Transcript
Siddur Snippets is generously sponsored by the Sack family and by Ayelet Avraham for a refuah sheleimah הדסה רחל בת חנה גולדה. We're on the ultimate last bracha of the Amidah, the ultimate bracha, the k’li machzik bracha, the bracha, the hope, the wish, the prayer for shalom, for peace. We've asked sim shalom, don't take, don't put in a way you could take back, place permanently a shalom, a peace which is tovah, which is good, which is lasting, which is permanent, which is authentic. וברכה חן וחסד ורחמים, Hashem do it aleinu for us, those who are in this minyan, those who are around me as I daven. ועל כל ישראל עמך, a Yid, a Jew, when we daven, we don't only look or ask for peace for ourselves, we look for shleimus, for wholeness, for harmony, for kol Yisrael amecho, for the entire totality of the Jewish people wherever we are. That's true for every bracha, it's true in particular for the bracha, the hope and the wish of shalom, which is exactly how we continue. ברכנו אבינו כולנו כאחד באור פניך. Borcheinu Avinu, bless us our Father, kulanu k’echad, all of us as one, b’or panecha. And what is the blessing we ask of you? United as one, our Father, we ask or panecha, the light of your face. Now, obviously, that last expression will be the hardest one, we'll have to explain what that means. What are we thinking? What are we asking for? What do we want? The light of your face. Hashem doesn't have a face, what does it mean light? What are we asking for exactly? But before we get there, we say Borcheinu Avinu, bless us our Father, bless us our Father. Rav Schwab points out, in Rav Schwab's sefer on Tefillah, he says that all kinds of blessings, all kinds of brachos, there's a bracha of a friend, one friend blesses another. Have a good day, have a good week, a gut voch, a gut Shabbos. There's the bracha of a rav or a rebbe. People go to rebbes, Roshei Yeshiva, tzaddikim, they line up, they use proteksia, cut the line, they get a bracha, a bracha from a rav, a bracha from a rebbe. There's a bracha of a melech, Rav Schwab says. You have somebody in a position of power, you have a king, someone in might, you get a blessing from there. And then you have birchas av, the blessing of a father. Of all the blessings that we could seek, which is the best, the highest, the holiest? Which is the blessing that's offered the most sincerity, in earnest? So Rav Schwab says, גדולה מכולם היא ברכת אב. The highest and the holiest of any blessing you can get is the blessing of a father, because what a father wants and wishes for a child, that child is an extension of that father. They're essentially blessing themselves, their hope, their wishes for themselves. It's authentic, it's genuine, it's raw, it's real what a father wants and wishes. It's not such a subject, it's not just a chassid or a talmid, it's not just a friend, all of which are also meaningful. In fact, ברכת הדיוט אל תהי קלה בעיניך, our rabbis say. Don't minimize or dismiss even a casual blessing or bracha from an average person. Every bracha is meaningful, every bracha counts. But the bracha that is the deepest, the highest, the holiest, the bracha that's offered with the most sincerity is the bracha of a father. If you're a father, if you're a parent, know that. When you give a bracha on Friday night to children, when you give a bracha before Rosh Hashanah, before Yom Kippur to children. If you have a father, be grateful, don't take it for granted, seek their blessing, seek their bracha, count your blessings you have a father to turn to to ask for a blessing. So says Rav Schwab, we ask Hashem, don't just give us a bracha of a rebbe, don't give us a bracha of a friend, don't give us a bracha of a king, don't give us a bracha of a hedyot. Borcheinu Avinu, you're our Father, you're our Tatte, you're our Abba, give us the bracha of a father who takes responsibility, who cares, who loves, who cherishes, who wants the best for their children. So when does Hashem give us Borcheinu Avinu? When is Hashem willing to give us the bracha of a father, of a Tatte? When does he give it? The next two words: kulanu k’echad. You know, when children are fighting, when there's strife and machlokes between them, and they want the parents, take us on vacation, give us gifts, shower us with bracha. Parents say, are you kidding? Why don't you guys figure it, get along? If you can get along, I'll give you the bracha. One of my favorite stories, it's not really for Siddur Snippets, but it's my favorite. A dear friend of mine when his children were little, he drove them to Disney. Now Disney even then was not inexpensive, and it's a long drive, and the kids were bickering, they're fighting the entire car ride. And he told me he told them as they're pulling into the Magic Kingdom and paid the parking fee to get in, he said, if you guys fight one more time, don't test me, I'm turning the car around and we're going home. As they pull in the parking space, he puts the car in park, the kids fight in the backseat. Takes the car out of park into reverse, turns around, and takes them home. That's a father who means what he says, it's not a false, didn't call his bluff. ברכנו אבינו כולנו כאחד. You want the privilege of a day at Disney? You want the bracha? I'm impressed by that. Maybe you're not, maybe you're... Like ready, you're ready to call the authorities on that father. I said, that's a real father. That's a man! They don't make men like that anymore. But that's a, that's a man. Those kids I promise never fought again on the way to a vacation because he meant what he said. I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of emails about this. In any case, if you don't like the story, forget the story. But the point is, the point is, when is Barchenu Avinu? When kulanu k'echad. When we get along, when His children get along, when we love one another, when we're united, when Klal Yisrael can have achdus, unity, kulanu k'echad, then Barchenu Avinu. Then taka we can ask for the bracha of a father, says Rav Schwab. But if we're not going to demonstrate kulanu k'echad, then we're not entitled, then we're not entitled to Barchenu Avinu. So Barchenu Avinu, bless us, and why should You give us the bracha of a father? Because kulanu k'echad. Your children are united, we're all getting along. And what is it we want? We want or panecha, im yirtzeh Hashem we'll continue with next time.
