because I haven't been davening. And I went to Bais Yaakov or I went to whatever school I went to growing up and I should know better. They already told me how to daven. They told me this.
Or I didn't. What do you mean? I didn't go. Or you didn't. Okay, so in your situation, you didn't go.
But what would prevent, yeah, but you chevra have it so much better and easier. I think so, I don't know. What prevents you from thinking that you're not worthy of just calling out to Hashem in the middle of the day? I don't know anything. Ah, because I don't know anything, because I didn't learn.
So who am I to say, I don't even know what this is about. Right, because in order to call out to Hashem, first I have to know who God is, because the Orthodox people know who God is. Right, they know who God is. Nachon.
Yeah. I had a rebbetzin who said we know that if our kids didn't call us for four months and then they called us, we wouldn't care that we hadn't heard from them or that they didn't say the right thing. We'd just be so happy that they got on the phone. Why would we think any less of our Avinu shebashamayim? It really helped.
Because unfortunately there are those people that have parents that if they didn't call for four months and then they'd call, they'd be like, "Why didn't you call for four..." That's what they hear, right? You're right, both ways. You had your hand up, Elisa? Yeah, I was going to say maybe this is just my type-A personality, but I think also with formal tefillah, there's something you can check off in a sense, like it feels like there's something you can check off, right? You said the text, you said the thing, versus sometimes the informal tefillah to me almost feels like it's like a higher standard and I don't know if I did it or didn't do it. Right, davening I could say I did. Right.
How much kavanah, I don't know. Right, but you did something like concrete versus when you're speaking from the heart, it's not measurable, which makes it harder. Nachon, it's immeasurable, and therefore my brain that usually doesn't observe life through heart measurements has a hard time understanding, well did anything even happen right now? So I'm not even how could I know if I did it or not? Nachon. These are all things that prevent us from just going to this thing over here.
But really for many people that grew up frum, grew up religious and grew up either knowing what davening is or whatever it is, it's very, very hard to be able to believe that if life's circumstances had led me to a place where I just I can't daven like I did when I was a teenager or in my early twenties, that this kind of simple turning to Hashem is considered daven. It's like, oh, the Rebbe's trying to make me feel good. Vort. Right? Oh, he's just, you know, have rachmanus, I'm getting a chizuk vort from a Rebbe.
No. No, it's real. I think also the Sephardi women, not all of them, but a lot of them, you know, I'm confronted with Sephardi women that don't go to synagogue, they don't pray from the siddur, but they're praying all the time to Hashem all through the day. Mamash.
It's a different mindset that our, so I get this kind of, "Oh you're Ashkenazi, you go to shul." They're like, "Wait, you're supposed to go to shul?" Sephardi women don't go to shul, they stay at home, you know? And it was very hard for me to understand that mindset, but because they talk to Hashem all day. All day long. Yeah, many. Many.
Yes, it's true. They just put their hand on the mezuzah and start talking. Start pouring, I know. So what's better, you know? What you're teaching us is that we can do both, you know? I will never answer that question.
It's not a question I will ever answer. Like a lot of things in this shiur, I never answer, I'm just sharing thoughts, but the answering of questions like that will not come from me. Talk to Bina after shiur maybe. I don't know, I would never do it.
Okay. Now we go further in the, now the Modzitzer, כמובא בספר הקדוש דברי ישראל. Divrei Yisrael's the Rebbe Yisrael of Modzitz. It's amazing how these things are popping up in Parshas Vayigash because all the deepest Toras are in Parshas Vayigash because V'Divrei Yisrael in Parshas Vayigash has a whatever, maybe we'll get to it at the end if we have time.
So he says like this: מי שהוא בעל דעה שלמה, whoever is the master of complete Da'at. Now can you explain what Da'at is to me? Who has, who is the master of Da'at Shleimah?
יכול להתפלל לפי דעתו בכוונה שלמה. They could Daven with total Kavanah.
אבל מי שאינו בדעת השלם, but whoever is not working with a full cup, עיקר התפילה כתינוק קטן שאינו יכול לדבר עדיין שום דיבור.
Their Ikar Tefillah is that it is supposed to sound like a kid that can't utter words properly, לבד אשר קורא אבא אבא, aside from saying Aba Aba.
ומזה לבד נתעורר רחמנות גדול מאב לבנו כאשר עינינו רואות. And he's saying as we see this brings about, like the grandfather said, as we see this brings about so much compassion from a father to a son.
כמו כן עיקר התפילה, so too the Ikar of Davening, מה שמזכירים שמו יתברך העיקר שיהיה בבחינת תינוק שאינו יכול לדבר כלל רק לקרוא קול פשוט אבא אבא ובזה בוודאי נתעורר רחמנותו הגדולה.
I'm going to say it like this, Khaver. When you can barely find time to Daven for all the legitimate reasons of being a wife, a mother, a whatever it is, but then when you turn to that moment and you say Ribbono Shel Olam, God, Master of the Universe, whatever you need to, whatever you use. Okay? I had a friend, I don't know why, but they called Hashem Cindy. I don't know that was a code word, I don't know what the Inyan was, maybe it was.
But Cindy, the word Cindy for this person was like only reserved, like if someone was called Cindy they didn't call them Cindy. Cindy for them was just Hashem. I don't know why. Right? But whatever, it doesn't matter, that's what I'm trying to get to.
The word here is not that important but the reference to Hashem. When you have that moment of saying ah, Aba. Tell me something. How often does that same feeling happen to you when you say ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו? You see? That's the point.
That's exactly the point. Now there are those that do have Aba Aba moments with every Baruch Atah Hashem, like the Amshunover Rebbe. Alright? Like like like I don't know who am I to say who, I've just seen him say those words so I with my own eyes I've experienced it. I've experienced the, you know, him saying the words Baruch Atah Hashem.
If you've ever seen the Amshunover Rebbe say those words, that's an Aba Aba moment and it's every single time and that's why his Davening is always 18 hours and he's, you know, why? Because if Aba Aba was really part of every single Baruch Atah Hashem, how could Davening be as fast as it is? And we're the longest daily Minyan. This Shul's the longest daily Minyan and I listen, who am I to say Khalila about anyone? What do I know about the Aba Aba moments they have? I don't know. But this is what he's saying. This is the Ikar Tefillah is Aba Aba, Mama Mama.
That's the Ikar Tefillah. And how often does that happen when we're just sitting in Shul and Davening? Have any of you ever gone into Rav Aryeh Kaplan's works? So what's his the Sefer Meditations, what's it called? Kabbalah and Jewish Meditation? Yeah, it's one of the ones where he gives a gives an Etzah on the Siddur. Shalom Brodt told me this once, Alav Hashalom. He said he tried it, I tried it also a few times and it's, check this out: spend seven seconds on every word in Shmoneh Esrei.
Right? Just thinking about it, right? Seven seconds, what? Can I spend seven seconds to pay attention to anything? Right? Right? It's not just ADD, Khaver, that have a hard time, anyone. Seven seconds. Now the problem is is that you get into you start it starts to become a one, two, every word yeah you let's go with that, okay? It's very hard to go back to Davening the same afterwards and you feel like garbage when you go back to your regular holy Davening. You really do.
But Rav Daniel Katz says just... do the first perek that slow. Right. Yeah.
And then you can then you that's an eitzah. Then you can have much more kavanah or the first perek of Shma and then go the rest. Yeah, yeah, because you have to be really, because we're not, because we're not living, because we're not, let's face it, we're not, and it's not anything bad, but the lifestyle we live and the surroundings that we live in just don't really help us cultivate that type of metsiyus. It's just what it is.
But the point is at least you have to have, if you're davening Shacharis, Mincha, and Maariv, you better have one אבא אבא ברוך אתה השם. So the Rebbe is saying, so a woman that doesn't have the opportunity Shacharis, Mincha, and Maariv, but their abba abba, they have to really believe that is, that is shaking the heavens and the earth. That's davening. That's the ikar tefillah.
Harei shebizmaneinu, so basically de'ah shleimah means I really am able to like set the whole thing straight, my mind is settled, I'm calm, I'm focused, everything is there. He says בזמננו שאין אנחנו בעלי דעה שלמה. We're not de'ah shleimah Yidden.
עיקר אופן התפילה הרצויה היא כמתחננים לפני השם יתברך כמו תינוק קטן שקורא אבא אבא וצועקים אבא אבא רחם עלי ותעזרני.
One time I saw a very, I was around a very, it was a kid that was off what the world calls off the derech and he was in deep, deep trouble, okay? Deep trouble. And he came to speak to me and another few friends and he started crying and he said אבא אבא רחם עלי and one of the guys says מה אתה חושב אבא אבא עכשיו יעזור לך לא באת לתפילה לא היית פה שנה שלמה. Right? And there's such, and the person that said that really believed in what he said. Right?
מה זה עכשיו יעזור לך אבא אבא? Right? Now I'm not, I'm not comparing this to, you see sometimes these avaryanim, these, these criminals, they're like real criminals that when they get arrested after doing crazy stuff for a long time, suddenly they always show up with a nice big white silk yarmulke into court.
That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about abba abba, no matter when, no matter what is going on. A real abba abba. How can anyone say well you haven't been here? Right? So amazing.
We hear a story like that and what do we think about the guy that told the nebach guy where have you been and now you're saying abba abba? What do we think about that person? Bemess. What do we think about that person? I wouldn't want him to date my daughter, right? Right. But those thoughts live rent-free in our brains all the time. All the time.
Where have you been? Now you're going to be such a tzidkeis, you're going to start saying abba abba? Where's your chavrusa? Where, when was the last time you opened up a tehillim when you're late at night next to your bed? Those thoughts are there all the time. But when we see it as a story that happens to someone else, it's so easy for us to call it out and say wow, how sad. So it's a big fisfus, it's a big, we're missing something very, very big. And here we're trying to shechting it like mamash to get rid of that voice.
Godel hatmimut. One more, one more piece over here.
וכעין זה מצינו במדרש אגדה. We find something like this in the Midrash.
שגזר רבי תענית שירדו גשמים. Rebbi Yehuda HaNasi, he decreed that there should be a fast so that in order that rain should come down because the rain wasn't happening.
ועמדה זקנה אחת ועשתה לה כריים. You know what, you know what kirayim is over here in this context? What, kirayim usually means, do any of you ever use that word? Stove top or, a burner, right? Not kra'ayim like chicken, but kirayim, right? So here I'll tell you the truth I'm not sure what reference it is over here.
It could be, it could be that it means the same thing. We'll see in a second.
והעלתה אותן לראש גג ליבשן. And she brought it to the roof in order to dry it.
והיו הכל מטריעין ומתפללין שירדו גשמים. While everyone around her was davening and saying please let there be rain, we're fasting. V'ota zkena mitpalelet and this old woman that's bringing up something needs to be dried, she says no, no, sheyehei chorev, it should still be dry, no rain yet, I need to dry my thing.
ואומרת אל תשמע להן.
She's saying to Hashem. Don't listen to them עד שתייבש לי את הכיראיים שלי.
ושמע לה הקדוש ברוך הוא מפני שהפילה בקשה. Now and Hashem listened to her, why? Because she just brought it out, she brought an Abba Abba moment of believing that that's what needs to happen right now.
And it happened.
הרי כתפילתה התמימה של אותה זקנה. This pure davening of this old woman שבקשה לפני השם יתברך לעכב את הגשמים עד שיתייבשו הכיריים שלה.
הועילה יותר מתפילת כל הקהל שהיו מתענים בעבור הגשמים בגזירתו של רבינו הקדוש.
Because this request from Hashem to avoid the rain from coming down until what she needs to be dry to be dry did more in shamayim than all the people that were fasting and having a lot of Baruch Atah Hashem moments following a gezeira of Rebbe Yehuda Hanasi. Ve'lo zo bilvad and this is very out there כי אפילו הכהן הגדול ביום הכיפורים בהיותו לפני ולפנים בקודש הקודשים. What did the Kohen Gadol daven for when he was in the Holy of Holies? So we know this because we say it in the Tfillat Musaf of Yom ha'Kippurim in the chelek of the Avodah of the Kohen. He would say שלא יקבל השם תפילתם של כל עוברי דרכים המתפללים שלא ירדו גשמים.
And Hashem don't receive the davening of those that are ovrei drachim that are just passing by trying to get back home that are davening that rain shouldn't come down.
כי תפילה פשוטה ותמימה אהובה היא לפני השם יתברך יותר מכל. Because really the most important thing is a moment of turning to you and saying Hashem right now, right now I need you. Right now I need you.
That's it. Right now I need you. There's nothing more holier than that. There's nothing more precious than that.
So in this room I know there are mothers of little children and it's also mothers of older children. And everyone has peckelach to deal with. Everyone has things to deal with. A man has the chiyuv of making sure he's a Baruch Atah Hashem Yid with hopes and dreams that there's Abba Abba moments along the way.
Women that don't have that same chiyuv does not mean that their connection to tfilah is chas ve'shalom weaker. Hapuch legamrei. Completely on the contrary. And again what we're trying to do in the shiur from day one is not to empower women and it's not to show that really we all are equal when it comes to halachic obligations because we're not Baruch Hashem.
Baruch Hashem. But it's to point out moments when it comes to tfilah that should not be overlooked for one second. And it's to call out the voices of the yeitzer hara that come and demand of us to be more authentic and holy all the time so that when I have these frum attacks I can feel okay. That's also pashut the yeitzer hara.
It's just not true. It's just not true. Some of us have the inyan of we were it was ingrained with us from the time we were kids going to Hebrew school or to yeshivas. Some of us it comes from a place of I'm not holding, I'm not on the level, I don't know anything.
Whatever it is, the moment that there is a cheshek to call out to Hashem for whatever reason it is, he's saying here that's ikar tfilah. That's what davening really is about. And halevai that that should also show up back in our siddur, back in our regular davening, back to the schedule, back to the programming. If we could bring that into that, we'd be much much better off.
Much much better off. Yeah. Can I just make a quick comment on this about what about the older lady with whatever she was putting out on the roof? Sure. So really another way to look at it is that she had such bitachon in Hashem that when I bring my stuff in then make it rain so she was really davening for rain also.
Ah yafeh. So she realized if the whole kahal isn't gonna work I'll do my own little thing like either let it rain or whatever I'm doing or when I bring it back in Hashem I recognized that you're in control. That's a beautiful pshat. I mean none of the chevra that were fasting would agree with you because they want it now.
But it's true, yes. So I just want to emphasize the point after your whole shiur of what one person can do. B'ezrat Hashem we should actually believe in what we just learned. Amen.
All right have a good day everyone. Yasher koach.