Partners In Prayer - Siddur

  I had the following Kavana (intention) when saying the blessing before "Shema" in the morning of .המחדש בטובו בכל יום מעשה בראשית (Who renews in His highest good, in every day the Creation of the world) Sages say that Hashem recreates the world every single moment, " Maase Beraisheet ", even when someone cannot see the "Tuv" (His greatest good) in His Torah, and creation. Yet at a minimum any person would be in awe seeing " Maase Braisheet " So I was thinking therefore, that I daven that people should see the renewal of creation every second through seeing Tov (Good) and come to realize how Torah helps us become more complete, and therefore makes the world complete the more we can all see His Tov in all.  By:  Julian Partouche

Sheasani Kirtzono   Who made me in His Will  I desire a relationship with Hashem, by attaching to His Ratzon (desire). I want a reciprocal relationship, a back and forth of desiring. Pokeach Ivrim   Who opens the eyes of the blind. Open my eyes to this Ratzon (desire) Help me see how this type of  relationship is available to me . Malbish Arumim (Who dresses the naked) Who protects the "Ratzon" in the Relationship  Matir Asurim (Who releasese the Bound) Release anything that is still blocking me from connection of this "Ratzon" Zokef Kifufim Raise me up so I don't lose it (my Ratzon to attach to You) Give me the self-esteem so I can keep attached to this Ratzon.  Roka Haaretz Al Hamayim This "Ratzon" IS my support. It keeps me grounded and connected.  By: Malky Rosenberg

 Hashem,  How do I walk in this world of darkness without stumbling? How do I retain who I am when there are enemies attacking, whether internal or external? How can I possibly not lose myself in the process of life when the world sometimes feels so challenging? How do I know I can actually stay alive when there is death? What happens if I have a moment that I forget myself?   How do face myself after I make mistakes as I am only human? Because You have prepared a special garment of Protection from those things I am vulnerable to. You know me every part of  me,  You understand me. And , I can celebrate this Blessing I get to make to You of providing garments to the naked. Hashem , You know me, and You know what and whom I face today.  I can only exist with the ability to wear garments You have prepared containing my light, my good I have created to ward off the enemies of me; Just as you provided the "Bigdei Ohr" Clothes of light to Adam and Eve in the...

  מוֹדֶה אֲנִי  לְפָנֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם שֶהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי בְחֶמְלָה, רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ I  choose to live a life in which I  am responsible  for any event that occurs, regardless of whether it is in my control. What does it mean to live a responsible life? It means living a life with the awareness that I am standing  before You  and that my actions have an impact.   Why do I choose to live responsibly? Because You are a  living and enduring King  and to truly live in an eternal way means that I live with the awareness that You are watching over me and You care about what I do in a loving way.  How do I know that You care about me and watch over me in a loving way? Because not only do You watch my growth every day, but  You  REVIEW  חזרה (You go over them one more time!)  in a compas...

  Ketores   Ketores reminds me of stoichiometry, which is a fancy word in chemistry for proportions. Let’s take H 2 O (water)—it is a proportion of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen. No matter how much water I have, whether it’s the volume of a swimming pool, or a tiny drop, it has constant molecular proportionality; every water molecule in that pool or in that tiny drop is no more and no less than two hydrogens for every one oxygen. We have proportionality in the ketores: “1) Balsam, 2) onycha, 3) & galbanum 4) frankincense – the weight of 70 maneh each. 5) myrrh, 6) cassia & 7) spikenard & 8) saffron – [each] a weight of 16, 16 maneh. 9) costus – 12 maneh 10) aromatic bark – three [maneh] 11) cinnamon – 9 (maneh) [Added also were] Lye of Carsina – 9 Kavs (a measure), Wine of Cypres – 3 Seahs and 3 kavs- and if one did not find wine of Cypres – he brings old wine. Salt of Sodom – a quarter [of a kav.]… Rabbi Yehuda said “This is the general rule – if it is ...

  ♦ Please, God, save us! Please, God, make us successful!             Psalms 118:25               As you recite the first phrase—“Please, God, save us!”—ask God to empower all of your efforts during the coming month to repair the past year and prepare you for Rosh Hashanah.             And as you recite the second phrase—“Please, God, make us successful!”—pray that you will complete the month with a powerful sense of success and enter Rosh Hashanah with joy and confidence (based on a teaching by Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein in Or Yechezkel ). By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

  ♦ God is with me, I have no fear; what can a man do to me?             Psalms 118:6               The “man” mentioned in this verse represents exile.             In his dream of the ladder, Jacob saw this “man” in the form of an angel that ascended the ladder and seemingly did not come back down ( Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer 35). Jacob was terrified until God assured him, “Behold, I am with you” ( Genesis 28:15).             And the prophet Obadiah quoted God as addressing this man with the words, “Even if you raise your nest like an eagle or place your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there” ( Obadiah 1:4). Rabbi Yitzchak Eizek Chaver states that the verse from Hallel, “God is with me, I have no fear; what can a man do to me?” is ...

  ♦ For His kindness has overwhelmed us, and the truth of God is eternal, halleluyah!             Psalms 117:2               Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibovitz, the rosh yeshiva of Kaminetz, told the following story to my grandfather, Rav Ruderman (may his memory be for a blessing), when my grandfather was a young teenager.             In eighteenth century Lithuania, an aristocrat called Count Valentine Potocki converted to Judaism, in consequence of which he was sentenced to death. As he was awaiting execution, the Vilna Gaon visited him. Avraham ben Avraham (as Count Potocki was now called) was weeping, and the Vilna Gaon expressed surprise at his tears in light of the fact that he had the opportunity to sanctify God’s Name. Avraham ben Avraham replied, “I rejoice over this opportunity. But I am weeping because...

  ♦ I will raise the cup of salvations and I will call upon the Name of God.             Psalms 116:13               The Talmud ( Pesachim 119b) tells:               On the day that the Holy One, blessed be He, will manifest His love to the descendants of Isaac, He will make a great banquet for the righteous….             David will be told, “Take [the wine cup] and recite grace.” And he will reply, “I will recite grace, and it is fitting for me to recite grace.” [This response of David is alluded to in] the verse, “I will raise the cup of salvations and I will call upon the Name of God.”               Elul, the month of manifest love between ourselves and God, presages the perio...

  ♦ May God increase you, you and your children!             Psalms 115:14               Rav Chaim Kanievsky states that this verse is referring to converts to Judaism ( Ta’ama DeKra ).             The Talmud teaches that “the Holy One, blessed be He, exiled Israel among the nations solely in order that proselytes might join them” ( Pesachim 87b). We must live with such sanctity and integrity that we will attract people of all nations to attach themselves to God.             We sing this verse on rosh chodesh Elul, the month of intense love between God and Israel, with a vision that this love will grow so clear that all of the people of the world will desire the same level of relationship with God.  

  ♦ Who turns the rock into a pond of water, the flint into a flowing mountain.             Psalms 114:8               When the Jews in the desert demanded water to drink, God created the miracle of water flowing from a rock that sufficed not only for them but for their animals as well ( Menachot 76b).             As we begin the month of Elul, the month of intense expression of God’s love for us and our love for Him, we celebrate the fact that He cares even for our money and possessions. No detail of our lives escapes His attention and concern.  By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

  Hallel of Rosh Chodesh Elul               As on every rosh chodesh (new month), on rosh chodesh Elul we recite the psalms that constitute Hallel—this time with a focus on finding themes of Elul in the verses.   ♦ He transforms the barren wife into a glad mother of children, halleluyah!             Psalms 113:9             The Hebrew word for “transforms,” moshivi , is related to the words teshuvah and yeshiva , “being seated,” a term that denotes a stable and changeless state.             Elul, the month of teshuvah , is a period of intense and unchanging love between ourselves and God. As we recite this verse, we celebrate the fact that, despite the distance that may have developed between us and God since last Rosh Hashanah, when ...

  What am I waiting for? I want to hear the   sound of the “big Shofar” as a call to action to my   Neshama.   You created me to “do”, to overcome, to maximize, to grow, to achieve “ Gadlus ”.    I need you to relate to me in my greatness, hence “ Bishofar Gadol”. I can break down the walls using the sounds of the Shofar blowing.   Meaning when I respond to the alert of “ Tika Bishofar Gadol ”   with my action of blowing my Shofar by articulating what it is   I want , then Hashem responds in kind.     I want to articulate my “Want” from a place of greatness, from my highest self.. This hearing and responding with the sounds of the Neshama / Shofar is what I think is a prayer. Prayer allows me to be free!   לחרותינו  Prayer has no limits , as described in this Bracha of the gathering together of all the exiled nation of Israel. So I want to use this Bracha as my way of saying, “ I want to be “ Tefillah ” ( P...

 “A life in which there is fear of heaven and fear of sin,” We acknowledge that we need Your help to protect us from sin even as You reach out to us with the intense expression of love that allows us to receive the Second Luchot, and forgiveness of all our sins. Help us protect the power of this month. Help us protect the love You are expressing to us.  “A life in which there is no shame nor humiliation,” The Second Tablets we received at the conclusion of Moshe’s Elul trip, relieved us from the humiliation of having fallen so drastically just forty days after Revelation. Please grant us an Elul that parallels Moshe’s Elul; a month in which You make it clear that we have regained our greatness and no longer need to experience the shame and humiliation of the Golden Calf and other sins.  “A life of wealth and honor,” We want an opportunity to use our wealth to honor You, rather than to build Golden Calves. We prayed during that first Elul for such an opportunity, which was...

 We all experienced complete healing at Revelation. We want Moshe’s third trip, his Elul visit on Sinai, to allow us to experience the same complete healing; physical, emotional and spiritual, that we experienced before. Please grant us an Elul that will be just as that first Elul when Moshe went to receive the Second Tablets; a month of such intense love that we will be completely healed from all illness and suffering.    “May this month of Elul restore our connection to Sinai so that "ENBLR"  will be completely healed just as we were at Revelation.” By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

 We acknowledge that we ate Your Manna and drank Your water from the rock even as we were rebelling against You with the Golden Calf. We disconnected from the Source of our sustenance. Please grant us an Elul in which we are constantly attuned to You as the Source of all our sustenance By Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

 Please bring Moshe back for a third time to replace the Shattered Tablets, and bless us with a sign that we have regained our heights. Please bless us with an Elul that is filled with possibilities to achieve the greatest heights. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

 Grant us the ability to enjoy the good You give us, so that we will not stray By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

 We ask for inner peace undisturbed by the insecurities that led us in the past to sin. We request the gift of peace in the Children of Israel, safe from the battles between those who wanted to sin and those who did not. We ask for peace in our marriages, unlike the Golden Calf when husbands and wives split, with the men sinning and the women holding strong. We ask for peace between God and Israel, without the strains and stains of our past sins. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

 “May You give us long life.” We ask that the month of Elul reconnect us to the eternal life we experienced before the Golden Calf. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

 “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

 “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. May You give us long life - a life of peace, a life of goodness, a life of blessing, a life of sustenance, a life of physical health, a life in which there is fear of heaven and fear of sin, a life in which there is no shame nor humiliation, a life of wealth and honor, a life in which we will have love of Torah and fear of heaven, a life in which God fulfills our heartfelt requests for the good. Amen, Selah.” We stand betwixt and between: Moshe was on Sinai for his second set of Forty days, pleading for God’s forgiveness of the sin of the Golden Calf. He will be coming down on the final day of Tammuz, and hopefully, will go up yet again for a third set of forty days to receive the Second Luchot. We await his report of God’s forgiveness as we prepare for his third trip and develop strategies so that we will not fall again as we did with the Gol...

 All was destroyed during the month of Av. Creation began on Elul, and, so it will again. We recite this prayer for the New Month focusing on Creation. “God created the world in order to do good to an other (Derech Hashem 1:2:1).” Creation was an expression of absolute love, the “other” had done nothing to earn it. This is why Elul, the month of Creation is also the month of intense love between God and Israel. I recite this prayer imaging myself participating in the final Heavenly planning meetings before Creation. I am not praying as one who has already existed and experienced success and failure, but as one who has the opportunity to see the world before Creation, and request in this moment of intense love all that I could possibly need and want. I use this prayer to prepare for all my Elul prayers until the 25th of the month when Creation began. For what shall I ask? What will I need to succeed? How will I define success? What do I hope to achieve? Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

  Elokai Nitzor Lishonee Mayrah. I have been  given the framework in which to daven to Hashem in my Siddur.  A place in which I can master articulating what it is I really want. By the time I reach Shmone Esray , Each Bracha  helps me express what it is that my Neshama needs to express, custom tailored for me.. The  more I dissect the words and try to understand them, the more I get clear about my higher purpose ..Just as what happens with learning Torah..   Tefillah is truly so healing..and Life restoring to me as I am able to restore me more and more Biezras Hashem Who gave us the gift of Siddur (order) through Tefilla.  After I am able to experience this speech of Tov, This speech of my Neshama and see what is possible… I say, “Elokai Nitzor Lishonee Mayra” Hashem, The Source of All Powers,  I know what is possible and  I need this gift of “speech” protected.   I can’t bear to damage this.   I need this protection and to con...

After  Boruch Kovod Hashem Mimkomo ,  our morning prayers where the angels express these words; We then list some beautiful praises to glorify Hashem's name.  Ki hu "levado". Hashem is all encompassing. The whole world,  or all worlds are in his space,  and all is occurrences. Even in the nitty gritty details of my life.. Oseh chadoshos, He initially created all inventions in the Torah from then to the end.  Zoreh Tzedokos, Hashem plants our charities,  and kindness and every time we fulfill B"tzedek" Tishpot es amitecha- judging favorably And from this he grows y eshuos- Matzmiach yeshuous, And Borei Refuous, He literally creates new Refuous through those seeds..  By: Faiga Leah Landau

In our daily morning prayers we recite the part that speaks about a few types of angels that Hashem so to speak has as a daily team to praise and glorify his name. One team calls out with great joy,  clarity,  and sweetness in one voice: Kadosh,Kadosh Kadosh ,  Hashem... The worlds are filled with His glory,  And the other team answers in a loud voice,  "Boruch k'vod Hashem Mimkomo." I thought that Hashem does this for His own glory. One day I mentioned this thought to Rabbi Weinberg and he corrected me by teaching me that the angels recite this daily as a way of giving us the intuition of how to praise Hashem and emulate them.   Recently he taught us in a rather elaborate way that our avodah is to bring Hashem's light and glory to this world.  Having one foot planted down here in this physical world,  living a careful physical life, and simultaneously stepping with one foot upward.  We need to always strive to connect to Hashem an...

Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, King of the Universe, Who formed man you created us by gathering all of the elements of your creation together with wisdom (in a complex way) but also in a way that makes sense when studying it, such that we can understand to a certain extent the workings of the human body and You created many openings and cavities within him. It is revealed and known before Your throne every detail of my body is accounted for and taken care of on high and if any one of them were closed or if one of any one them were opened , it would be impossible to exist for even an hour I appreciate the fact that there are so many subtle operations going on inside of me for which I am unaware, but without which I cannot continue to exist [i.e., a short while]. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who heals all flesh you have given my body the capacity to separate that which is not necessary and maintain that which is in order for it to continuously build and rebuild what it needs to continu...

Covid has opened our eyes to issues that were burried or pushed aside, acting like a magnifying glass for the personal, national, and global issues. The real healing of Pokeach Ivrim is that there are more then one perspective and to  see the issue is not enough, to become  a being who can see more then one  side while not being blinded by their personal  hurt/gain.... this is what we daven to Hashem for in Pokeach ivrim! BY:  Raizel Devorah

This is in honor of  the Refuah Shlaima of Yitchak Simcha Aharon Ben Basya Blima I reflected this morning on all the things that I perceived as being "taken away from me".  I then thought about what happens to people that have had illness and things they have had to go through and lose and fight to get back I     contemplated the   Covid situation and the different losses, sense of place, Parnassa , sense of security, health issues, the weddings, the dining, the socialization of the past, the Shuls. and much more. And of course The Bais Hamikdosh.. I   then remembered the Halacha requiring us to restore a person to his lifestyle as part of Tzedakah. In fact one has to even purchase horses for a person who was wealthy and lost his wealth. Therefore does not G-d have to follow this Halacha?   Is Hashem not called "Tzedek" and don''t we say that He loves Tzedaka?  " מֶלֶךְ אוֹהֵב צְדָקָה  וּמִשְפָט" (Hashem loves Tzedaka and J...