Our Sincere Prayers Help Us Hear

Our Sincere Prayers Help Us Hear the Message of the Shofar

“And he said to me, ‘Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all of the words that I speak to you’” (Ezekiel 3:10). “Once you have heard what I say to you, take it to heart so that you will not forget” (Radak).

The best way to prepare to hear the shofar and take its message to heart is to listen carefully to the words of prayer during Elul, discerning its messages, and applying them in our lives.

By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

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Hoda'ah

“Were the existence of gratitude and recognition of the good lacking from existence, the human spirit would be left without sparkle or shine.” Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook For the Perplexed of the Generation 4:9 I recently was honored to receive the following email: Dear Rabbi Weinberg; I am grateful that both my parents survived Covid in the ICU. I am grateful that my husband is home, although with oxygen, but no longer on a ventilator. I am grateful for the Jewish community, of which I am not connected, for food, drivers, shopping, and all sorts of help too much to list. Someone printed a page from Partners In Prayer and scribbled your email on the bottom. Can you teach me how to pray? Is there a way I can use prayer to express my gratitude? Can I pray without becoming religious? My husband and I and our children are willing to celebrate Hanukah this year. Is that okay? My ...

Prayer Skills- Joy- As A Story

One must perform the Mitzvot with such great joy that one does not even want any heavenly reward for it. He wishes only that God should prepare another mitzvah for him, for he derives pleasure from the mitzvah itself. Through this one may know what has been decreed for the world, whether the decree have been confirmed or not, and upon whom the evil has been decreed, Heaven forbid. One thus knows how to pray for the world, for after the judgment has been decreed, the righteous must clothe their prayers in the form of stories. One merits all this by performing the mitzvah in great joy derived from the mitzvah itself. This may be merited by praying fervently and with great awe and love. (Likkutei Eitzot, Simcha 2-3) Question : How can we clothe prayers in the form of stories? Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, n''y

TERUMAH-ALL OUR HEARTS

The divine soul of man is transmitted and descends to this world to be clothed in a human body, through the mystery of speech. This is the supernal Breath, regarding which it is written, “And God breathed into man’s nostrils, a soul of life, and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).” Whoever exhales, does so from his innermost being. It is also written, “For a part of God is His people, Jacob, the cord of His possession (Deuteronomy 32:9).” Jacob is compared to a cord, where one end is bound above, and the other end below. We can learn an important lesson from this simple meaning of the verse, “He breathed into his nostrils.” When a person blows on something, if there is a barrier or an obstruction separating the two, his breath cannot reach that place at all. The same is actually true when there is something separating and intervening between man’s body and the Supernal Breath. Of course, nothing physical or spiritual can actually act as a barrier before God’s Essence ...

Partners In Prayer - Siddur

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