Tehillim 121 and 131: Chizuk During Iron Sword by Rebbetzin Pearl Borow

and so I want to say BTO to everybody and I hope it will be indeed a BTO and a yto and a sh Andes and a sh and everything it seems almost impossible to me first of all I want to apologize again for all of my uh inabilities uh but I also uh I'm having a hard time it seems impossible for me to really reconcile uh the fact that just three weeks ago exactly three weeks ago it was in the middle of hot and we were having our uh wonderful wonderful family our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren B and Har B and Hara come visit us uh on these days exactly three weeks ago in fact tomorrow three weeks ago on that Thursday ofo the grandchildren and great grandchildren that came to visit us were my grandson mosha with his lovely wife and family and children who live in STO and little did we know on that Thursday that lovely Thursday suot little did we know what lay in front of us and that purely through and I I can't I I am much filled with this thankfulness to a that my personal family were removed by the Army safely and that they are with other people that were um among the pum from steroid so they they've been out of their home all this while that was just three weeks ago Thursday and Shabbat we know what happened it was that Infamous day it's very hard it's really very hard both on the personal level and of course on the national level it is very difficult and what do we do we turn to a we turn to aad and we say to and there is certain to Li that we say and there is some toim that I think are said the most there's one particular peric of toim that I would dare say I would guess is probably said more than any other every time I listen to auk broadcast or not every time but very close to every time somebody will say so I want you to talk about this shirot why do we love it so much the words are so very beautiful I want you to talk a little bit about all the Sheep though we don't normally say all of them in a time of but specifically two of them this one the and and just a little bit to share with you basically we have as always aat and a med especially when it comes to K and we can say that there is a person person one speaking and person two is answering him and reassuring him about his concerns in fact on a very simple level we can understand it that the person one who is speaking is about to embark on something difficult whether it be a journey whether it be some new job he's concerned he is very concerned about whatever it is that he's embarking on and so he says she I lift my eyes to the mountains May from where will my help come as mayem and he reassures himself he says I know where my help comes from I'm looking at the hills because it's a natural tendency of a human being to look upward everybody looks upward when they seek help and I'm lifting my eyes to the hills but the hills are not what I'm really seeking help from asem hasem gives me help why Hashem because o is the one that made the heavens and the Earth so let's step back for a moment I want to remind you of something you probably all know but I like to review these basic facts there are 15 in that begin with she one of which so 14 start H alot one starts sheer Lama alot and that's the one that we're talking about right nowel say why shalot why are they called shalot answer one that is probably most familiar to us at the time that we were fortunate enough to have a bet mikdash there were 15 Steps that went from the ezat NM to the Azar to the ezat ANM the area that the men were permitted to go to 15 Steps and on those 15 Steps the Levan would stand with their musical instruments and they would sing at specific times especially during the time that the Carbono were given and because of these 15 Steps and steps of maot these particular shim 15 of which are called Shir whether the sang These specific ones or these specific ones and more I'm not really certain we don't really know but this is what we are taught aside from that another reason is given for it to be called Shir malot is because it's a typical poetic form and you know if you walk up a flight of stairs or down a flight of stairs and you want to be especially careful or you're my age and you need to be especially careful then you you would put one foot down and then put the other foot down on the same step before you take the following step and so it would be like you're walking step stop step stop and all of these shirot their particular poetic form is that there is a certain word that is repeated in one and then part of something the idea or the word is repeated step stop step stop and that this form of poetry is like a flight of stairs that a person is going on very carefully step stop and so it's called she H another reason yet another reason is that you know when we talk about somebody being on a certain ma he's on a certain M we have steps again a person is on a certain level spiritual level these shot are all very very beautiful they are very spiritual and they raise our MAA they raise our spiritual level so that we feel that we are right ing a ma we are rising a MRE they do something for us and so basically Kel say why is there one the one that we're talking about that is sheot because she hot is a song of steps of degrees sometimes you've seen that translation a song of degrees why is this one she two degrees because there is an aspect of this particular parim this capital or whatever you want to call it there is an aspect of it that is really speaking about the time of the G and in the time of G there will be a special ma there will be a special flight of stairs that AES will create that will be established for the sikim to be able to go from wherever their place of Abode is straight up before theod to put any that they have any bakha any request to put it before the right before himself so this is a she this is a song for the maot laot that will create in the time of the Gula which is I think an exceptionally beautiful idea so once again we go back to the conversation and the conversation is we're talking about a person who's about to Embark upon something a little bit difficult he's a little bit frightened and he says sheot I'm going to lift she L excuse me I'm going to lift my eyes to the hills to the mountains I am seeking help but I know I am reassuring myself that as that my help comes from who is the creator the owner of heavens and earth and he his friend or whoever he's talking to says you are right in having complete faith that your asra that your help comes from Hashem because he will and I am praying for you I am ding for you that he will not let your legs stumble or your foot stumble he will not allow you to stumble and fall and I D that he who guards you will not fall into asleep y num is a little Dremel going into not paying attention kind of going into a little bit of a state of sleep not a deep sleep and the original person the one that's afraid the one that's going to embark on a journey or something new a new stage in his life says I know that I have full confidence and on theat level the reason that we love this MIM so much is because it exudes pure confidence so the person speaking says I am confident I know H is of course Lo is I am totally confident don't we know that he the guardian of Israel does not fall into a light sleep the Yum and doesn't fall into a deep sleep that doesn't happen there is no such thing before hasem there is no Y and noan he does not ever fall asleep and the person who is answering him says good you have the right attitude and so he continues with reassuring him at the same time as he is giving him a braa he is doing both he is saying May Hashem indeed guard you and Hashem is your guardian and you have that wonderful confidence he is your shade shade is protection se he is your protection on your right hand your protection your right hand where you must most need it because most people use their right hands though Hashem is your guardian I am so glad that you have that confidence and I give you a bra that that confidence should be fulfilled in what will happen y not only should he watch you but he should keep you even from normal Elementary things that happen on a regular day things that are in nature by day May the Sun not harm you and the in the middle of the night may even the natural phenomena that surround you be protective of you Hashem and mayem guard you from all evil guard your life and may Hashem continue to guard you on no matter what Endeavor you are embarking on and whatever Endeavor you may set out upon in the future may Hashem guard you're going out and you're coming in from now forever may your confidence always continue and the beautiful thing about that shalot is that confidence that comes from every P that confidence of David who was Isel the sweet singer of Israel who was able to express it interestingly the madash does not exude that confidence at all the m in fact says that this perim this capital is talking about the day of Judgment of a that will take place at the beginning of the time of the Gula and it says am Israel when facing judgment day will be afraid they will be afraid how can they stand up to judge before a after all we are all only human beings we need help and so we say she a song for that ascending that we will do on that great that will come about at the end of days you know what I will do because I will be afraid as saw I will lift my eyes to the mountains and very very often in the written Torah when we use the term mountains we are talking about our ancestors who were mountains Abraham yob yose MOS David himself I will lift my eyes to the mountains I will lift my eyes to my great ancestors and I will say please come help me on this awesome day in which I stand before hosh in fear I am quaking I am really frightened is going to judge me and I need my a vote I need the Merit of my fathers to help me to come stand with me to argue my case before the Heavenly throne and yet I know deep within myself that that is not enough it is not the aote that will help me but on the day of judgment as my help will come directly from a who will remember who I am who will take into consideration who I am what I try to do because he is O he is the one that created the heavens and earth he created the human being he knows the weaknesses of the human being and thank God knows who I am and he knows my foibles and he knows my weaknesses and on that day of judgment I am trying to convince myself that my help will come from Hashem and of course this peric goes on and says Al ye he will not let your foot stumble and this is really hos speaking he is saying human being Jew do not worry on that great Judgment Day when I will come to judge all human beings I will not let your foot stumble I will help you because you see I am never asleep I am up all the time I am watching and I am guarding you I am your protection and I will guard you just like I did throughout your normal life when we come to that future Day May forever I will be your guardian and so we turn from confidence in theat to be in the madash and once again we are standing in awe before that in incredible of David and to me personally probably because I am a woman and because I am a mother and a grandmother and a great grandmother and B hasem I'm going to boast a great great grandmother [Music] with of course that's who I am there is an image that David gave us in K that appeals to me beyond my ability to describe but I will try my very best to make it as clear as I can but I think I won't need to because it is an image that is so utterly beautiful it's a very very short she hamalot it is a sheot not to the steps but on the steps shavid Hashem David says David says this is very personal shavid this is David speaking personally he's saying Hashem please please look at me and see that I never put on hirs lo my heart didn't swell because of my accomplishments I did not allow my heart to swell to take credit to think that I am the one who's responsible for everything that I did L when we use the expression of lifting your eyes it's as though you looking over all over human beings I never did that I never placed myself in a position where I thought that I was above other human beings and I didn't make myself feel G great I didn't feel that I was especially great because of the things that happened to me many IM and hear the word IM the words IM are like a like the language of tan when we say im and it means Anish I swear [Music] that I try to level to lower my soul I try to make it level with everybody else V is quiet and I try to quiet it from feeling boastful I quieted my soul and I made it level K Al IMO like a baby who has just been taken off the breast Gamu is a baby who the English word is weaned who stops nursing who lies on his mother's breast though he is not nursing anymore my soul is like that baby who has stopped nursing but nevertheless where does that baby get his comfort where does that baby feel is the source of love in the world his mother that baby has full confidence full from his mother so may Hashem may excuse excuse me Isel have full may they hope may they have total confidence and hope in Hashem and again we have that phrase may now and forever this time the med fills in for us in a very positive way same Med the med the med shov teaches David is saying very personally Hashem Lo when when was I afraid that my heart would become too proud when shmoel hanvi anointed me in other words the first very big thing that happened to David was when schmi came came to the house of his father yesi and chose him above all the brothers above all am Isel chose him and put the Shish on his head I did not allow it to go to my head to go into my heart and think that I was a very special person R and I didn't allow my eyes to look over all other people and think that I was greater when the second great thing happened to me which was when I fought with golat that great giant that threatened the army of am Israel and everybody was afraid but I decided that I could fight him and I won I killed him I did not allow it to go to my head big says the med big doot is when I brought the Aron to yusim when I was able to return the Aron that had been hidden for several years for the years that Shaul was King I was able to bring that Aron back toim safely after some trouble at first and nla me that which was really nifla that which was totally and truly wondrous and that was when I was able to successfully return to yusim after the rebellion of my son of Shalom and I left jerus in disgrace wanting there not to be battles face- to-face battles in the holy city and I was returned returned me to my throne and I was able to once again rule so says the M David is saying all of those wondrous things that happened to me I never allowed it to go to my head and think that it was my own maim that caused it I knew that it came from you just as a baby knows that all good comes from his or her mother just like a baby learns because he gets his sustenance from his mother so that even when that sustenance comes from another source and that original food no longer comes from the mother the one thing that Comforts the baby is his mother's arms is when his mother takes that baby in her arms and he knows all good comes from there how does that baby learn this because you see that baby has had the experience of all good coming from his mother do you see what David is teaching us he is saying what we need to realize to recognize and to always know deep within our soul is that all good comes from AES so when we might sometimes feel that we are in a time of danger when we feel that we are not as close to Heaven as we normally feel when we feel that there's something closed there is something locked up we need to remember that all good that ever happened to us throughout our lifetime came from that Source it came straight from AES straight from on high that is where our good comes and when we remind ourselves of that we are able to put ourselves in the arms of AES we are able to feel that a KES is with us because the memory the knowledge the realization the confidence that we were talking about in M the confidence in the they are there because we know that all good that was given to us came from that source and so David says elem he is talking to us Israel today I'm Israel today all of us no matter where we are and my friends of course you know I am talking to my self I am talking to my children I am talking to my grandsons who are out in the sh wherever they are at present have hope have faith trust in Hashem in his protection be from now and forever may we be my dear friendss to really see yesh in the very very near future I'm ready for it today it's okay could do it today I don't have too much to do I'll I'll I'll manage yes we are hoping we are praying we are waiting and we are using the words of David to help us to strengthen us to give us the right Focus thank you for your attention