Skip to main content

Modim (Kinah 13)

Written by Machberes Avodas Hashem


The Chafetz Chaim taught: "Every man enters this world with a certain endowment. It behooves him to make use of his endowment, for he will be held accountable regarding it (Michtevei haRav Chafetz Chaim, page 51)."

"Because you did not serve God, your Lord, amid gladness and goodness of heart, when everything was abundant (Deuteronomy 28:47)." The Torah reminds us that one of the primary reasons for the exile and the suffering of the diaspora is that we do not properly appreciate our abundance and endowments. It is appropriate during the period of the Three Weeks to pay special attention to all of the abundance in our lives, especially focusing on our endowments, the gifts God has given us to achieve our potential.

Make a list of your special talents and gifts and use that list when reciting the Modim - Thank You prayer in the Amidah.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Shekalim 1

Parent and Child: Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (Kehillat Yaakov; Shekalim 1) explains that when the Holy One, Blessed is He, created a person with a body and soul, He gave them as a gift to  the person. We belong to ourselves, and God relates to us as independent children. However, when we rebel against God, it is considered as if we have stolen the gift of our lives from the Creator. A thief who cannot repay what he has stolen is sold into slavery to pay his debt. It is impossible for us to repay the Creator for the gift of life, and we are sold, so to speak, into slavery. When we offer the Half Shekel we are paying half the debt, the second half is forgiven by God, Who never completely lets go of the relationship of parent to child.   The Half-Shekel is a statement that we are acting in partnership with God, our Father. One must have intention that he is giving his half of the shekel together with God. One should focus on God as a loving parent when giving the Half Shekel.  By: ...

A Prayer Of The Poor Person

The 26th of Shevat is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Dovid Halevi Segal, author of Turei Zahav (the Taz) (1586-1667), son-in-law of the Bach. Born in Cracow. Unofficial Rabbi of Posen 1619-~1640.   Headed famous yeshiva at Ostro from 1643, escaped Cossacks 1648-49 to Lublin, then Moravia. Settled in Lemberg (Lvov). Lost 2 sons to violent deaths in Spring of 1664. Sent his son Yeshaya and son-in-law Aryeh Leib (later to be the Shaagas Aryeh) to investigate Shabsai Tzvi. He also wrote Divrei Dovid on Rashi al HaTorah. “When you lend money to My people, to the poor person who is with you, do not act toward him as a creditor.” (Exodus 22:24) The Talmud rules that if two people, a poor person and a wealthy man, approach you for a loan, you should first lend money to the poor person. While this may seem obvious, there is actually a reason we need this specific instruction: A wealthy man is usually hesitant to ask for a loan, which is not true about a poor person who is more desperate. We may there...

Goodness and Blessing

 “May it be Your Will, God, our Lord, and the Lord of our forefathers, that You inaugurate this month upon us for goodness and for blessing.” We pray for Moshe’s third trip even before we receive his report of his second. We pray assuming that we will not only be forgiven, but will be granted even more as Moshe ascends Sinai for a third time. We acknowledge God, that He is our Lord. We call on the merit of our forefathers. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg