Weekly Tefilah Focus

As mentioned in last week’s segment, our focus in Shemoneh Esrei during this time period should be on the brachos yearning for the g’ulah, our final redemption, and the time when the entire world will recognize Hashem. We present here the brachah of “Es Tzemach David Avd’cha m’heirah satzmiach (The offspring of your servant David may You speedily cause to flourish).” This is the primary brachah (if said with heart and mind) that will enable us to be able to respond YES when asked, after 120, if we yearned for Hashem’s salvation. 

B’chasdei Hashem, for over a year and a half, we have been experiencing an abundance of miracles in Eretz Yisrael, and we are of course extremely grateful to Hashem for His continuous chesed. At the same time, we feel the tzaar of our brothers and sisters who are going through extremely difficult and painful times.

We are now entering into a special time period, often referred to as “The Three Weeks.” Most of us are familiar with at least the basic halachos of this time period, as well as “The Nine Days” period, which is relevant to the last nine days, beginning on Rosh Chodesh Av. While we certainly must observe the halachos, we should strive to maximize the many growth opportunities available in both our relationship with Hashem and our relationships with our brothers and sisters in klal Yisrael. This is a time to foster baseless love of each other, to atone for the baseless hatred that was one of the causes of destruction.

Ahavah Rabah 19

Loving All of His Children…
All of the Time

Before we proceed to the conclusion of our brachah, we would like to share one powerful thought from the Vilna Gaon. He quoted the Gemara in Chulin 91b, which states that klal Yisrael is more beloved to Hashem than the mal’achei ha’shareis, the heavenly angels. The Gaon states that when we say “v’keiravtanu l’Shimcha ha’gadol,” this is what we are saying: Hashem has brought us closer to Him than the mal’achim are.

In last week’s segment, we mentioned several examples of where in our tefilos we can recognize that Hashem is the source of all and where we can daven to Hashem that the whole world will recognize that. One example we provided is a pasuk in our tefilah immediately after the last Hallelukah. Many of us may gloss over this powerful pasuk, which originates in T’hilim perek 89 (the last pasuk). This perek is said to be authored by Avraham Avinu. 

We now continue our series dedicated to strengthening and deepening our connection with Hashem by selecting specific small segments of Tefilah to invest a few more seconds of mind and heart to contemplate and inculcate.