Partners In Prayer - Siddur

 What is " Magen "? We usually think of " Magen " as a shield. We find the word " Magen " in Parshas Lech Licha , וּבָרוּךְ֙ אֵ֣ל עֶלְי֔וֹן אֲשֶׁר־ מִגֵּ֥ן צָרֶ֖יךָ בְּיָדֶ֑ךָ וַיִּתֶּן־ל֥וֹ מַעֲשֵׂ֖ר מִכֹּֽל (Genesis, 14:20) And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your foes into your hand.” And [Abram] gave him a tenth of everything. Rashi does not define the word Magen as shield , as it can't possibly mean that in this context. He says it means Hashem  closed them off and handed all of his enemies into his hands. מִגֵּ֥ן  means to close them off,  contain them and then hand them over. So we can understand Magen as "Here, let me take all that is troubling you and contain it so that you can deal with it your own". Because what often happens to us is when we have a problem, and we sometimes just feel that we're overwhelmed by problems. Magen   would mean that there's a special hashkacha , interaction with the Creator, in...

 In the first Blessing of the Amidah when it says Hashem is " Koneh Hakol " it does not mean Hashem bought it all, or He acquired it since He made it! The son of the Vilna Gaon quotes his father, as explaining  Koneh Hakol to mean He's Mitaken (fixing)  everything.  Therefore Hashem inserted in the creation the ability to fix everything! Which is what the Torah  refers to in the Parshas Lech Licha, in the verse about Avram Avinu being one that was a Mitaken , one who made things right, improved  ie. the of Heaven and Earth, וַֽיְבָרְכֵ֖הוּ וַיֹּאמַ֑ר בָּר֤וּךְ אַבְרָם֙ לְאֵ֣ל עֶלְי֔וֹן קֹנֵ֖ה שָׁמַ֥יִם וָאָֽרֶץ  (Genesis, 14:19) He blessed him, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. Concept shared by Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, n''y (Parshas Lech Licha -10-25-2020)

  מכלכל , You feed חיים (plural)spiritually, physically emotionally,   בחסד , with gentle kindness and generosity מחיה מתים , You bring back to life,  Physically,  emotionally,  spiritually ברחמים רבים , with great mercy סומך נופלים , You support the ones falling  so that they have a chance to get up and not fall too hard. ורופא חולים , physically,  emotionally,  spiritually ומתיר אסורים , bound to trauma and pain ומקים , and You invest existence אמונתו , of Your trust לישני עפר , to those whose life seems to be buried מי כמוך , who is like to You? בעל גבורות , You have the power of always strengthening your patience and trust ומי דומה לך , and who is similar to You? You never give up מלך ,  forever Believing in your subjects ממית You bring death(or  detachment) in order to bring ultimate healing of neshomos ומחיה , carrying responsibility to re -imbue life ומצמיח ישועה , and coordina...

  Shema- ואהבת את ה ' בכל .... As we move from all the circling around, and being encircled during the chag of sukkot- (sukka that surrounded us, the dancing we did as we circled around the bima, the shaking of lulav and esrog around us... etc) we can use the 2nd paragraph of shema, ואהבת , as a way of keeping the circles of protection and love all year round! 1.wrap myself with hashem love. 2.teaching it to the kids surrounds and protects generations. 3.mezuza on the doorway, surrounds us as we walk thro into next room, stage. 4.tefillin one wraps around themselves. 5. tzitzit By:  Malki Rosenberg      

  SHMIRAT HALASHON & TEFILLAH   I had a conversation with the great facilitator of conversations, MS, to whom I am grateful for her suggestions and helping me process and put this to writing (not to mention sending me a capture of what we discussed).   Strategizing prayers is a high form of שמירת השון as taught by Rebbe נ׳י .   So I undertook to do so as a שמירה for Aviva bas Shaina Chana, may she have a thorough and quick רפואה שלימה .   I recall S.Y. Agnon’s story, Tehila, which introduced to me the concept that every person has a limited number of words they get to speak in their lifetime. “After days I came to fully understand the man’s logic: that a man shouldn’t spend in a short time what’s been allotted to him for all the days of his life. I trained myself to closely examine every word, whether it truly needed to be said, and came to be frugal with speech. And being frugal in speech, I was left with a great treasury full of words. My days ...

Tehillim 123 שיר המעלות, אליך נאשתי את עיני, היושבי בשמים, הנה כעיני עבדים אל יד אדונהים, כעיני שפחה אל יד גברת כן עיניו אל יהוה אלהינו, עד שיחננו Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he finds favor on us. Yaaleh Vyavo, end of prayer: זָכְרֵנוּ ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ בּוֹ לְטוֹבָה, וּפָּקְדֵנוּ בוֹ לִבְרָכָה, וְהוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ בוֹ לְחַיִּים וּבִדְבַר יְשׁוּעָה וְרַחֲמִים חוּס וְחָנֵּנוּ, וְרַחֵם עָלֵינוּ, וְהוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ כִּי אֵלֶיךָ עֵינֵינוּ, כִּי אֵל מֶלֶךְ חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם אָתָּה Remember us Hashem our G-d in it for Good, and bring to us in it Blessing, and bring us in it Salvation for Life, and in the salvation and mercy, חוס וחננו….. כי אליך עינינו. Psalms 123, King David is saying, I'm looking to You G-d: Like the eyes of a servant to his masters              Like in the eyes...

  I was davening in the Sukkah, and when I got up to the words Re'eh B'Aneinu, it came to me...   Living in Israel, I can see the tension between the Left and the Right, the "Orthodox/ Daati" versus the Secular is rising and as I was trying to figure out a different way to daven about the situation, the words rolled out of my mouth "V'Nahafochu". I finally understood how important this idea of " עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי ". It's when we get to a point when we can see the other's point of view. When we are so fixed on our ideals we become stuck in our ways and believe we are fighting for justice. However true justice, as we learn from the story of Yonah, has compassion which enables us to see things from a different perspective. I believe that's what it takes for us to transfer to a reality of Geula.    And so that's what my Tefillah is for Am Israel. May  we have the courage to let go of our ideals . Ex...

Hagafen, the fruit of the grape vine, can be a celebration of Mans Creative Process. When a fruit ripens to maturity, as much as man may have involved himself in its cultivation, the end result is the fruit that Hashem set to be in the seeds genetic code. This creative process is one that man can facilitate, but is owned by Hashem. Yet, man can develop the process of that fruit beyond the fruit itself. For example, when man applies his creativity to fruit he can take apples and make an apple pie! Wine making is a stunning application of mans creativity to the fruit that Hashem has given us. Wine, valued and appreciated throughout the world, is a symbol of potential. The art of man is to apply creative process to bring that potential to life. Perhaps no coincidence that there are a surprising amount of grape varieties throughout the world. It is perfect that at special occasions we mark the wonderfulness with a special blessing over wine. Every time we have a...

My friend shared an insight of how she used the Nielah prayer as a Shmira, a protection for all that we have gained and to not lose it. (E.N.B.L.R) A few days later I learned from Rabbi Weinberg, n''y to think of the Nieela prayer we say on Yom Kippur as a lock box. It is a lock box where HaShem takes all your accomplishments and all your aspirations and all your positive visualizations, and all your commitments and He puts them in a lock box for you. And that we have an opportunity to treasure all the things placed in your lock box and also that Hashem knows many, many more things that you can't imagine that he places in your lock box.   When I said the Bracha of Borei Nifashos , Who Creates living things.. I imagined this Bracha going in my lock box.  I then began to see the Bracha as "my lock box" I get to create.  I realized this lock box is my gift I get to take with me throughout the year.  It is my reminder of each moment being a once in a life time opp...