3 Teachings From Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook on Finding Chizuk in Prayer by Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider

good morning everyone good morning BTO nice to see everyone and thank you for uh for joining us for uh for a little bit of learning a little bit of and uh as we do on a regular basis let's begin with a uh a chapter of and with those words of we have our soldiers in mind we have those that are in captivity in mind those that are injured those that are in hospitals that please God are healing uh we have all of CLA Isel in mind those that are suffering those that are going through difficult difficult days and we ask Hashem for his raim and for salvation so on this this very theme of of praying of daving of supplicating before Hashem during difficult times I want to uh talk about in in my words of this morning ideas around of daving and that is such an important part of what we are doing all the different facets all the different areas that we are all trying to help out and uh to be engaged in and this certainly is one of them which uh which kazal which our tradition going back to the Torah itself ofu in terms of daving in terms of reaching out to Hashem in times of distress in times of need and how important it is for all of us to be engaged in that and to do that in a in a meaningful way so what I'd like to do this morning is to share three ideas from R cook rev cook the area of and hopefully these ideas can be inspirational and uh and can be meaningful during this time and all three ideas come from his beautiful Parish on the S R which is a collection of teachings of ruk many that he wrote on the sitter many that uh that is who the cook compiled as part of uh is part of his commentary on the and um we're going to look at three statements that are made three different statements that are made in the gamar B daving and we'll see each of each of them in terms of uh R cook how he understands them the first is capital of tahim that that we say on a regular basis and that is the As and the gamar says the following the gar bra says that if you say the three times a day that person is a guaranteed a place in Hab and it's interesting we have our daving set up that way that we have ashri two times in the shakas in the morning daving and then we say in the Min as well and one can say it within those dings and one can say the asay three times a day anytime during the day that one is saying to Hillen but the gamar says that there is a special Merit to reciting the the as three times a day and the gamar itself asked the question what is so significant about the As and the answer that's given in the gamar and just reading the words the it says that what's unique about the ashr is is that it has the alive that each of the sentences begins with the letter of the alive and also and also what is unique about the as says the gar is that it has the sentence of that opens his hands and provides for everyone's needs and thear concludes this combination of having the alet and having the so that is the unique characteristic the unique nature of the asre now the question is what does that mean what is what is the significance of those two items and this is where R cook steps in and gives the following interpretation he says that what does the alive bed represent the alive bed represents the very Foundation of what it means to believe in God the alive represents the letters it represents the words it represents the Torah and it represents really the intellectual or the academic understanding of what it means to believe in Hashem and that's one aspect of believing in Hashem in terms of the rational in terms of studying in terms of seeing what it is the Torah says about God seeing what what our books what our holy books say about belief in Hashem that is more of the in the intellectual realm in terms of belief in God and there is an an intellectual component we need to understand what it means to believe in God we shouldn't necessarily think about God in the way that we thought about God as little children that we should have a more mature understanding of God so the AL of represents an understanding of Hashem an intellectual understanding of Hashem but ruk says that there is another aspect that is highlighted in the As and that is the sentence of means that God opens his hands or that God opens his arms to us that we feel closeness to Hashem so represents a different aspect of our relationship with God and that is the emotional aspect that is uh the feeling of closeness to hasem to feel that the the God's presence is near us and ruk concludes this little piece and I'll just read a line from ruk it's not enough in our daving in our relationship with God to have only an intellectual understanding of God to say I believe in God we are to reach a level of of faith in God that we feel a certain that we feel that hem is with us that his presence is with us that we know that in the room right now that Hashem is with us and during difficult times and during times that are painful and Times of suffering and times that we're in right now to feel the presence of Hashem and only only at that time only with that kind of understanding again really Beyond understanding and emotion a feeling that we feel a close relationship with God then we have the D then we have the true knowledge which is really the deeper sense of knowing that Hashem is with us so Rook understands that statement the gamarra that what's so special about the asre and maybe it's not just the asre but what is special about davening is that we come to daving both from an intellectual point of view in terms of an understanding in terms of an Insight in terms of wisdom that we believe that there is a God in the world that is represented by the alif BET of the ashre but also the idea of that we feel hem opening his hands or that we're in the hands of hem that we're in the Embrace of Hashem and that combination is really the perfect combination in terms of uh in terms of of our relationship with God both a uh an intellectual from an intellectual point of view from a point of of wisdom but also very importantly in terms of a feeling in terms of an emotion in terms of a relationship there's a story that is uh that is told about a a talet he was a student of the a young man who is really a great student of the and at some point he began to dabble a little bit in philosophy into the secular world and he began to have certain questions certain doubts and he went to the home of Riv cook to speak to Riv cook about some of the questions and some of the challenges that he was facing and he comes to the door of Riv cook and uh he sits down with Riv cook and he spends many hours speaking to Riv cook and it's very late at night and uh Riv cook offers him a place to stay to stay over that evening and he sleeps over at the home of a cook the next morning he wakes up and he wakes up to the sounds of somebody daving in the other room and he hears Riv cook beginning his daving his private daving the first part of daving and he hears that he's reciting the a which some have the the custom some have the Min of reciting that every single day and he hears the kind of emotion and he hears his Nish the Nish over of cook reciting every single word and at that moment that student said that I want to become a student of R cook and all those doubts that I have I no longer have those doubts I I I see a person I hear a person with such a love such an emotional connection with Hashem and he became a lifelong student of ruk he became known as the Nazir rev DAV Cohen and he spends the rest of his life as a student of ruk he edits one of his most important works the aota Kesh and this is what ruk is speaking about the way that he understands theila of asre and really what it means in terms of Prayer in general we have both the intellect ual but also a sense of closeness with Hashem which is so important to feel as we are daving another statement that GAR makes the gar says the following and this is that we are all familiar with but it's found in the gar it says said the following the one that you have to keep your feet together referring of course to the amida that we keep our feet together for the so there are many ways of interpreting what that uh what that Hal is all about what the meaning of that is maybe on the simplest level it's a way of concentrating that we're not moving around that we're not you know looking at in different places moving to different locations but we're steady we're in one place Ru cook offers another interpretation a deeper interpretation and he says that we can compare halik the idea of walking to standing and when we talk about halik when we talk about walking and it's interesting that we use that word h it means that we're moving from one place to another place and that we're on a journey and that we're moving forward and that's something that's very very healthy it's something that we need to do in terms of moving forward in terms of our religiosity in terms of our connection in terms of our our knowledge as well that we're always ascending so that's what Hal is all about that's what walking is all about but it's interesting when it comes to the amida that we're supposed to be om that we be standing in one place and I'll read to you one line from from of cook the way that he interprets the importance of standing in one place what is so important about is that the faith that we have that we are to strengthen that faith during it's not about moving forward it's not about learning something new or new insight it's taking the faith that we have and strengthening that faith that Faith it's staying in that place and doubling down on on oura that it should be steady that it be that it should be something that is lasting and uh just thinking about a mush of of a car a car is Hal that we're moving they were moving they were going place to place we get in a car because we want to go to another destination and there's a time for that but there's also a time that the car is just sitting that it's being filled with gas right that is just being uh re energized so to speak and that's I think is what R cook is referring to in terms of our ding as well when we take the time to D in the morning in the afternoon if we dve in the evening anytime that reciting we are reciting to Hill him as well it's a time that we are strengthening it's a time that we are bringing greater Faith to that amuna that we have and how important that is to do on a regular basis so that's a a beautiful interpretation for the amida one other idea from from Rook and here an interesting line in the gamar another these all come from the uh the early D in the gamar Bros where we talk about daving the importance of daving the of daving so a statement is made this is D and it says NRA R somebody that dav's in the back of the sh or maybe it's really outside the sh that that person is called a Russian and I wouldn't say it's the back of the sh there are good people that D in the back brows of the Sho but maybe it meet somewhat outside of the Sho that person is called the Russia interesting statement that the gamarra makes and what does that mean exactly kind of standing on the outside of the Shool and why is that such a negative thing to do um again we can think of uh maybe the most basic interpretation that person's you know not joining the shol that he's ding outside he's by the window of the shol by the door of the Shool which is not really the place to be it's not not proper COV r offers the following very very uh insightful very beautiful interpretation and with this he really says something very profound about with daving what prayer is all about and he says there's the outer part of prayer and there's the inner part of prayer and what is the inner part of prayer well let's talk about the outer part the outer part of prayer he says that one part of prayer I read the line from Rook one aspect of Prayer it's a way of of praising God it's a way of uplifting the idea of of the presence of God in the world what is daving daving is to recognize God it's a greater recognition of Hashem and the truth is it's easy to forget that in the day-to-day routine we don't always feel the presence of God we're not always aware of God so the moments that we put towards prayer are times that we recognize in a much deeper way in a much Fuller way the the presence of God the existence of God in the world but of cook says that's that's really not the the essence of prayer what is the essence of prayer what does it mean actually to go inside the Shool so to speak and he writes the following he says the essence the of and that is that we are to take from an ethical and a moral message from that's what's being hinted to in a symbolic way of entering the sh that there's a deeper meaning to and what is that deeper meaning of and this is really a very very interesting and again I think a very profound idea and maybe a little bit different than the way that we often think about is that we are to learn from we are to be changed by the there's a rabbi who said that uh when you turn the pages of the sitter you shouldn't just be turning the pages of the sitter let the pages turn you that you should be changed by the you should be up uplifted by the that you should learn a moral lesson ethical lessons from the and what is that mean exactly and I think gra salvic also has a a notion that's very similar to this and I'll just read a line from ra Sal and he talks about the that we say or the bra actually we we say in the morning as we start the day and we have that long list of the that we talk about Hashem who clothes the naked that allows us to stand that provides for all of our needs right that long list this is what R salich writes as a comment on those blessings those brot in the morning God heals the blind frees the prisoners lifts up the oppressed each utterance of Praise is filled with an ethical Motif interesting that same word that Rook uses in terms of mus there are ethical lessons to be learned from the a moral principle that must also be realized by man himself we pronounce these brot we not only thank God for the normal physiological functions of man but we acknowledge God's all-inclusive morality and announce publicly our commitment to imitate his ways and what does that mean that when we are davening we are supposed to be being we are supposed to be inspired by the words of daving the way that we speak about hashem's Mercy the way that we speak about Hashem caring for the needy that Hashem is r that he is what we are supposed to learn from that is that we are to be that in our lives as as well that we are to imitate soing is not only a time to recognize God that's one aspect of daving and if Cook says to some degree that's not even the essential part of daving the essential part of daving is how we are moved by daving that after we DAV after we say the words of daving that we are inspired inspired to do more for one another that we have more empathy that we have more sympathy that we care for one another that we take the words of daving and the inspiration of daving and that makes a change in us and ruk says that that person that does not enter the sh that's standing so the person does not involve himself in the community he doesn't see he's doing on the outside he doesn't see everybody on the inside he doesn't see what people are struggling with he doesn't see how he can be helpful he doesn't see himself is part of the community and that uh Ru cook says is so important to our daving daving is not about as a writes here as well it's not necessarily about changing God's mind but it's about changing our mindset it's about how we can become better how we can become more sensitive and I'll share just one last idea to close and this also comes to from rev cook in terms of actually the very first word that we say of daving every single day and that is the model those are the first words on our lips many people even before they they get out of bed as they're as they're waking up in the morning the very first thing that is recited the says to say the and R says that the word mod actually has two meanings the word mod means to it means thanks as we begin a new day and I'll just read that those words from a so one aspect of Moda it comes from the rude word toada that we're all familiar with that we thank God for a new day and that's certainly part of what everyone of us should do that that should be a feeling as as the sun comes up and uh the beauty around us to see that to see the opportunity of a new day to see the blessing of a of a new day and we begin with the word toada so that but that's only one aspect of cook says in the word mod that we say toada but there's another aspect as well and that is and I'll read to you just a few words from aook and it also comes from another source or another root that the word also means that we concede or we affirm the truth in the gamar we talk about a Modas that somebody who admits he says yes it's true that I owe you a certain amount of money or we say which means that we we we admit we concede yes that is true so when wake up in the morning one part of waking up in the morning is the idea of toada of giving thanks the other is a that we say that there's truth in the world that there's meaning in the world that all that's happening around us is from Hashem and there's Ms that is the other aspect of truth and the other aspect of saying mod an and what that means I think for us today is that we wake up in the morning and these difficult days it's not always easy we should we should be very thankful for the great blessing of the new day of the Sun and of the beauty around us and for those those of us in and er Isel just the very blessing of being here but then there's also the difficulties and the challenges that we're facing throughout the day as well and with the word mode we are also affirming that we believe that everything around us has a purpose that it's not coincidence it's not happen stance it's all Hask it's all from the Y Hashem and that's the EMT part of mod of the mod alha EMS so those are those are some ideas that we can uh that we can think about that hopefully are inspirational ideas uh as we're daving as we're daving every day as we are reciting toilla um as we are engaged especially at this time in prayer supplicating Hashem turning to Hashem that hem has raim that uh that these are some ideas that we can think about we should be inspired by the words of they should be words that bring us closer and closer to Hashem they should be opportunities that instill greater faith that auna is strengthened within us every time that we Davin and uh we all need that during this time so uh we all pray together all of us Davin together that we uh should see yeshu so we should see salvation that there should be for those that are going through difficult times and we'll conclude with a together the ofu and we'll close with this and I thank you very much for for joining us I hope that everyone is well and stays stays safe and stay uh stays well please God in the coming days everyone have a good day look forward to seeing you soon