Partners In Prayer - Siddur

The 7th of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu: Complete faith and trust in God is a wonderful attribute. Our father Abraham, upon meriting this attribute, considered it a great divine favor that God had brought him to this level.   Thus it is written, “And he believed in God, and he counted it for Him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6).”   Our teacher Moses said, “But they will not believe me (Exodus 4:1).” At that time, Moses had failed to find some merit for which the Children of Israel could be deemed worthy of attaining complete faith. This was so until God answered him that faith is attained through ancestral merit. That is why the people of Israel are called, “Believers, the children of believers (Shabbat 97a).” [Toledot Yaakov Yosef, Yitro] When we pray the opening blessing of the Amidah, Avot, or, Patriarchs, we can use it as an opportunity to connect to their great faith, and to be deemed worthy of attaining complete faith in their merit, thus earning the title of,...

 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)