Do We Pray for Ourselves or for Hashem?

[Music] the yeshiva.net today's sheer is dedicated by the silver family and loving memory of rabbi sacher dave rebel bender in honor of his yard site today was the twenty-eighth of thomas tahinis for the whole family but [ __ ] hashem should fulfill all of their hearts desires claudius page 216 gimmel in your source sheets this month that's coming up is the month of menachem of what does menachem of mean we comfort the father like just like kantish above we say menachem which means he hashem comforts syria and he comforts zion menachem means the month in which the father is comforted the father is the recipient of the nechama of the solas of the condolences of the comfort men of we comfort or it comforts of the tata the father based on the idea that the gomorrah says in brachas that hashem weeps and says woe to a father who has exiled his children and is alienated from his children so the father is in pain and agony so we comfort so to speak menachem of the month that comforts the father in parentheses as an introduction in this in the first year there was a long discussion about how can we even give interpretations to the names of the months as though they were hebrew words and were giving them significance in the hebrew language when our sages tell us that all the names of the months were taken from babylon when the jews went down to babylonia they came back tired to straw with the names of the monks and they are babylonian names and you could see in the comments as i said a list of all the names the way they originated in babylonia after a long discussion and different possibilities the conclusion is that nonetheless we see that our sages did give interpretations to the months from a hebrew perspective for example nissan they say comes from the word nissan which means miracles because it's the month of the month of miracles here too you can say so babylonian name why are you giving it significance in the name of nissan is because of a babylonian meaning not because of a hebrew meaning but nonetheless and he offers different ways of interpreting this the month the names of the months have profound terrorist significance in the language of the jewish people which is the holy language the holy tongue the fascinating thing is that menachem of we focus on the fact that we comfort the father not that the father comforts the children if the name would have been of menachem then the meaning would have been the father comforts of the father menachem he is one who offers comfort to the children to those who need comfort but the name is menachem and we already established in the previous year that both names are part of the month and it's relevant to about how you write a get and how you write documents stories where we write menachem of and even if you just write menachem without of it's still legal as explained in the authorities and the sources of allah discussed in the previous class is not of menachem is the father comforts but it comforts the father the father is the recipient of the now let's this will also explain in the previous year we quoted the law that the parasites that we read during the weeks when something occurred in history is connected or connected to that theme of the time it's not just we read through the parishes and it goes through the calendar coincidentally no hanukkah is connected to the parachutes that we read during that time so now we understand the connection between the month of manachamov and the parishioners matasmasi because this point that a jew experiences and senses that the nakama the comfort that he or she wishes on himself and on all of us in this month is not just comfort for himself or herself but on the contrary primarily it's a comfort for him for the father that's the primary comfort and we have to explain this because it doesn't seem to make sense but when a jew understands this that that's the primary comfort not just the comfort from me but more importantly the comfort for him and that's why that is the name of the month not of menachem this point this remarkable point which is going to be developed is emphasized in parishious matters which would therefore be very appropriate for the fact that pasha's mothers and master are either read in the shabbas that blesses me of or like this year they read in the first shabbos of of and this year actually on the first day of of which encompasses the whole month it's an amazing statement of our sages in the madrid known as which is the great commentary of the chazal on the sephir bamidbar and varah in matays hashem tells maishrabenu that the jews should engage in a battle against midian had a genocidal plan to exterminate the jewish people physically morally and spiritually and people don't realize that they were actually most successful from all the enemies and midian came close to a success story according to rashi because of midian close to 200 000 jews were killed this was a unique genocidal plan of media so god tells moshe that the jews should wage a battle against media and his expression is nikoi israel which means take the vengeance of the binay israel from the medyana when moshe repeats the commandment he says god wants to take revenge against midian one second hashem said it's nikhmas binay israel maisha changes it when moshe repeats the commandment maisha changes it and i just the parentheses i want to tell you whenever you study something whenever you study hummish or any other holy text it's important to notice these things don't gloss them over our sages were very sensitive to nuance when hashem tells the commandment and when moshe repeats the commandment there is a slight variation there why why didn't it maisha use the words of hashem this is the nikmas binay israel this is vengeance on behalf of the jews not vengeance on behalf of god so the severity says moshe was telling the jewish people something this is not your own vengeance this is the nikmas misha amma the one who spoke and the world came into existence what do we see from here same idea of menachem of its vengeance on behalf of the jewish people maisha says no no no it's vengeance on behalf of god it's not your own nikama you want to take nakamura you want to fight those who are existing that want to destroy you it's nick must meet shahid doing it on behalf of hashem just like him and achimav you would think we need to be comforted we were exiled we are the ones suffering in exile we say menachem of we're comforting the father that's the connection to matas alderaan fitment and passion a similar theme we see in the second part shamas the pos exact impressions master the passage says that's number is 35 verse 34 peric lamid hey pas as he says in footnote 32. he speaks about the fact that we're not going to allow in our land there should be human abuse murder bloodshed violence don't contaminate don't defile the land the holy land god says where i dwell i dwell in it because remember i hashem dwell among the jewish people so don't contaminate don't defile don't turn such a land where i dwell i dwell in the land and i dwell in the jewish people don't turn it into a place of filth and moral depravity and insensitivity state of dementia free so again this ifree gives a comment quote is the jewish people are beloved because even though they're tommy they're impure the shrine is among them wherever they went into exile the shrine of the divine presence came with them and they were when they will return imam the divine presence will be with them does haste what do we see from here as the indian hagalis what we see from here this if he says impartials must say god says when you're contaminating the land and you're contaminating yourself you're contaminating so to speak you're affecting me because i dwell in the land and i dwell among the jewish people comes as a free and says even when the jews are tummy they're impure the shrine is there and even when the jews go into exile the shrine is there what do we see from here with the supreme saying that the gulles is not just for the jewish people the goddess is also for the shrine the divine presence is in galas and therefore when there is redemption it's not just a redemption for the jewish people it's a redemption for who for the divine presence itself is also redeemed this theme again is imperative i'm always with you so when you're in exile i'm in exile when you're redeemed i'm redeemed and we understand that the redemption of the srina is even more significant than the redemption of the jewish people god himself being redeemed so here again the same theme of menachem of is expressed not just in mates but also in maase that it's not just we're comforting the children we're actually comforting the father who's also in exile and not only that we emphasize in the name only the comfort towards the father as much more significant in the comfort of the children all of this is fine but it requires a basic understanding in the the name the title menachem of it comforts the father emphasizes only comfort towards the father there's no mention of the comfort for the child for the jewish people and this is the name of the month the way it is called by all of the jewish people their name is nobody calls it of menachem we all call it menachem of as he said in the beginning of the sikh as we spoke earlier about the significance about the fact that it's called menachem and of and the significance of that and the meaning of that isn't it fast there's something amiss firsthand means understandable it's nitrate it's not understandable this is a name that has been accepted by very righteous holy people their whole avoid their purpose and their work and life is they think only about hashem they have absolutely no thought about themselves there's no ego there's no self-consciousness there's absolute dedication on every level to the point they don't even think about them connecting to hashem it's just about hashem as he says in 37 this discussion is in tanya chapter 10. the gemara says raj be said says of great stature of aliyah means very elevated from the word aliyah she says in tanya these are jews that don't even think their yiddish is not even about their own vegas it's not even about my own relationship my own connection i want to be connected even though that's a tremendous quality i want to be connected to you but it's not even about that i want to be connected you have those only about hashem so i can understand that when they think about exile what are they thinking about not their gollus they're thinking about the goddess of hashem the goddess hasheen i understand that so therefore when they think about menachem it's a month in which we wish ourselves comfort they're thinking about the comfort for the father because the pain the gullets what they feel is the goal is hashina you talking about great people that their entire avoidance for the sake of hashem there's absolutely no eye in that void you have those unique unique souls in generations unique people banaya leah vehem they're very few so when they think about gullis they're not thinking about their gullus they're thinking about the suffering the pain the challenge for the shrine i feel he continues to [Music] there's another category of jews there the name and ahmad also makes sense you have jews they may not be holding by this spiritual level where everything is only for hashem it's not even about their connection it's not even about my connection might vagus only about you have jews they may not be there but they're very sensitive to the deeper layers of reality they're very sensitive to spirituality to transcendence so therefore when they think of gullus for them at least the primary component of the void is the exile of the shechina the spiritual corben the spiritual havoc and destruction that came as a result of gullus the spiritual exile of the divine presence that hashem is in exa like we say in the music of yamtif because of our sins we have been exiled from our land on we can't ascend and be seen and bow down to you in other words what are they experiencing they're experiencing the fact that the relationship with truth the oneness in the universe is not revealed anymore godliness is not shining in the world and godliness is not revealed in my own soul i could learn toyota but it's more i do it you know i do it i like the intellectual power aspect of it or i do it by rote i can do mitzvahs but i do it you know it's part of my culture my tradition sometimes i like it especially it's not felt english of us means to bow down to prostrate myself which represents the whole avoid of davaning especially in davening the godliness is not experienced that's what god is means that the divine presence is an ex in other words the divine presence is locked up it's confined it's concealed it's eclipsed it's like sent into exile it's not manifested the truth is ghoula consciousness means that there's a oneness that pervades the entire universe that you feel complete alignment can feel con complete connection complete oneness what they're primarily mourning and grieving is that spiritual alienation the misalignment between the core and the source of everything and my consciousness as he says as felton and gilliam that's the goals that they grieve because they're very sensitive to this so this is already a second level of jews they may not be on the first level we spoke about people who think only about hashem not even about their own vacants but even people who think about their vacancies but they're concerned with their vacance this means something so by them i can understand the name menachem of the name menachem of resonates it's a month when we focus on comforting the father and he explains it that we want to comfort the father inside of me the khalik ali kamehameha inside of me every soul is a part of hashem in other words every soul is part of the father the soul is so to speak a fragment of heaven a ray of infinity a piece of hashem so they appreciate that the focus of this month is menachem of i want to comfort i want to offer solace to the father what about to me so he says he says but his expression is very important there's a father inside of me that's my heila kalikami my soul which is part of hashem that's the father i'm comforting my soul i'm comforting the divine that's inside of me this is a jew again he may not be on the first highest level but as a jew who's sensitive to the fact that his soul his in exile it's not manifested it's not fully revealed there's toxicity there's trauma that eclipses it there's pain there's anxiety distress there's fear there's insecurity there's not that sense of wholeness there's an exile there's sheena inside of me so it is an exile the av the father inside of me needs comfort so i understand why these jews would call it menachem of because they are deeply sensitive at least when they speak about gullus to the to the spiritual destruction and alienation but here comes the question menachem is not a name that was adopted by the tsadikim of the generation or even by the very sensitive jews vicaim and of is a name that was adopted by everybody the claudius role for every single jew and that means it has significance for every single jew how is it that we don't mention the comfort for the child we only speak about the comfort for the father so when you have a jew who doesn't think about anything but hashem i get it even when you have a jew who's really tuned in to the fact that the real golis and the primary goals and the most devastating colors is the gullies of the shrina the khelika kami mao the spiritual corbin that i can't feel a lacus i can't be one with godliness i can't be mistaken because even if i bow down my posture may physically prostrate itself but that's prostrating itself where i become one aligned that is missing so i could understand the name in but how can we say this about every single jew in every situation and he says we know every person knows individually that jews experience the pain of gullus in a very literal physical sense for thousands of years they have been under siege they have been in captivity they have often suffered terrible terrible terrible predicaments savage suffering on a physical level in a very physical way god forbid loss of life and war and violence and bloodshed and anti-semitism and hate and oppression they had the yoke of various nations on their neck orphan nations and civilizations and cultures that mistreated them and abused them in horrible ways now you're going to say today jews live in a much more ben thank god we live in amalgas but still people have he says does the mayam rabbit mind is the multitudes of waters that come from the stress and the anxiety of making a living and we're talking about physical stress physical oppression physical pain people who are missing the needs of their body people who are suffering because of their children because of their health because of their sustenance and even if somebody is blessed with many things he says it's still not revered still not with expansiveness the way a jew needs it to be with expansiveness when people think about what's the pain they're in life what pain are you you're having pain people say i'm in pain and you'll ask them what's going on and people will tell you my health my stress my mental state my anxiety i can't relax i can't be normal i don't know how to appreciate life i don't know how to be present i don't know how to be mindful i'm scattered everywhere i'm overwhelmed another person will tell you about how difficult it is in parnosa to make ends meet these are very physical practical things another person is struggling with health or the health of a loved one another person is struggling with mental health or mental health of a loved one another person is struggling with children again with their physical state emotional state mental state psychological state bono never mind people that have experienced illness and loss and grieve the death of loved ones of various tragedies that happen so this is what people are feeling this is what people are experiencing you see how a rabbit speaks you see how it ever speaks so how is it that for all these jews we don't even mention the comfort of the child we only mention the comfort of the father again if everybody was at saddik that they didn't feel themselves they only felt god or they primarily felt god's goals i understand but he says we know that by the regular jew the regular ordinary person to whom turtle was given and for whom yiddish is real and the by the rabbit the name of is significant no mention in this month of my comfort of my pain of my anxiety of my stress of my trauma when people that's how they experience goals first and foremost i experience my difficulties my challenges my pain so you say stop thinking about yourself think about god it's very nice to say but the question is where am i where am i in he says now he emphasizes every jew has situations where you sometimes become very transcendent but we're talking about every jew in every situation and people are hurt people are hurt by the pain of their experiences in life each person in their own way people have very very people have challenging and difficult lives and even today this system was set in thomson members 1982. the rebbe himself went through the horrors of stalinist russia he escaped hitler the last moment he escaped france and came to america lost much of his family in russia and the holocaust that generation suffered in ways that we can't even imagine but even ladies talking now and then this system was set in 1982 tough shin members matasma and was printed i think the next year or two years later people are experiencing pain people who still experience gullus and anti-semitism or death and all types of challenges whether it's in their marriage in their personal life and their familial life and their financial life etc and we don't make mention of this let's comfort the father what about me chopped liver what about me what about us no mention he says what is the meaning that for all of clay israel the name of this month and the name captures the zeitgeist of the month is we comfort the father that's the rebels question to understand this we need to introduce a similar theme that we find in davening says you do it the title is there's an incredible teaching of the market of miss rich on the mishna in the beginning of the fifth chapter of brachas now who is the market of mizritch i'm just going to remind you the maggot of miss rich was the successor of the bolshemitiv was the founder of the hasidic movement and the magdev mizritch was the rebbe of the second generation of hasidis the balsamite have passed away schwa in and a year later the margaret succeeded the balsham and he led the young fledgling movement of khasiddha's for the next 12 years until his passing in 1772 utes kislov tough gimbal the market like the basham tif didn't write down his own teachings but the students wrote down the teachings so you see in 41 he gives the footnote where this teaching is the mishna opens up the fifth chapter of brachus which means one may not stand up and begin to pray only from an approach of kravid rush rashid says what is means a heavy head like the head is is heavy what does this mean would mean the head is heavy it means it's an expression it's a euphemism actually says from a place of submission from a place of surrender i can't darven from a place of self-inflation and haughtiness and arrogance it's like when the head is heavy so therefore it goes down because it's heavy it's it's just a metaphor for a place of of submission there's a seriousness there's a sincerity there's a realization that i'm in a relationship with the creator who's above me that's the idea in english and then the mishna continues how the hasidim the pious men of your used to uh meditate for an hour before they dive in each main estra chakra is when the gemara explains that they spent nine hours a day in meditation because before schweinster an hour and then afterwards an hour so that was three hours for every davening so three hours in each prayer that's nine hours a day in mindfulness and meditation incredible comes the market and he says what's the meaning in endless parliament rush it could have said davin with subservience with submission with ahmad rash means literally the heavy head you'd have him with a heavy head says the maggot as madaf miss powers says there's a deeper meaning here and i am than this paulo i don't get up to darwin elementary cleveland rush from the awareness of cleveland rush what's kaiva rush he says don daven for your own voids i'm not supposed to dive in for my own hisaren the fact that the various needs and necessities i have are missing no aim and allah in the head of all heads in the source of all consciousness daven for that which is missing in the shrine in the divine presence so what do you mean look at davening we'd have him for ourselves i darven for wisdom i dive in for repentance i darven for emancipation i dive in for health i dive in for sustenance i dive in for redemption or whatever else i'm dominating for says the market even if you're asking for your own needs your intention your mindset should be that this thing shouldn't be missing by god because on a ashama is a khelik every soul is a part of hashem you're a limb of the shrina imagine the srina as a divine organism and each of us is one limb one part of that divine organism like a limb of the shrine so if you're missing something the shrine is missing something because we're all part of god so if you're missing something so to speak the shrine is missing it that's what you should be asking for you're asking it and should be filled and given the should not be missing it because again every single one of us is a limb of the shrine just like a person's biological organism is made up of many different limbs and organs and bones and sinews and tissue and components and 27 or 50 trillion cells whatever the number is i'm not sure they know and each one is an important component in the continuous life of this organism so spiritually each of us is a limb of the shrine of the divine presence that's what we say that every person's consciousness and soul is a helical says the magi this is what our sages are saying in the mission in barakas chapter 5. you should feel the covet the heaviness the void in the rush rush means in the head what do we mean in the head in the source of everything just like the head of a person in the brain you have the entire body encompassed in the brain the central nervous system of the brain encompasses every single aspect of the body nothing happens in the body if it doesn't first happen in the brain it's directed by the brain it's organized and coordinated by the brain all the pain we feel in the brain what's the brain of the world what's the rush of the world what's the brain of the world the coordination system the central nervous system and the source of life and vitality that's the divine the shrine that's called racial declaration the head above all heads so when i'm darving it should be me with raj of experiencing the heaviness in the head in the brain the fact that when i'm missing something the brain of the world is missing something because i'm part of it it's like god forbid if somebody gets a little boo-boo in his finger her finger where do you feel the pain you feel the pain i'm feeling it it seems like i'm feeling it in the finger but of course it's the brain that feels it it's the brain that experiences everything because every single part of the body even the smallest is part of the brain if i stub my toe i'm like ow the brain doesn't say oh you're just a little toe leave me alone you're just a little toe what do i know about you the brain's like ow it hurts because the toe is part of me the toe is part of me every single person every single neshama no matter who is an aver from the avery hashrim it's a limb of the shrimp so when the toe is missing something when a finger is missing something when the arm is based on the leg is missing something the stomach the abdomen the liver the kidney the pancreas whatever it is the rush it affects the head that's why we need that flow of energy from the brain coming down throughout all of the limbs of the body coming down through into all the limbs of the body should be a seamless flow so when i'm experiencing a void it's not just i'm experiencing a void the shrine is experiencing a void it says the maggot in the spal elementary cove when you darven it's for covered nurses because the rush is heavy it's because the roche doesn't have what it needs it's because derosia is suffering don't dive in for yourself he says your kavanah is what it here means we have the same question that we asked about menachem of verses of menachem we have here about this teaching of the market [Music] um foreign [Music] declaration i understand when you're talking about jews who are in a state of consciousness that their own needs don't really occupy any significance so when they get up to daven they're not really mindful of their own needs even if they are it's not the primary issue so therefore when they are dominating what are they dominating for the governing for god they're dominant for the shrine they realize that they're part of the shrines so they may not even be aware of their own needs of their own what meaning they may not be aware of what they're missing they're not conscious of it it's not what they're feeling because they see themselves as simply ambassadors of the divine even if they do that's not their primary experience their primary experiences is that hashem is missing something that's their state of consciousness i understand the margaret is speaking to such a jew and he says you get up to darwin what should you be thinking about you should be thinking about the real needs what are the real needs god's needs but the rabbit says by most jews that's not the case but most jews if you ask a person what are your needs and the answer is what my body needs what my physical life needs and my body means my physical space my psychological my mental my emotional and these occupy of this a very significant place in my life and this is not a bad thing this is this is human nature this is part of a human being i'm feeling all the challenges i may have pain in my body i may have pain in my chest i may have pain in my heart pain in my head pain in my life pain in my family pain in my various situations and you're talking here about a good committed jew and this gives me the stress a means it distresses me and it overwhelms me and it confuses me and it stresses me out and it doesn't allow me to learn the way i could learn with full depth it confuses and overwhelms and disturbs my full performance of mitzvahs so then there's a mitzvah to davinta hashem for your needs the mitzvah of davening is that hashem should fulfill what i need that's the mitzvah as he says in footnote 46 the rambam and the first chapter halakha bay says what's the mitzvah of davening i ask for the needs that i need that's the mitzvah not to ask hashem for things that i don't need i mean you can ask but the main mitzvah of davening is that when i have a need i turn to god and i say please please help me fulfill this need that's what the rambam defines trilas so if i'm having something a need and i feel the need and it's mine it's not god's need so the market is saying you should know that your need is god's need and don't focus on you focus on god that episode is one second but what if i feel this nina's mind heat the mitzvah is i should dive into hashem for what i need i'm i'm experiencing my physical need my psychological need i'm sorry i'm not in a state where i'm experiencing god's need because i'm a limb of god so how could the maggot tell me that a person should not dive in for his own needs the mission says do not get up to david unless you're focusing on hashem you're focusing on the void of racial declaration that's not really how davening works and if you tell that to a person as i say you know what i'm not really focusing now on god's needs i'm not i'm not really relating to that i'm relating to mine so how logically you have a mitzvah tadavan for your needs what then does the market mean if he was talking to certain unique exceptional jews who really they don't feel their need or they don't primarily feel their need they feel it as a divine need i got it that's your need your need is god's needs i got it it's a double for that but he's talking to every jew this is a mission addressed to every jew ain't named in this power how does the ordinary jew relate to this teaching of the maggot what did he mean by this you see it's a similar question to menachem of you have a jew who focuses on gullus as the gulles of the father we have to comfort the father it's the father's gullus i get it so we speak only about the solace that the father needs it's like i'm governing from my father's needs but the regular jew golos is defined in terms of my pain of my anxiety of our pain of our anxiety in a very concrete and physical way why don't we mention the comfort to the child we're going to take a break here tomorrow we're going to have a sheer barren based on your request and since i don't want to mamish interrupt this for so many days it's very heavy and intense and especially we're going to come to the answer wishing you all a beautiful day this class is brought to you by the yeshiva.net please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at www.theyoshiva.net donate