Partners In Prayer - Siddur

  When reviewing the explanation of the Alshich Hakadosh on the words in Tehillim of צְרוּפָ֖ה אִמְרָתְךָ֥ מְאֹ֗ד וְֽעַבְדְּךָ֥ אֲהֵבָֽהּ;  I understood it as follows: Dovid Hamelech expresses how Hashem’s words are pure, transparent and articulate and he loves them.  Dovid offers a different perspective on the Tzadik who barely has bread and the Rasha that has wealth.  He says Hashem’s words, are not only pure but they contain within it an invitation of מְאֹ֗ד.   The Alshich connects the מְאֹ֗ד to the Mizvah contained in Sh ema to love HaShem “ Bichol Miodecha”; which means with all your possessions, or the reality of Middah , measure for measure, or Modah , and acknowledgement and gratitude of all from Hashem.  But the Alshich says that מְאֹ֗ד contains even more! He says, Dovid Hamelech knows that Hashem’s words are Pure and with מְאֹ֗ד, meaning even the “ Yesurin ” are Hashem's way of communicating; and in the communication there “ IS מְאֹ֗ד ...

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 ...

When we see the element of corporeality in something or, heaven forbid, of evil, then we are to serve God with it by virtue of the love or fear or other such quality that it possesses. In this manner we elevate it. For instance,   we contrast a good love to the evil love, for it was only for the purpose of loving God that love was emanated by the Creator into this world. This is what the raising of the sparks means. So it is with regard to fear and other traits. If we see an evil fear anywhere, heaven forbid, we must elevate it to the realm of holiness. Other traits must be elevated in the same manner.   The dismantling of the Tabernacle means that the traits symbolized by the various parts of the Tabernacle are not connected to the performance of Commandments. When the Children of Israel in the desert chanced upon a place where there was an unworthy love, they stimulated this love to become the love of God, Who is the source of all love. So too for the attributes of fear and ...

  “And You have brought us close to Your great Name forever in truth…” This verse deals with the story of the battle with Amalek (Exodus 17:16).  God says to Moses “The hand upon the throne of the Lord, the Lord will have   war with Amalek, from generation to generation.”   Rashi says, the hand of the Holy One Blessed be He was raised to swear by His throne that there would be for God war and hatred against Amalek forever.   Why is the word for ‘throne’ written kes, rather than kiseh? Why is the aleph missing?  Is then also the Divine Name also divided in half?  The Holy One Blessed be He swore that His Name will not be whole, nor His throne whole, until the Name of Amalek is blotted out.   Therefore, when the verse in the blessing reads You have brought us close to Your great Name, God’s Name is great only when Amalek is destroyed.  This is the way we remember what Amalek did to us.   What did Amalek do to us?  Amalek and...

  “God will have reigned, He will have donned grandeur.” When a person accepts the Yoke of Heaven to the point of being willing to give his entire spirtual being to God; he creates a Holy Garment so to speak, in which God robes Himself as He sits on His Throne.   If you take the first letter of each Hebrew word of, “Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad,” “Shin” = 300, “Yud” = 10, “Yud” = 10, “Aleph” = 1, “Yud” = 10, “Aleph” = 1, the total is 332, which is the gematria of “Lavesh”: “Lamed” = 30, “Vet” = 2, and “Shin” = 300.  This is to remind us that if we recite the Shema with proper Kavanah to accept the Yoke of Heaven and to love God with our entire Soul, we create a “Levush,” a garment for God. Divrei Shmuel – Rabbi Shmuel Weinberg of Slonim Psalm of the Day – Friday:  We enter Shabbat having transformed all our actions into Royal Garments for God. Kabbalat Shabbat : Our Shabbat clothes reflect the Beautiful Garments we made for God with our acceptance of S...

The 7th of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu. We are required to believe completely in Divine Providence, which is the source of everything even though the human intellect cannot comprehend it. Only after   believing completely is it possible to understand the belief to a limited extent. This is what “truth and faith” means. Truth applies to what is comprehended by the intellect, the object of knowledge is clear. Faith, by definition, is something  uncomprehended, something known to be so only by faith.   The verse, “Your faith in the nights (Psalms 92:3),” means that it is necessary to employ faith at times that can be likened to “the nights,” times when the object cannot be comprehended by the light of the intellect. In the morning we say, “true and firm.” This is because, even after attaining comprehension through faith, we must return to faith, because it is impossible to understand the things sufficiently by means of intellect alone. The most that we understand...