Transcript
Okay good morning, it should be a good morning and im yirtzeh Hashem we should hear yeshuos v'nechamos please God, we should hear only good news and good things. Unfortunately we woke up this morning not for good news. Our hearts are broken, shattered by the continued news of the price that Klal Yisrael is paying in order to protect not only Israel, protect the world, to fight this evil. So our learning should be l'illui nishmas these precious soldiers; young, sweet, beautiful, innocent, incredibly courageous and brave, paid the ultimate price and demonstrated the ultimate devotion to our people, to our homeland. And their neshama should have an aliyah, their families should somehow find strength. I want to thank our Emuna series sponsors, Doctors Avi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Doctor Brian Galbut, in memory of Bella's mother, Doctor Ellen Schanzer. We remain very grateful to the Morgans for their generosity sponsoring the Emuna shiur series. This morning's shiur is also sponsored by Jeremy Herskowitz יצחק בן חיים צבי, his neshama should have an aliyah, and mazel tov to Dana Newman on her engagement to Joseph Wolf. We need mazel tovs, we need good news, we need to be mesameach chassan v'kallah, that's how we build the churbos Yerushalayim they want to destroy and eliminate, we build, we continue and we add. Also dedicated in honor of אלזה שרה בת פרי מזל and to מישל רבקה בת פרזנה ליאורה for shidduchim. Please God, they should find their bashert, we should celebrate hearing good news. And lastly sponsored l'illui nishmas Danny Greishower a"h whose yahrtzeit, 50th yahrtzeit was this week, big loss for our community and for the world, and אסתר תהילה בת גבריאל רב גבריאל פנחס. Following the shiur this morning, we have the Tehillim m'chulak, we're going to divide up all Tehillim, if 30 people stay, each will take 5 minutes, we could complete all of Sefer Tehillim on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Israel and certainly on behalf of the IDF who are in our thoughts 24/7. It's hard. It's hard to live life, it's hard to do anything mundane, it's hard to focus when you think about what's happening, when you think about what's on the line. But that's where our Emuna comes in. I'll share with you a couple of emails and then we'll look at this text that I think is relevant to how we feel and where we're at and what is going on. Rabbi Goldberg, your podcasts, blah blah blah, especially now as I am a mom of an IDF soldier. I heard the email from the woman who was struggling, and I totally feel for her. If you remember last week, we read about somebody who was struggling to find the Emuna in this time, who went out to her car, who wants to, can't figure out how to go on. The approach of everything Hashem does is for the best was not helpful for me in this situation when facing my fears of what could chas v'shalom potentially happen. I want to share something that has been helpful to me. When my mind goes in directions that I don't want it to think about, I visualize my son surrounded by a protective bubble of light, of Hashem's love for him. This is calming for me and also increases my bitachon by making the positive outcome more real in my mind. Instead of just picturing her son going to battle, vulnerable and exposed and fragile in that risk, she likes to see this aura of light, this bubble, this cocoon of Hashem's embrace and love somehow surrounding him. And then she followed up and said, it's a very beautiful idea, another idea for anyone struggling with overly checking the news. Make a kabbalah, make a commitment, that before checking the news or social media, you'll always first say a perek of Tehillim. If you find yourself obsessively keep checking and scrolling and checking and looking and checking, that each time before you check, say a perek of Tehillim, and then you frame your checking at least in the context of it's another opportunity to turn to, to daven to, and to ask Hashem. Certainly these are trying times for wives and mothers and family members of anybody in that army, in the army and on those front lines and doing what they're doing. I mentioned on Shabbos, when I had the privilege last week of traveling with Rabbi Brody and Rabbi Gibber to Israel on your behalf, on our behalf, on our community's behalf representing and hugging as many as we could and showering with as much love and bringing as many supplies and visiting as many places as we could. We met an outstanding, outstanding rav, Rav Biton. He's a rav of a kehillah, Eretz Hemdah in Yerushalayim, Katamon, amazing group of extraordinary people who were called up, not to the army, but who, businesspeople who put their lives on hold and for the last month have done nothing but try to coordinate and help and support. And they're led by Rav Biton. Rav Biton is not only a great talmid chacham, a Sephardi rav of an Ashkenazi shul, but he's a warrior. He's a fierce soldier. He's called up as a... reservist and he's serving on the on the northern border, the border of Lebanon. We visited there and 150 meters from from Lebanon. And just to repeat because he he is on the front line, literally the northern front line, but the emuna that he lives with, the emuna that he lives with is contagious, it is inspiring, it's awe-inspiring. And I told you the story that he reached into his his uniform to say: want to see my secret weapon? Not to me, but to somebody I know. So you want to see my secret weapon? Thought he's gonna take out the latest laser, the latest technology, the latest gun, and he took out the Shaar HaBitachon of the Chovos HaLevavos. Started waving it at the border at Hezbollah: take this, take that, take this, take that. Shaar HaBitachon, that's our weapon. That's our weapon. We need other weapons. It's the milchama ketana, the smaller war we're fighting is the war with physical enemies. But the bigger war, the bigger battle, spiritually, we believe, we don't we don't experience these things in a vacuum and they leave us flooded with questions that have no answers, a feeling of: where is Hashem? Being so distant, which is also okay and there's precedent for that in this week's parsha. Pasuk says that Avraham Avinu וירא את המקום מרחוק. When he comes to the akeida to Har HaMoriya, Hashem says: take your son, your only son, the son that you love, and despite your proselytizing and teaching the world that child sacrifice is egregiously immoral, I want you to do it. Even though you've made a name, you've become an influencer, you've become you've gone viral for telling the world not what to do, the very thing you went viral to tell the world what not to do, I want you to now do and I want you to do it with your son, the one that you love, the one that you waited for. And Avraham Avinu is prepared to listen to the will of Hashem, but it's not easy for him. In fact, the medrash tells us that all of these obstacles come in his way, they try to stop him. The river rises and he struggles to cross it and the mountains and the whole journey is riddled with obstacles that try to distract him and deflect him and he has to overcome them. The simple understanding of the medrash is that the world itself was sort of opposing him to fulfill the will of Hashem in such a superhuman way. Nechama Leibowitz zichronah livrachah understood this medrash to mean that these were all different voices within Avraham's own mind, questions of doubt and uncertainty that he himself, emuna's not binary, it's not all or nothing, you're not all there's struggle. The great Avraham Avinu who never doubted Hashem's existence and never doubted Hashem's word, but struggled, even though he got to the destination of where he needed to be. It was a circuitous route, it wasn't simple. The mountains got in his way so the mountains represent hasanay al hahorim, hahorim, the parents. What is my moral obligation to my parents? How could I do it to my child? Each of the physical natural phenomena that presented as an impediment were representative in his own mind of a struggle. And even when he arrives at the destination, when he first sees Har HaMoriya, the place that he's supposed to offer, that he's supposed to offer Yitzchak, vayar es hamakom, he sees that place merachok. It feels like Hashem is far away. It's from a distance. HaMakom is the name that we use for Hashem when he's far away. When you pay a shiva call, 13 families now sitting shiva. 13 more families. 13 soldiers so far, I shouldn't say so far, 13 soldiers, please God only in total in this ground invasion. Now sitting shiva. And those who pay a shiva call, her daughter in seminary just returned from a shiva call in Yerushalayim, they're getting an education nobody dreamt they'd get in their year in Israel, this whole experience. So you say: HaMakom yenachem eschem. That's the language. Sefardim min hashamayim yenuchamu, but Ashkenazim HaMakom yenachem eschem. May the Makom. Why do we use that name for God? May the Makom, may the place. Simple understanding is God is here, there, and everywhere. God is in every place and even when he feels absent Hashem is everywhere. So HaMakom, HaMakom, he's everywhere even here, even in the shiva house, even at this horrifically tragic funeral. I know these losses have impacted people in this room. One of the young men killed lived in my parents' building in Modi'in. We saw the video of outside the building today, the street lined with people to escort the family. HaMakom, Hashem is everywhere even even on that street, even in those shiva homes, even at those funerals. But Rabbi Rapp says the word HaMakom, the name of HaMakom of Hashem HaMakom is the name that we invoke for Hashem when he feels far away, when he feels at a great distance, like where are you? What's going on? How could this happen? We still believe, we see him, we don't waver, we're uncompromising, we're unyielding. We still believe, we're all in. He's in charge, he's in control, we surrender, we submit, it's his world, everything's for a reason. But right now, he just feels far away. Hamakom, when Hashem feels far away, we say Hamakom yenachem eschem. Rav Soloveitchik said at the Pesach Seder we say ברוך המקום ברוך הוא. Why Hamakom? Why do we use the name Hashem Hamakom at the Seder? Because what follows the paragraph of ברוך המקום ברוך הוא? The four sons, and one of those sons is the Rasha. And if a person is struggling with a child who's a Rasha, Baruch Hamakom, Hashem feels far away. He feels far away. So what's amazing is that for us, he feels far away and it's understandable and for so many I'm sure do. Rav Biton, he's right there, Hashem. He's right there. His casualties are horrific, devastating setbacks. But Hashem is in charge and he's right by their side and the army, it's in their eyes and you feel it and you see these videos are coming out of those who are going into Gaza. And it's like Tanach is coming alive. What Tanach says the Jewish army does before they go in, Shema, אנא השם הושיעה נא, singing, praying, davening, turning to us. You've seen videos of soldiers telling all of us, we're going in, daven, daven, daven. So to wave that Sha'ar HaBitachon, the Chovos HaLevavos with everything else, Hashem, אין לנו על מי להישען אלא על אבינו שבשמים. All we have, all we can lean on is you. It may appear this is a battle of in tunnels and around corners and urban warfare. It's a question of technology and drones and the newest missile defense, and all that's accurate and true and we're grateful to those who fund it and support it and those who invent it and those who deploy it. But all of that is just the matrix. All of that is just the way it appears down here. Behind it, as believing Emuna, faithful Yidden, we believe that all of that is just the matrix. It's the way it appears down here, there's something bigger going on. And the way that we influence and the weapons that we deploy and the Iron Dome that we invoke are our davening and our learning and our chessed and our love for one another and our achdus, and we can't, we can't waver, we can't slow down, we can't hesitate, we can't get distracted. If you go into Gaza you can't be distracted for a moment. For a moment there's no luxury of being distracted for a moment. And we don't have the luxury of being distracted not for a moment, not for a moment. So that's our mission. Hakadosh Baruch Hu can be found even in these dark places and dark times. Sometimes he can most be found because there's nowhere else to go and no one else to lean on. And the more the world seems to be piling up against us, a month ago nobody could have imagined, depicted the countries, the places, the campuses, the members of Congress, the members of the media. Many are standing with us and for that we are so grateful, but the data and the statistics of who are rising against us, could you ever imagine a month ago I tell you the Jewish students in Cooper Union would lock themselves in a library for their lives? Imagine I tell you that Cornell University they'd have to shut down the Hillel and tell Jewish students stay in your dorm room. Columbia Jewish students would be threatened for their lives. Thank God for the New Yorkers. Boy do they have nivul peh, but I'll tell you more and more videos are coming out, these non-Jewish New Yorkers who aren't tolerating those who are tearing down the posters. Unbelievable. Those who bless us should be blessed. They should be blessed. They gotta clean up their mouths but they should be blessed. Watch the videos on silent, watch the video with the sound off. Just watch the video with the sound off, but boy, it's nice, it means something, it feels good when someone has a little solidarity. But you look in the eyes of the soldiers and you see the will of Klal Yisrael and the Emuna and the Bitachon. How could you waver? Ride their coattails. We've spoken in the past about when we're struggling, use someone else's hotspot. Watch the video of the soldiers who are unwavering in their Emuna. So-called secular soldiers who never heard of tzitzis or put on tefillin until now. My friend Rabbi Shua Biston, Chabad of Parkland, who's back in Israel this week for the second time he can't stay away, shot me a voice note this morning describing they have a sofer and a Sefer Torah and they're going base to base. Soldiers are writing in their letter to complete a Sefer Torah. Soldiers who never opened up Torah, never felt bound by Torah, never were part of the community of Torah, who are now writing their letter in Torah, finding their place, their name in Torah. Just amazing, amazing things. So they're our hotspot. You have no connection? You're buffering? You're in and out? It's not a high speed, not a low speed, you're no connection? Find someone with a hotspot and the soldiers they're they're our hotspot and connect through them because it's amazing it's amazing their emunah their bitachon is just uplifting. So let's look at this this comes from the Amaros Tehoros the Rachmistrivka Rebbe the one who passed away just a couple months ago in his Amaros Tehoros on this week's parsha but I saw it preparing the parsha shiur and I said no no I gotta save this for emunah I have to save this for emunah. And he says the following page kuf yud ches this side that's page 118 the left hand column. He quotes Mori Vechami Zatzal yechoseir al divrei he quotes from the Belzer וישכם אברהם בבקר אל המקום אשר עמד שם את פני ה'. Avraham woke up in the morning to the makom again that name a name for Hashem makom can mean place makom is a name of Hashem when you can feel at a distance sh'chachameinu are our chachamim our rabbis Chazal tell us גמרא ברכות דף כו לומדים מפסוק זה שאברהם תיקן תפילת שחרית. The Gemara in Brachos there quotes two traditions: our davening shacharis mincha maariv three times a day is modeled after the korbanos is modeled after the avos. So one tradition is Avraham instituted shacharis and Yitzchak instituted mincha and Yaakov instituted maariv. My wife's favorite joke you know why Yaakov instituted maariv? Because if you had 12 children who had bath time and bed time you'd also have to go out for maariv. Yaakov instituted maariv had to go out for maariv. Maariv's never had a good time never had a good time. Maariv could be at 5 o'clock it could be at 8:30 at night o'clock mincha maariv never a good time never a good time. והקשה היך לומדים חיוב תפילת שחרית מתפילה זו. So the rabbis learned that Avraham woke up in the morning he was in the makom and he davened shacharis and oh how we learned from here that just like Avraham davened shacharis he began each and every day by leaning into that relationship with Hashem by surrendering and submitting by doing this exercise of humility by saying Hashem you're in charge you're in control. Here is a list of all the things universally we need. Siddur snippets we're making our way now through the amidah we've started the ninth bracha Bareich Aleinu Hashem we need livelihood we need income we need parnasa. We covered just now Refaeinu Hashem we need good health we need recovery we need strength physically emotionally spiritually. Hakadosh Baruch Hu we need אתה חונן לאדם דעת. Hakadosh Baruch Hu we need es tzemach David we want yeshuah venachama we want salvation we want redemption. These 13 requests supplications the middle section of the amidah are what Anshei Knesses Hagedolah authored of the universal needs a person could ever have. If you want to know what should you consider what you need notice none of them are I need the latest iPhone I want a Tesla I need a bigger house I want a nicer vacation I need more jewelry all that you have to put into Shma Koleinu. There is no there's no bracha. You know what the bracha is? Let's go back to the basics. You know what the basics are? What the bracha is? You need you need your mind you need your memory you need your intellect because if you're alive nebach there are people suffering and struggling with dementia and Alzheimer's. Perfectly healthy physically but if you don't have your mind then what life are you living? Nebach for the people struggling with it and those who take care of them. Heartbreaking. So אתה חונן לאדם דעת that's a universal need that's a universal need. And then Re'eih V'onyenu Hakadosh Baruch Hu fight our fights because if your life is filled with struggle and fight and conflict what life that has no peace no serenity? And Refaeinu health if you don't have your health what do you have? That's why Refaeinu's before Bareich Aleinu. If you don't have your health what good is your money? You all know the famous Jewish comedian your money or your life. Who was it? Jack Benny. Jack Benny. I'm thinking I'm thinking. There's a whole new a whole new one for that. Your money or your life. I won't embarrass her but someone related to me who's in Israel for her year sent a little video with one of the sirens right outside the shelter said hmm there's no Wi-Fi in there should I stay here or go in your money or your life your life or your Wi-Fi. It's a new I don't even mean to make it she went in everyone relax if my mother's watching she went in it was a joke on her way in she had a minute to get it was a joke but it's an updated version of that question your your life or your Wi-Fi you know. So Avraham Avinu wakes up in the morning and he turns to Hashem and he says the first thing to start his day is is the amidah the very first thing to start his day is Hashem here are the universal needs a person could ever have. So Refaeinu Bareich Aleinu and go through all the rest of them. That's how he starts his day. Here's the only problem thank you so much. Here's the only problem that davening that Avraham did after which we model all of shacharis. Every Jew everywhere in the world for thousands of years wakes up and starts their day by davening shacharis and where'd we get that from Avraham? Here's the question about the shacharis this question never ever occurred to me: הלא תפילה זו לא נתקבלה כלל. This tfila of Avraham... was not accepted at all. ואם כן איך יוכל ללמוד ממנה יש ללמוד להתפלל. Why do we model all of our davening after a davening that Avram asked and the answer was no. Which tefillah was this? Sdom. ומבאר בפשטות דאדרבה היא הנותנת שזה מלמד אדם לדעת דאפילו כשלא נתקבל התפילה צריכין להמשיך להתפלל לפני השם. It's an incredible question the Belzer Rebbe asks. I don't understand, we model and we learn all of our davening after Avram, Shacharis every day, start your day, begin your day, begin your day with an expression of humility, expression of gratitude, an expression of dependence and relying on Hashem, with reviewing what are our universal needs, what are our hierarchy, what's our priority, what matters, what's important. Beautiful. We all know that. Shacharis, Avram Avinu. Here's the thing. Avram got a no. So we're modeling starting our day after Avram's request that he got a no to. Can't we find a yes? Can't we find an example of someone who got a yes and then we should begin our day modeling ourselves after the yes that Avram got? And he answers, what you see from here is the opposite. We davka model our tefillah not only when there's a yes, we model our tefillah after the opportunity to pour out our hearts to Hashem whether it's a yes or a no. Whatever the answer is, Hashem heard, he collected. ולא ינוח מלהתפלל ולא להתייאש. A Yid, a Jew never gives up. We never despair, we're never hopeless, we never feel that a tefillah was wasted, it was squandered, we don't ever feel what was the point. There are people, there are circumstances, there are situations, we poured out our heart, we davened endlessly, we davened relentlessly, we davened with the greatest sincerity and we didn't get a yes. We didn't get the answer, we didn't get the intervention, we didn't get the response or the solution. So was it all a waste? Was it all for nothing? Was it all a waste of time? Chas v'shalom. Where do we see that? From the very first person who introduced us to this davening of Shacharis. Avram Avinu got a no. He tried, he advocated, he protested, he objected, he tried, and he set the precedent for all of us. Think about what davening is. Right? There's all these questions, protests, debates, I don't understand, it's not a criticism, it's I don't understand. I think it would, let me put it to you this way. It would be wonderful if a thousand Jews went to Cornell University and went to the Hillel and sponsored dinner for all the Jewish students and said we're not afraid, open up, we're here. These protests. When are we going to have a million person march in Washington? When are we going to fill the streets of London and Paris and New York and Fort Lauderdale? Protests, all these questions and everyone's waiting for the other person to organize it and when and will and is it effective and is it a use of time and money and resources and should we and all these questions. But you know we start our day every day with the first protest of the day. Think about what davening is, it's the first protest of the day. Hashem I don't like what you're doing over here, I want you to change what's going on over there, I'd like you to reconsider what's happening with me over here. It's a protest. No banners, no flags, no megaphone, but we begin our day, davening is essentially a series of protests. Here are my objections, here's my protest, here I'm raising my voice, here I'm expressing to you how I feel, what I'm advocating for, what I want you to change, what I want you to switch, what I want you to do differently. Where do we learn that from? Who gave us license? Why are we entitled? He's the omnipotent, perfect, all-knowing God, and who are we, finite mere mortals? What right do we have, where's our license? Because Avram Avinu. First Hashem says Hamachaseh ani mei'Avram, am I going to conceal from Avram what I plan to do with Sdom? And Avram says shko'ach, thank you, thank you for trusting me and telling me, I'm honored, I appreciate it, now don't do it. Now that you invited me to have an opinion because you told me about it, here's my opinion, don't do it. There's got to be fifty tzadikim, forty-five, forty, thirty, there's got to be, please reconsider. I can't stand idly by, I won't be indifferent, I have to raise my voice. Hashem whatever you decide in the end I'm with you, you're in charge, you're in control, whatever you decide is right and righteous, but I have to raise my voice. That's why you gave me a voice. That's why you gave me the power to speak. Adam HaRishon was endowed with the power of speech long before Chavah came into existence. Whom did he speak to? Hashem. Why was he given the gift of speech before there was anyone to talk to? Because the original purpose of speech is to talk to Hashem. Oh once we could use it to talk to Hashem it also comes in handy to talk to each other. But don't think I use my power of speech to talk to each other, now I have the power of speech to communicate with others I might as well use it also to talk to Hashem. We have it backwards. The whole original used the original intent, the original purpose of the power of speech is to talk to him, הלואי שיתפלל אדם כל היום כולו. Halevai we're talking to him from when we wake up 'til we fall asleep at night, talking to him all day. Hashem help this kid get ready and go to carpool easily, let it not be frustrated, let it not be difficult. Hashem let there not be traffic, let the light turn green, let me get there on time. Hashem let this business deal go through. Hashem let the challah rise and come out well. Hashem let the, whatever we all day long we're talking to him. The original purpose why we have a voice, why Hakadosh Baruch Hu invented a world with communication is to communicate with him. Ah, once we communicate, comes in handy to communicate with each other too. It's really handy. But the original use is to communicate with him. And Avraham Avinu takes that power of speech, that capacity for communication, and he takes it and he says, okay, you gave me the ability to speak, you invited me to raise my voice, I'm not only protesting to members of Congress and presidents and prime ministers, I'm not only protesting media and Qatar and wherever else, Starbucks Union, but not the main thing, but the then, Sephora. I told my children we're protesting the whole mall. Since it's unclear, since it's unclear who's for and who's against, we're being machmir to boycott the whole mall. It's a chumra our family's taking on. And Amazon is selling children's shirts that say from the river to the sea, we're machmir all Amazon right now. We have to make a statement to the whole Amazon. The Amazon is on hold, we're not going to the Amazon. Is that true? So they're selling these shirts, yeah, we've got to protest, we've got to protest, we've got to raise our voice. But where does it begin? Who's really in charge? Who's really in control? Where is it most important to raise our voice? To speak truth to power. You got an audience in the Oval Office? You'd raise your voice? We are in the ultimate lehavdil Oval Office of Hashem wherever you are, whenever you open your Tehillim, open your siddur, whenever you open your mouth, whenever you open your mouth. He says earlier in here the Rav HaChofetz Chaim, the parsha begins וירא אליו ה' באלוני ממרא, Hashem appears to Avraham wherever he is, be'elonei Mamre, והוא יושב פתח האהל, and where is Avraham? Pesach ha'ohel, the opening of the ohel, the opening of our body is our mouth, Avraham is using the, he's speaking to Hashem. Hashem appears to him and he uses that appearance of Hashem as an opportunity to talk to him. So wherever you are, you could be talking to him. The pesach ha'ohel, the opening of the ohel is the opening of our mouth, is the invitation, the opportunity to talk to Hashem and Avraham Avinu protests. He says, Hashem, here are my feelings, enough, genug shon. That was my Shacharis this morning. Ribono shel Olam, 13? I don't understand it and I have difficulty accepting it and I'm broken by it and I'm begging you, enough, that's it, that's it, that's it, no more, no more, I'm objecting, I'm protesting, I'm rallying, I'm advocating. That's why we're given this gift and this capacity. And where do we learn that from? If we davenned on condition that we were answered, what kind of davenning would that be? If we davenned only on condition that we got the answer we want, did we in fact even really davenn? What makes davenning meaningful is that what we say is, Hashem, I surrender to you. Here's the world the way I see it, but if it's a choice between the world the way I see it and the world the way you see it, my finite vantage point, your infinite view, I surrender to you. I'll raise my voice, I'll protest, but in the end of the day, whether it's a yes or a no, I won't stop asking, I won't stop speaking, I won't stop turning to you, I won't stop talking to you. It all goes together. So where do we learn that from? Where do we learn that we should davenn even if the answer is no? That there's a value in connecting, in surrendering? That we grow in our emuna, that we grow in our humility. Where do we learn that from? Where do we see that from? Why bother? Why does it matter? Why should we do it? Why not despair? Why not give up hope? Why not ye'ush? We got a no, okay, the siddur stays closed now. Where do we learn that from? Only from the very person that taught us tefillah altogether, Avraham Avinu. אדרבה היא הנותנת שזה מלמד אדם לדעת אפילו כשלא נתקבלה התפילה צריכין להמשיך להתפלל לפני ה' ולא ינוחו מלהתפלל ולא להתייאש. Don't stop davenning. You got a no, there were thirteen nos over the last couple days, open the siddur, open the Tehillim, more sincerely, more intensely, more kapitlech. כי אין אנו יודעים מה פועלים בתפילות because we have no idea where those tefillos are collected and what happens with them. They're not wasted, they're not squandered, they're not worthless, they didn't go nowhere. The Ribono shel Olam collects them and he stores them and he banks them and he files them. Maybe the thirteen we're going to be 30. Maybe the 13, we're going to be 300. Maybe the 13, we're going to be 1300. All those tefillos, they're banked, they're stored, they mean something, they make a difference, they move the cosmos. They weren't allocated over here, we didn't see it manifest or expressed in the way that we wanted, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu deploys, he's got the ultimate spreadsheet. He collects our tefillos and he uses it. They say money's all fungible. So you have a bank account, and we thought the withdrawal was over here, but meanwhile our tefillos are funding something we don't even know about. We davened for someone and we didn't get the answer we wanted for them, but those tefillos, we don't know if they cured, if they healed, if they extended the life of someone else. We deposit. Our job is to make deposits. How the money in the account is allocated, we're not in control, we're not in charge, we're not signatories. We don't put our signature on the check of how the money is allocated. All we do is make deposits. We make deposits, the Ribono Shel Olam spends. How he spends, he has an infinite, omnipotent view, strategy. We don't get access to see, we don't get to look at the records, we don't get to review exactly how it got deployed. All he keeps telling me is, 'Look, I got a lot of expenses. Your bank account's running out. I'm begging you, make deposits: Tehillim, tefillos, zchusos, chesed, learning.' Hashem says, 'I can't add to the bank account, that you do through your bechirah chafshis, through your free will. You deposit in the bank account. Me, I make withdrawals. I run the world. I know exactly the way the world works, I know where it needs to be deployed, I know what's just and righteous and fair. I know what's good, not what's painful, but I know what's good. I do the allocate— I do the allocations. Deposits is you.' So Ribono Shel Olam's looking down at us right now and he's saying, 'Klal Yisrael, Bni Bechori Yisrael, my precious children, the bank account's running low. Bank account's running low. Quick, make deposits. Open your Tehillim, open your siddur, run to do a chesed, express ahavas Yisrael, make shalom. Quick, make deposits because there're so many bills that need to be paid. 500,000 soldiers on a frontline, there are so many bills that need to be paid. So many shivah homes that need comfort and strength. An economy that will be in shambles. Jews that are targets of antisemitism around the world. Hashem says, 'There are so many requests and I want to be able to fulfill them, but I can't until you make deposits.' So don't ever look and say, 'What was the point? I put money in the bank and when I went to withdraw, I didn't get to take it out.' Because you were never entitled to think you get to take it out. We're not in control of taking it out. We don't— we don't get to do withdrawals. Our name is not on the check. We don't have a debit card. We can't control what we withdraw. All we're in charge of is what we deposit. What we deposit. ועל כן למדו דייקא מהכא שצריכין להתפלל וזה שתיקן אברהם תפילת שחרית שתיקן שלא להתייאש אדם מלהתפלל. It's wrong to read the Gemara in Berachos and say Abraham established Shacharis. Abraham didn't just establish Shacharis. Abraham established davening, making a deposit, even when you don't get to be in control of the withdrawal. Abraham established davening even when the answer was no, you keep davening. Even when you didn't get to withdraw, you make another deposit over and over and over again. ועל פי דברים הקדושים יסבור שהכתוב ואברהם עודנו עומד בתפילה לפני השם. Now you can understand the pasuk continues that Abraham remained standing in tefillah before Hashem. שתפילת אברהם אבינו שלא נתקבל עומד תמיד ומחזקנו בכל עת שנעמוד להתפלל. What does it mean that Abraham remained standing before Hashem? You know what it means? That this image, this precedent of Abraham standing and davening even when he wasn't in charge of the withdrawal, even when he got a no, even when he got thirteen noes, that is what carries us until today. You'll say, 'That's good for Abraham. Abraham was Avraham Avinu. Abraham is the Av Hamon Goyim. Abraham is the great Abraham. He had such emunah, bitachon, he was a child and he found Hashem. Of course Abraham could continue to daven when he got a no. But me, I don't have that emunah. Me, I'm struggling with doubt, with uncertainty. I'm trying to find Hashem. I don't have it in me.' The answer is you do. Because how'd you daven Shacharis this morning? What bracha did you make? The bracha of Avos concludes, we say אלקי אברהם אלקי יצחק ואלקי יעקב. We invoke Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the Gemara tells us, Chazal tell us that Hashem tells Abraham, 'While your children...' *Yitzchak* and *Yaakov* get mentioned, *becha chosemin*. You, *Avraham*, that's how we finish the *bracha*. *Baruch Atah Hashem*, *Magen Avraham*. Now normally we understand that to mean *Magen Avraham* means *Hashem* you are the shield of *Avraham*. Iron Dome and what's the other one we just used the arrow? The first time couple days ago. You're the *Magen*. Iron Dome, you're the shield of *Avraham* and his progeny, his children. But says the *heilige Sfas Emes*, *Magen Avraham* doesn't just mean *Hashem* you are the protector of *Avraham*, you are our protector as well. *Magen Avraham* means you protect the *Avraham* in each and every one of us. It's an all new *kavana* when you say this *bracha*. Every day the *Amida* three times a day. *Magen Avraham*. *Hashem*, *Magen Avraham*. I believe that you put his DNA in me. So you know what? I have that capacity. I have that ability. I have his DNA. I have his DNA. It gives me all kinds of gastrointestinal issues because I have *Ashkenazi* DNA. If I have to live with all the gastrointestinal disease of the DNA, then I also have the faith of the DNA. I also have the fortitude of the DNA. I also have the tenacity and resolve of the DNA. I also have the *emuna u'bitachon* of the DNA. *Magen Avraham*, *Hashem* preserves the DNA of *Avraham* inside each and every one of us. We are his progeny, we are his children, we are his offspring, and we have that ability to never have *yeush*. *Yeush*. *Yeush*, there is no *yeush*. *Yeush shelo midaas*. *Yeush*, if you have *yeush*, it's because you're not thinking properly. *Rabbeinu sha-ag*, *Rav Nachman*, *ein shum yeush*, אין שום ייאוש בעולם כלל. One of the highlights of my life was dancing with soldiers last Wednesday night in *Yerushalayim* as *Yonatan Razel* sang, אין שום ייאוש בעולם כלל. For me, it's a joke of a dance, but dancing with soldiers serving, risking their lives, אין שום ייאוש בעולם כלל. There is no despair, there is no hopelessness, there is no giving up, there is no failing to make more deposits, more and more and more. And where do we know? How can we be so confident that we have that strength, we have that faith, we have that fortitude, we have that ability? *Magen Avraham*, because *Hakadosh Baruch Hu* preserves the *Avraham* in us. It's in our DNA. It's in our very DNA. Whether you're born Jewish or whether you converted to be clean. You know a convert in their *kesuba* and the way they're called up to the *Torah*, they're *Ben Avraham Avinu*, *Bas Avraham Avinu*. They are even more identified with *Avraham Avinu*. *Avraham* the *Av Hamon Goyim*. Born Jewish, Jew by choice, all of us are the children of *Avraham* and *Magen Avraham*, *Hashem* preserves that capacity of the *Avraham* in us, *Hashem* preserves it, protects it. Because אברהם עודנו עומד לפני השם. *Tashpad*, this latest war of *Klal Yisrael*. *Avraham* fought the war of the four kings and the five kings. *Avraham* rescued *Lot* from *Sdom*. *Avraham* fought the first wars of the Jewish people and fast forward, we're still fighting wars all these years later. *Tashpad*, the war of *Simchas Torah* 2023. We're still fighting wars. And אברהם עודנו עומד לפני השם. He woke up and he *davvened* that morning and he's still standing and *davvening* through each and every one of us. *Magen Avraham*. It's preserved in us. He's still *davvening* through each and every one of us, through each and every one of us. So that's the *tikun Avraham*, *tfilas Shacharis*. מתפילתו של אברהם סדום לא נתקבלה. All of our *Shacharis*. Every day we get up and we *davven* and we say *Hashem*, just like my *Zeide* *davvened* for you not to do to *Sdom*, in the end you told him you were in charge, you were in control, and he still didn't stop *davvening*, I'm ready for *Shacharis*. I'm going to tell you what I think. I'm going to raise my voice and protest. I'm going to rally. But in the end of the day, whatever you answer me, I'm going to keep *davvening*. Because that's the precedent. That's the very first *tfila*. *Avraham* was *mesaken* *tfila Shacharis*, but not a *Shacharis* that got a yes. *Avraham* was *mesaken* a *Shacharis* that got a no and he's אברהם עודנו עומד לפני השם but he still *davvens*. And we too, even if we get a no, we get thirteen nos, we get 1400 nos, we get 240 captive nos, אברהם עודנו עומד לפני השם. We come back and we *davven* and we *davven* and we *davven* and we deposit and we deposit and we deposit and we don't stop making deposits cause you're in charge of the withdrawals. We don't understand, we don't get to see the account, we don't get to review your spreadsheet. We have to keep coming back to make deposits. *Sfas Emes* and he continues, מבואר שבאמת גם תפילה זו נתקבלה. Now the truth is we think that *Avraham* got a no and it wasn't accepted. But every *tfila* is accepted, just not necessarily in the way that we intended, in the way that we think. It's not wasted, it's not squandered, it doesn't go... nowhere. שי ל"ו צדיקים בכל דור ודור שעליהם העולם עומד. ודבר זה פעל אברהם אבינו בתפילתו שיתקבל תפילת הצדיקים בשמים להגן על העולם. והבטיח לו השם יתברך על הדבר הזה מה שאמר אם אמצא צדיקים בסדום ונשאתי לכל המקום בעבורם. He said, would you save the whole world if there are tzadikim and there are tzadikim in every generation 36 righteous people who hold up the whole world. The davening is heard, it's answered, Hashem said yes to Avraham. It's a deal. If you could find a minimum number of tzadikim, I won't destroy Sdom. That tefillah was heard because until this very day if there are minimum number of tzadikim, Hashem doesn't destroy the world. So it wasn't heard in the way Avraham expressed it for Sdom, but it was heard because until this very day the righteous people of every generation are what holds up the entire world, are what holds up the entire world. And then he continues, a Rebbe MiLublin, zechuso yagen aleinu. He says, הקשה דלמה הוצרכה השלכת הילד בעת תפילתה, ותשלך את הילד תחת אחד השיחים. It says she threw the child under one of the sichim. מבואר שכשאדם רוצה להתפלל להשם יתברך לא יעמוד להתפלל עבור הצטרכות עצמו גשמי. רק יכוון בתפילתו על השכינה שישרה עמו בצער. בזמן שאדם מצטער שכינה מה אומרת, קלני מראשי קלני מזרועי, על ידי זה תפילה רצויה ומקובלת. ותשלך את הילד פירוש שהשליכה הילד ממחשבתה, שהפסיקה לחשוב רק על הילד. וזהו תחת אחד השיחים, שיחים מלשון תפילה, כמו שיחה. When we daven, part of our davening should be not just the soldiers, the people, our view of the world, how it affects us, we're broken, but Hashem what about you? What about you? Your brand is taken an enormous hit. We're your chosen people, we're your children. And the more that terror and evil can reign, the more that anti-Semites could raise their voice, the more that we suffer losses, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the Shem Hashem is nischalel, there's a chillul Hashem in the world. Hamas, every time they take a life there's an enormous chillul Hashem, there's an abscess, there's a void created of your name. So Hashem don't just that's part of our tefillah. Don't just do it for us, from our vantage point, our heart, we don't want to be devastated or broken, or people that we love or families that we know, but we're also davening for you Hashem, you, your name, your honor, your brand, your mission to be revealed in this world. That's the most effective. In fact, that's the tefillah of Moshe Rabbeinu. When Moshe davens to Hashem after the egel, after the meraglim, every time Hashem's like I've had it. These people are I'm done with them. They're not worthy, they're not carrying out their mission, they're not fulfilling their purpose, I'm done. And each time Moshe says I hear you, I hear you, I don't blame you, but here's the thing Hashem. And this is Moshe's trump card with Hashem. Of course Hashem knows it, who do you think taught it to Moshe? But Moshe comes to Hashem and he says they don't deserve it, they're horrible, they're incorrigible, I also have no patience left for them. But here's the thing, if you wipe them out, what are people going to say? How's that going to impact your name? Your being revealed in this world? Your purpose and mission to repair and redeem this world? And Hashem says fine, you're right, I guess I have to let them continue. That's the tefillah that we follow. We have to invoke that in the Tehillim we're going to say right now momentarily, in the tefillah that we offer from the siddur or from our heart in our own words. As we're davening for people we know, I keep on my shtender picture of my nephews in uniform right now, one on the northern border, one on the southern border, one who's finishing their basic training doing shmira also at risk. We don't just daven for them, we look at their faces, we think of their names, every one of us know holy precious chayalim. But we say Hashem what about you? How is all of this impacting your name, your brand, your vision, your purpose for this world? Do it for you. No more losses for you. A sweeping triumph and victory for you. You know when Hashem's brand took an enormous not hit, but was elevated? I wasn't alive for it, but I'm told, after the Six-Day War. My mother describes you walk down the street of Manhattan every Jew was ten feet tall. Non-Jews looked at Jews like every one of them was the strongest ten-foot tall giant that after the Six-Day War the whole world was like wow, those people, God's on their side, he loves them, it's incredible. Everyone wanted a piece of God, of the Jews. Aliyah spiked, conversion spiked, people wanted to study about Judaism spiked, people's fear of Jews spiked. Think about it now, it's the opposite. Hashem's name is taking a hit, the Jewish people take a hit, and we're fair game. So Hashem, for you, forget for us, we're unworthy. Don't do it for us, but for you, for you, for your brand, for your name, so that we. we could fulfill our mission and purpose in bringing redemption to this world, do it for you. We also learn this idea from this parsha. So it hurts, it hurts, it hurts so badly, it hurts. It stings, it sets us back, he feels like Hamakom, וירא את המקום מרחוק, he feels so far away. But don't despair, אין שום יאוש בעולם כלל. The soldiers are our hotspot. When you feel disconnected and you're ready to give up, connect through a soldier. Turn on one of those videos, watch it over and over, see them sing and dance, see them scream Hashem, אנא השם הושיעה נא, Shema Yisrael, אין לנו על מי להישען, use them as your hotspot for a high-speed connection. Because in my life Klal Yisrael never needed as many deposits as we need now. We need to make deposits over and over and over again. Hakadosh Baruch Hu will make the withdrawals and even when it feels like the money didn't get allocated where we wanted it, we davened for someone specific, we davened for something specific. And we gotta know, you know who else gotta know and he didn't stop davening? Only the person who established all davening, Avraham Avinu. He didn't slow down, he didn't stop. He's עודנו עומד לפני השם. He all these years later is still standing. Where? Where do you see him? In every one of you, in every one of us. Each time we open that siddur, that Tehillim, each time we open our heart and we talk to Hashem, Magen Avraham, the Avraham is preserved, he's still inside us, he's still talking to Hashem. So please stay for a few more minutes, we'll finish off Tehillim and take literally just a couple minutes, we'll make a deposit of all of Sefer Tehillim and don't stop until they can stop, we can't stop. Mirtzeh Hashem you should hear בשורות טובות ישועות ונחמות, a sweeping victory so the world sees the Yad Hashem and we can experience the geula.
