Partners In Prayer - Siddur

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

By: Machberes Avodas Hashem The Chafetz Chaim taught: "At the conclusion of the main portion of Grace after Meals we add a series of,' May the All Merciful.' We add numerous such petitions, indicating that a request to God after the performance of a mitzvah is especially acceptable before Him (Michtevei haRav Chafetz Chaim, page 45)." One of the primary issues of the Exile is, "You wrapped Yourself in a cloud that no prayer can pierce (Lamentations 3:44)." It is more difficult to pray during the Three Weeks than other times during the year because we experience this "cloud." With COVID unfortunately around, this year proves to be even more difficult because our time in shul has changed drastically, and we have never experienced the pain of the three weeks while in a situation similar to the present state of the world. We can use this strategy of the Chafetz Chaim, that of praying immediately after the performance of a mitzvah, so that we may feel t...

And may it be Your will "Sleeping is thick arras or ambsace, like an alcatraz across water." (Brian Teare, Sight Map: Poems) We often do not have the clarity to perceive God's messages to us personally, or to the world; it is often as if we are sleeping. We acknowledge the blessing of clarity that comes through Torah that keeps our minds sharp and allows us to catch God's messages and understand them. The remainder of the blessing is a request for the things we need to maintain that clarity. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg,n''y

ho crowns Israel with splendor: G. K. Chesterton's ''The Man Who Was Thursday," features a plot to infiltrate the Central Council of Anarchists, whose 7 members are named for the days of the week, Sunday, Monday, etc., The main character Gabriel Syme finds himself recruited as a spy first by a regular police officer and then by a mysterious man in a dark room, whose face he never sees. "Are you the new recruit?" asked the invisible chief, "all right. You are engaged." Syme, quite swept off his feet, made a feeble fight against this irrevocable phrase. "I really have no experience," he began. "No one has any experience," said the other, "of the battle of Armageddon." "But I am really unfit-" “You are willing, that is enough," said the unknown. "Well, really," said Syme, "I don’t know of any profession of which mere willingness is the final test." "I do," said the other, "...

Three Silences there are: the first of speech, The second of desire, the third of thought; This is the lore a Spanish monk, distraught With dreams and visions, was the first to teach. These Silences, commingling each with each, Made up the perfect Silence, that he sought And prayed for, and wherein at times he caught Mysterious sounds from realms beyond our reach. O thou, whose daily life anticipates The life to come, and in whose thought and word The spiritual world preponderates. Hermit of Amesbury! thou too hast heard Voices and melodies from beyond the gates, And speakest only when thy soul is stirred! (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; The Three Silences of Molinos) We acknowledge our ability to catch the "Mysterious sounds from realms beyond our reach," which has given us the great strength to survive the devastating challenges of exile. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

O sweeter than the marriage-feast, 'Tis sweeter far to me, To walk together to the kirk With a goodly company!- To walk together to the kirk, And all together pray, While each to his great Father bends, Old men, and babes, and loving friends, And youths and maidens gay! Farewell, farewell! but this I tell To thee, thou Wedding-Guest! He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all."  (Samuel Taylor Coleridge; The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Part VII) "He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all." We are celebrating the powerful role of prayer in empowering us to thrive in exile: By providing us with prayer, the ability to speak to You and to know that You are listening, You have provided us with a means to address our every need. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

"These men asked the pilgrims whence they came; and they told them. They also asked them where they had lodged, what difficulties and dangers, what comforts and pleasures, they had met with in the way; and they told them. Then said the men that met them, "You have it but two difficulties more to meet with, and then you are in the City." (John Bunyan; The Pilgrim's Progress) We acknowledge that with each difficulty with which You present us, You are moving us forward toward our ultimate goal. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

I saw the world and yesterday! A flight of Angels tore It's cover off and Heaven lay Where Earth had been before. I walked about the countryside And saw a cricket pass. Then, bending closer, I espied An ecstasy of grass. (Elizabeth B. Rooney; Eschaton) Even when we do not have the Beit Hamikdash through which to view the Heavens, we can still bend down and find, "an ecstasy of grass," sparks of Heaven sprinkled throughout the world; sparks through which we can glimpse Heaven. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

It is over. What is over? Nay, how much is over truly! - Harvest days we toiled to sow for; Now the sheaves are gathered newly, Now the wheat is garnered duly. It is finished. What is finished? Much is finished known or unknown: Lives are finished; time diminished; Was the fallow field left unsown? Will these buds be always unblown? It suffices. What suffices? All suffices reckoned rightly: Spring shall bloom where now the ice is, Roses make the bramble sightly, And the quickening sun shine brightly, And the latter wind blow lightly, And my garden teem with spices. (Christina Rossetti; Amen) "All suffices reckoned rightly." We are able to break the bonds of our exile when we understand that we have been empowered to create eternal realities with our Mitzvot, prayer, and Torah study. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

"Certainly those determining acts of her life were not ideally beautiful. They were the mixed result of a young and noble impulse struggling amidst the conditions of an imperfect social state, in which great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion. For there is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside it." "But we insignificant people with our daily words and acts are preparing the lives of many Dorotheas." "Her finely-touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to t...

“For us, - whatever's undergone, Thou knowest, wiliest what is done, grief may be joy misunderstood; Only the Good discerns the good. I trust Thee while my days go on. (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)” The darkness of exile is often compared to blindness. However, we continue to rely on God, "Who knows, Who Wills what is done," Who, "discerns the good." We thank God for the gift of Bitachon, trusting in, and relying on His vision. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

"And the man assigned names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field; but as for man, he did not find a helper corresponding to him. So God, the Lord, cast a deep sleep upon the man and he slept: and He took one of his sides and He filled in flesh in its place. Then God, the Lord, fashioned the side that He had taken from the man into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And the man said, "This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This shall be called Woman, for from man was she taken (Genesis 2:20-23)." Although God made it clear to the man that he lacked a "helper corresponding to him," when Adam first saw the woman, rather than see her as God intended, Adam saw her only as an extension of himself; "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." Adam had an opportunity to see someone beyond himself, someone who would push him to grow and motivate him to achieve. The name "Woman," refers to th...

For not having made me a slave: "And when I rest in glory bright, The burden of my labor past, In hymns 1'11 praise Thee more and more While the eternal ages last (Synesius).” No matter how dark life may seem, no matter how hopeless, as long as I can focus on the future with hope, I am not a slave. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

"The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular reason for being happy except that they are so (W. R. Inge).” Many Holocaust survivors have told me that the key to maintaining their dignity even in a concentration camp was to look at their tormentors and bless God for not having made them such a low human being. They found joy in their essence. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

Now, of course, we go to the blessings over Torah learning. During the beginning of the crisis of COVID and during the three weeks, the basic kavanah that I had about this blessing is not about the Torah that has been given to me. I don't begin with that intention. I begin with a quest, Torah as my quest, which is based on a teaching of the Talmud in Sanhedrin 97 A. The gemara explains that the 2000 years of Torah began with Abraham beginning his quest to find God. We are in a situation in which we're seeking answers, in which we're seeking to understand. What do we have to change? Are we doing anything wrong? In what way do we have to improve? How can I best guide my children through this crisis? How can I grow from it? That is a quest, and that quest is always guided by Torah, just as it was even after the walls of Jerusalem were breached because they still had Torah, and they still looked to Torah to guide them. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, neiro yair

The next blessing is the one we recite after going to the bathroom, known as Asher Yatzar. The basic kavanah is, “I honor the body that was designed to protect itself.” This is based on a halacha quoted in the Tur Shulchan Aruch, the son of Rabbeinu Asher, the Rosh. The Tur wonders that if we go to the bathroom and we have a bowel movement, then perhaps  it's not sufficient to just say the blessing of Asher Yatzar because if I had to clean myself, I also have to wash my hands, so perhaps I should also recite a blessing al netilat yadaim . Of course we don’t do this, but there is an appreciation of living, that to do anything in which we pay attention to protecting our bodies is, number one a mitzvah, and number two a way of honoring the body given to us by God, a way of honoring a body designed to protect itself from disease and from poisons. The act itself is a way of honoring our Creator, and this we could do with enhanced awareness. Once we started learning about the COVID virus...

"So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, ‘May your Lord, Whom you serve continually, rescue you!’ A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed.  Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your Lord, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?’ Daniel answered, ‘Oh king, live forever! My Lord sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in His sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, oh ...

  The biggest COVID lesson that I learned was in my home. I began to realize that 99% of my family issues and challenges were all either directly or indirectly related to me. My attitude, my mood, my words, my reactions, etc., all impacted my family. Because of the extra time at home, COVID showed me loud and clear that when I'm aggravated, stressed, or impatient, that my behavior and feelings directly affects everyone in the home.   The woman of the home has a lot of power over the mood in the home. The woman of the house has a huge responsibility. This COVID lesson began at home and remains long after COVID has passed.   -- Blog Sheryl Lopin

פוקח עורים  (Who gives sight to the blind) Throughout this COVID pandemic there were so many times when it was easy to fall into the rut of negativity. The yetzer hara kept trying to pull me into fear and negativity, and it even sometimes succeeded! פוקח עורים   - The blessing now takes on a whole new meaning for me! I see it as an opportunity to thank Hashem for all those moments of being able to see the possibilities for growth! I used the blessing as a way to recognize that it was Hashem who opened my eyes to the opportunities of connection to Him during times of fear and challenge – and to understand that only Hashem has the ability to keep giving me the capacity to overcome fears, and to succeed over any negativity! Comments Shared by Malki R 

בְּכָל יום אֲבָרְכֶךָּ. וַאֲהַלְלָה שִׁמְךָ לְעולָם וָעֶד   “ B'chol Yom  Avarech'cha   I am accessing "Kol" (all, all encompassing) in order to make this Bracha, to create this burst of nurturing words , and prayers.. ”  (Machberes Avodas Hashem Intention***)   The world is fluid, every minute is a new opportunity.   You know what they say about horseback riding?  “We don't look behind us, in the past, because the horse has already passed it!  And, by the time we look in the present … the horse has already passed that, too!”   Our goal is to be in “forward motion” -- to look into the future to what we want.     This idea made me think that although we are currently living in seemingly tumultuous times, in which it seems as if there is so much movement, it is as if all these different moving parts and fluctuations is our constant ! We are constantly in a state of flux and change, and so, we can   ...