Rabbi Kalman Flaks: Verses of Songs of Praise - Psukei D'Zimra

[music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music and singing] >> Okay, so we're singing with others on today. We're going to be studying Sukkot is in raw. So sing some actually the next little while we're going to sing Sukkot is in raw songs. To prepare us in the beginning, open up our hearts. And in the end to internalize our chief loss together with our to share. So can sing and clap along with me if you'd like. One second. >> [music] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing and music] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music and singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [singing] [music] [singing] [music and singing] >> So all of our Torah [music] and our tefillah should be for the yeshua of all of Am Yisrael, all of our chayalim who are bravely fighting. We're in the middle of a war, whether we know it or not. And for all of us to only have yeshuas b'ezrat Hashem in all of our personal lives. Give our soul for the last year and two months or so, we've embarked in the wild and crazy world of birchos hashachar and the prefatory preparatory prayers jumping into the world of tefillah. There's still a lot more to say. And b'ezrat Hashem at the right time we'll go back and be mashlim some of the little details carbon carbon oats and nectar via schwa llama. But maybe I might leave that it's time. Start something new start something fresh. So we are jumping into the wild world of tsukiji zimra. And that might sound like a funny cute thing to say but in the cabalistic realms it's really true. It's a whole new world. Okay, there's four cabalistic worlds and we are graduating from the lower more grounded world. We wake up in the morning. We're still kind of getting ourselves out of that more physical world. I think I believe it's called the world of Asia that I'm a cabalist but that's what they call it and now we're going to the world of Yitzira the world of getting closer on that stairway to heaven on that ladder that to the heaven that every single morning we wake up and we begin that journey to connect to a goddess baraku till till we get to the Amida and then we bring that down to earth in our daily lives. So that is the the world of tsukiji zimra that we will be jumping into today. Please God. And rough Hirsch had a beautiful way of picturing it's like a beautiful meditation. And he says the entire to feel out you're going closer and closer in the beta migdash. Okay, the ultimate goal is to get to the Amida and can you guess where when you get in your in the Amida at what stage are you in the beta migdash you're in the Kodesh Agdashim the holy of holies the place where just you and a goddess baraku. Where no one can go. But we have to journey to get there. Okay, so now we enter into the world of tsukiji zimra. We enter into the world of the Ulam. What is the Ulam? It's the entrance way before we go into the heykal or the kodesh. Heykal has the menorah and the ulam before it had the korbanot. I'm sorry, had the ulam is between the mizbeach of the korbanot and heykal. And it's this entrance way that the kohanim would prepare themselves before they would go into the holy area. I got brought a little picture to make that video for you from Machon Hamikdash. So there's where the korbanot are being brought there in the ramp of the mizbeach. Okay, outside is the ezrat nashim and where the Levites were singing the songs they would go into the ulam um to prepare and then they would go into the kodesh which is also called the heykal and that's keri'at shema, we'll get to that. And then eventually we're going to go into the amidah into the kodesh hakodashim. Okay? So you get the idea, you can use it if you'd like. Imagine yourself slowly journeying closer and closer and closer to the intimacy of the Kadosh Baruch Hu that we're all yearning for in our Shemoneh Esrei. But yeah, you can't just jump into it. You got to earn it and that is what we're doing by doing Pesukei Dezimra. So as always, we're going to start with a little background. Okay? Where did Pesukei Dezimra come from? Halakhically, Talmudically, historically, kabbalistically, along the journey we'll go through a few interesting relevant halakhot. And we'll hopefully get to also some of the why, why we do Pesukei Dezimra introducing and then b'ezrat Hashem in the following weeks we're going to jump into the actual words and deepen elevate our prayers. Okay. So Okay, yes, could you where is where do I know I should dive in Shacharit from? The Torah tells you you should say Shacharit. Where do I know I should say Amidah? Well, there's a rabbinical mitzvah corresponds to the korbanot. The rabbis instituted that we should say Amidah every day and every should say the Shacharit every day. Very good. Where do we learn that you have to say or that you should say Sukkot d'Zimra? That's something not everyone knows. Usually not even all the rabbis know that. Some of them But you guys will know. Oh, so the the pesukim themselves are from David Hamelech. Mostly. There's some exceptions, okay, but mostly it's from David Hamelech. But where do we know that we should say the pesukim of David Hamelech every day to prepare ourselves for tefillah? Okay? So for this we're going to have to jump to the Gemara in Shabbat. Daf kuf yud ches. A very famous Gemara. Amar Rabbi Yosi. Rabbi Yosi says, "Yehi chelkhi me'ochlei shalosh se'udot beShabbat." I should be in the portion of those who eat three meals on Shabbat. And like I want to be such a holy guy that eats three meals on Shabbat. Okay, he goes on. Amar Rabbi Yosi, "Yehi chelkhi migomrei hallel bechol yom." I should be among those that say hallel and finish hallel every day. That's a praiseworthy thing. I want to be amongst those who actually say the whole hallel every day. Eenie, really? Va'amar Rabba, "We didn't learn to say hallel every day." You're not allowed to say hallel every day. Say hallel every day, it takes away from the specialness. Right? So what do you mean? Ah, ki kam rinan p'suke d'zimra. So, the Gemara says, no, what Rebbe Yossi meant is he should be amongst those that say p'suke d'zimra. Not Hallel. Hallel you only on special days, but the other capitulum of Tehillim of of p'suke d'zimra, he wants to be amongst those who say that every day. And this is one of our first sources of the Talmudic obligation or minhag of saying p'suke d'zimra. We want to be like Rebbe Yossi, okay? Now, based on this Gemara, just at first glance, before we look into poskim, what would you guess? Is it an obligation, at least in Talmudic times, that Rebbe Yossi is saying you must say, you know, Baruch She'amar, Hallelukah, etc. every day, or it's a good thing to do to say p'suke d'zimra or every day? What do you think? Again, Rebbe Yossi says, I want to be amongst those that say that that eat shalosh seudos, all three three meals of Shabbos, and I want to be amongst those who say Hallel, say p'suke d'zimra every single day. >> Sounds like it's just it's a good thing. >> Indeed, I probably would have read it in that way, too. I would have read it like the rabbi, which is saying the fact that he's saying I want to be amongst those who daven it. It's like guys who daven naitz. I want to be like that guy who davens naitz every day. I want to be like that guy who davens at the Kotel every day. I want to be like that rav that never speaks lashon hara. Well, actually that's a bad example. But actually, like I said, it could go both ways. Because it could be Rebbe Yossi saying this is an extra good thing to do. Or it could be saying this is what we're we're all supposed to do that. And we're all supposed to never speak lashon hara. But it's hard to not speak lashon hara. Right? So, it could be he's saying this is an obligation, and I want to be amongst those who always do it. Why wouldn't you do it? Well, we all know that sometimes you come late to davening. Not you guys, but you know, other people come late to davening and they're in a rush or life happens and you got to get to work and all sorts of things. So, not everyone is to say all of the capital of Sukkot in Iran. And so, it's unclear. By the way, parenthetically, it's the same thing with the three meals. Is the same argument. Is he saying that you have to have all three meals including or is he saying it's optional? I want to be amongst those who eat all three meals, okay? How logically ask him, you have to have three meals. Okay, if a person has stuffed, so he's exempt, but in general, logically speaking, supposed to have Again, we can argue about how is good enough, okay? Fine. For a lucky share. But even though it seems like it's an optional thing, we say it's mandatory. So, in the same way, even though it seems like saying it's a good thing to do, at the end of the day, the ask him many years later, of course, in the 16th century, one is obligated to do the Zemer, okay? At least men who have to dive in every day have to do Sukkot the Zemer every day. It's not an obligation It's not a choice if I want to if I'm in the mood. No, it's part of the service, as they say. With that said, for the sake of honesty, and I usually try to be Yeah, I always try to be honest with you guys. With It's a big locus. The Rambam and Saadia Gaon, okay? Seem to write pretty clear what they write that it's a nice thing to do. It's a good thing to do. It's a beautiful thing to do. I should be amongst those who say capital of tail into prepare us, but it from their language it seems to be implied it's not necessarily obligatory. On the other hand, most of the other post came and the Rishonim say, "No, it is obligatory." And that's how the Rif and the Rosh read it. And indeed, that is how the Shulchan Aruch paskens, that it's a obligation to say P'sukei D'zimra, and that's how we practically rule nowadays. Okay? Whether the there's still debate whether it was originally a takanah of the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah 2,000 years ago, just like the I mean, that was a takanah. So, it was a takanah to say P'sukei D'zimra. A a a a a a a a a a a a a rule, a law, or whether it was a minhag which evolved and now was accepted upon the Jewish people. Which would still be obligatory, but a minhag that has evolved and we took it upon ourselves, at times there's more leniency there. There's a lot of things in practical Judaism now which are minhagim that have evolved. I'll give you some examples. I mean, one day we'll have a whole shiur about this. Kippah, yarmulke, it's a minhag that the entire Jewish male populace took upon ourselves. And so now it's a halakha. But because it's a minhag, there's some leniencies. According to most opinions, it's a minhag that we've all It's obligatory, but it's a minhag that we all took upon ourselves. Hallel on Rosh Chodesh would be another example. And therefore, there's a machlokes whether you say a brakha or not. Um I could give you many other examples um of minhagim that the Jewish people took upon themselves that are so obligatory. Once the Jewish people take it upon ourselves, it's obligatory, but in that gray situations, this question matter matters. I'll give you a gray scenario. Let's say, again, it's never happened to any of the menfolk here, cuz all the menfolk here get to daven in half hour early, you know, after the mikvah, and they come to this minyan where they daven slowly, hear by Yibaneh. But in a different world, there are men who come late for davening. They come really late for davening. They have to make a decision. Either I'll skip Sukkot de Zimra or I'll daven with a minyan. And let's say you come to davening right at they're about to start Mi Chamocha Ba'al Eilim Hashem. You manage to put your tefillin on, okay, your tallis. But you have a choice right now. Either I'm going to say P'sukei d'Zimra or I'm going to daven with a minyan. Those are your options. So, what do you say? Menfolk, and this is mainly for you guys. Women don't have the obligation to daven with a minyan. Although they get a mitzvah if they daven with a minyan. It's good to know. But and it enhances the prayer. But what do you do? You jump straight to the Amidah to get feel of the minyan or do you say P'sukei d'Zimra? You say Baruch She'amar? Ashrei Yishkach and you you join in later. Survey says >> Option two. So, the rabbi is saying it was a trick question. Because it's a machlokes. Okay, so whatever you said would have been right. Okay? Because there are some poskim who say that minyan is so important, you can skip Sukkot de Zimra. Why? Because Sukkot de Zimra is not an outright obligation. It's a minhag that we've all taken upon ourselves. By the way, minyan is also not exactly an outright obligation. It's something that we try very very hard to do. But therefore, there were Rishonim and Acharonim who write to skip it. >> And what do you do? Do you skip >> Straight straight Well, you can't skip Shema. You got to go real fast. Straight into Amidah. That's what we do in Maariv. And in fact, if you read the Shulchan Aruch carefully, it seems to be what that's what the Shulchan Aruch holds. However, practically speaking, l'maaseh, most rabbis say, this is what the Mishnah Berurah rules, no. You can't skip Sukkot de Zimra. It's an obligation. It's even more important than davening Amidah with a minyan, as important as that is. Okay? >> And women who doesn't >> Women First of all, it's a question of when about whether women are obligated to say P'sukei D'Zimra. The The short answer is probably not. It's a good thing to do. It's a beautiful thing to do. It's a mitzvah, but it's not an obligation. Secondly, it's a question of whether many women have to daven with a minyan, and the answer is no, they don't. This week's parsha, right? It was the 10 men who did the sin of the Meraglim, and so the Kli Yakar and others explain that the our men have to do the tikkun, and the women don't have to do the tikkun of the minyan. So, they won't have this question. They can choose their mitzvah. It's a mitzvah for them to daven with a minyan. It's a mitzvah for them to say P'sukei D'Zimra. It's all good. >> So, it's like you can choose any way. >> Yes. >> Should you daven by yourself or you should >> It's fielder's choice. I guess for It It's a good question. I don't know. I would probably say better to do P'sukei D'Zimra and then daven and not daven with a minyan if I if I were a woman. I've never been. I don't know. But, I'm saying halachically speaking, I think it's better to do P'sukei D'Zimra. I'll I'll explain my rationale. Because it's another question. Let's say you you didn't You You didn't say P'sukei D'Zimra. Okay? And you did the You jumped Amidah. So, do you go back and say P'sukei D'Zimra afterwards? After the davening. >> It's just backwards. >> So, it's backwards, but is there independent value of saying P'sukei D'Zimra? So, first of all, there's brachas involved. So, long It goes like this. Machlokes, like everything in Judaism. It's a machlokes. There were rabbis who actually said, "Yes, you should go back with a bracha and say Borchu Sh'ma Ashrei Yishtabach afterwards." Cuz P'sukei D'Zimra is a separate takana of chazzal even after davening. That's how I believe the Rosh and some some of the rishonim write. However, most of the poskim say no. Cuz as we're going to learn momentarily, what's the whole point of Sukkot Zimra? To prepare. And it's too late. You missed him, man. It's too late. You can't So you you you missed your chance. You already daven the amidah. So you can't do Sukkot Zimra. So what does the Shulchan Aruch say? Good to say the tehillim. You never lose by saying tehillim. So say ashrei, say halleluka, but don't say baruch she'amar and yishtabach cuz that's saying God's name in vain. Okay? Cuz really the whole point is to prepare us. So getting back to your fine question, I think Sukkot Zimra really only has value before you daven. So if you do it afterwards, it's not as valuable. So since you don't have to daven with a minyan, then I would say but it's again it's feeler's choice. There's there's no right or wrong on that question. Um Okay. Anyways, we jumped a little bit ahead to the nitty-gritty details without uh giving the background, but yeah. >> So when you say that it's taking God's name in vain, there there is an interpretation of that mitzvah that it means you're not allowed to do evil in God's name. But verbally to say stuff is not taking God's name in vain. There are people that have been much >> Yeah, there's all sorts of there have been into sugia in of itself. But it is uh whether it's a literal desecration of one of the 613 commandments or one of the 10 commandments or a violation of one of the rabbinical laws, it's not allowed. You're not supposed to say God's name for um no purpose. Now, in this context, would I really say it's God's name in vain? Probably not. It's a little bit too strict language because there are some rishonim who say that you're actually supposed to do that and you're relying upon them. So maybe it's a little too strict to say God's name in vain, but as a general rule when we're not sure the because we don't want to say God's name unless it's really necessary. So because it's a we would not say the after you've already after Amida. Okay. >> According to what? According to him. I mean would you say that those people would also say I mean to do evil in God's name? I mean people they would they would definitely include that. >> I'm not a posek, first of all. I'm just I just quote opinions of other big rabbis. I I don't I don't know how I'd have to learn this If we're doing a shear about the the topic of saying God's name in vain, then we can discuss it after doing Yeah, yeah, yeah. But again, when we're saying God's name, we don't mean God. I mean I mean one of the ways in which we refer the which we refer to God's name. A lot of good in of itself. Please God, another day we'll be to learn it together. But we're going to jump back into So we said the says I should be among those who say Now there's another source the shall me Right? You know there's a the The The shall me says like this. If I'm speaking between and bow and bow or It's a sin. Okay? Can't speak. It's all one from from and even from till the next segment, it's all connected. It's a desecration. It's not allowed. It's so bad. Who is there a layer market on the corner? If you're fighting, you're right now down in as I you're going to Lebanon and you're one of those guys who speaks in davening in Sukkot Zimra. That's it. Bring him home. That's what the Yerushalmi says. Parenthetically, it's a good support of the position I don't want to get too political. It's a sheer for another day. But I'll just say it's just that that we need more religious soldiers in the army cuz then then we we less guys who are violating Sukkot Zimra and gets us in trouble when we don't have, you know, frum fighters. We got to get as frum fighters in there as possible. But anyways, the point is that we see the Yerushalmi says that they were saying Yishtabach, that they were saying Sukkot Zimra, and that you're not allowed to speak during the Sukkot Zimra because for obvious reasons. It's It's disrespectful. You're in the process of davening in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And so we bring him back from war. Now, it's very interesting that they use that example. They say, "We're going to say it's a sin." They say, "It's a sin and it's so bad that if you're in the middle of war, we throw you back to the front line. We out of the front lines. Go home." And >> [clears throat] >> why why did they use such strange language? Why not just say it was a sin? I say it's a sin and you can't fight. >> It seems like it's such a small sin. It's such a small sin >> Exactly. >> to take you out of the front >> So the pas shot is that even though it's a little small sin, that's good enough to say, "No, we only want the highest caliber soldiers cuz they're bringing the Shekhinah into the world. They're fighting for Am Yisrael." And so so even for a sin like that, we're going to throw you home. We're going to see that on a Kabbalistic level there's a deeper explanation that hopefully we'll get to. Okay? Cool. We'll keep that in mind. The third Talmudic source for Sukkot Zimra is maybe my favorite Gemara. The Gemara in Berakhot tells us Berakhot daf lamed aleph amud bet. Chasidim Rishonim hayu sho'in shachah. The early righteous ones would wait for an hour to tune their hearts, right? They would direct their hearts to their heavenly father. Their father in the heavens. An hour. Okay? The Gamara goes on to say that they would when you when you're davening you should not come into davening with not joking around. You shouldn't be listening to You shouldn't be listening to comedy before you daven. You shouldn't be listening to comedy before you daven. You shouldn't daven from a place of joy of a mitzvah. Okay? You got to get connected. You can't just jump into davening. It's not going to work. The Ram says if you come late to daven it's a guarantee you're not going to have kavana. So they would prepare themselves for an hour. Okay? Either their davening itself took an hour or they would prepare themselves for an hour. It's unclear how you interpret the Gamara. In the Yerushalmi it's more clear. Says they would prepare for an hour and then they would daven for an hour. And then they would take another hour after after davening to just like bring bring it down. So it turns out how many hours of davening were they doing every day? Nine hours. So the Gamara says wait a second. They're davening nine hours a day. How do they have time to go to work? What's going on? It's not my kasha. It's the Gamara's kasha. So the Gamara says no, God bless them. In the zchus of their brochos and their tfilos their work went quicker. You know, sometimes you go on you have to do some annoying logistic things. Send your 101 form and it takes you 12 hours. Another time takes you two minutes. Boom boom, you know. Everything's fast. It's because you daven to the good shmoneh esrei that morning, you know. You woke up for neitz and uh everything goes smooth. So nine hours of davening and then everything that you know, that everything went easy for them. By the way, good story. Hasam Sofer used to daven every day 2 hours. 2 hours he would daven in shacharis. Okay? So, they asked him, "Rebbe, you could be so much more productive. Daven a normal 45-minute davening, okay? 50 Monday Thursdays, you have another hour and 10 of Torah. Hasam Sofer was prolific, gives shiurim. Think about how much Torah you could produce." It's a good kasha. A little bit of chutzpah with the kasha, but it's a good kasha. Hasam Sofer says, "You know why I have koach to learn and teach and learn and teach? Cuz of my 2-hour davening. That's what gave me the koach. Just like the Yerushalmi. He got the koach from his tefillah. Halavai, halavai. Anyways, so the point is, says Tosfos, that from here we learn What were they doing? What were they doing for that hour of preparation for davening? >> They did little Sugiyot Zmirot. >> Ah, so I might have thought, you know, maybe they're meditating, breathing techniques, maybe they were, you know, playing, doing a kumzitz, singing Zusha, getting themselves tuned in to daven. Maybe I don't know. We could think of all sorts of ways in which they're preparing themselves for davening. Says Tosfos, "You know what they must have been doing? They must have been doing Sugiyot Zmirot." That's what they were doing. And from here we also have the practice of doing Sugiyot Zmirot. Okay? Which is interesting. They were also doing it optionally, but we learn from them, we're inspired from them. Maybe we don't do Sugiyot Zmirot for an hour. Probably depends where you're davening, right? If you go go to a good Carlebach minyan, it might take an hour. Your Sugiyot Zmirot depends where you're davening, right? But, uh but but their inspiration of them preparing for their diving is where we get our idea we want to do Sukkot Zemer. Okay? To prepare ourselves for the Amidah. But I ask, where do we learn that from? Okay, very good. We have a Gemara, but where where do we actually get this idea from the Humash? Can you think of a biblical character that prepared himself before he talked to God, he prepared himself. It's hard cuz usually you walk in and I've already just moved in with Hashem. Right? Or Yaakov is singing but we don't see what he did to to get himself on the level. The Rambam says that you know the prophets would prepare themselves, but we don't actually see that, you know, that process. So, there is one story at least in the Humash where we actually see a preparation before God before this character actually asked for stuff. And that man is Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu, when he's asking remember when he's asking for all those times 515 times he's asking that he should be able to come to Eretz Yisrael. So, in the Humash itself he doesn't right right away ask. First he comes to Hashem, he davens to Hashem, he praises Hashem, and only only after he praises Hashem does he then daven. The Gemara says from Moshe Rabbeinu we learn that we also need to praise God and only after we praise God and sing to connect ourselves to can we then ask for what we have to ask for. Right? So, we learned this whole idea of this whole really from Moshe Rabbeinu. You with me? So far so good? Now, ask me a good question. If you don't I'll ask myself, that's okay. We learned Zemer from Moshe Rabbeinu's prayer of 515 times that he should come to Eretz Yisrael. What's a good kasha you could ask on that? >> He didn't get in. What kind of What kind of You know, you don't want to learn from an unsuccessful guy who didn't succeed. You want to learn from Kobe. You want to learn from Michael Jordan, right? You have you If you If you're learning how to shoot, you don't learn from a guy who never made the NBA. He tried very hard. He tried He tried very hard. But I'm not going to learn how to shoot free throws from a guy who tried very hard. You try Learn from the the guys who succeeded. Moshe Rabbeinu does not succeed in his request. So, why are we learning to to be like him? Oh, we learn from his tactics. His tactics didn't work. He didn't make it to Eretz Yisrael. >> Maybe we learn sometimes the answer is no. >> Ah, yes. A lot of things I could learn that sometimes the answer is no. We learn that the goal of tefillah is not to win. It's not to succeed. The goal of tefillah is to be connected to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that's the essence of Sukkot de Zimra. To connect ourselves to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. To feel connected to God. That's the goal of life. Like the Ramchal says, why are we here in this world? Hitnag al Hashem. To delight in the Shechinah. To be in God's presence in the next world and in this world. So, the goal is not for God to say yes. The goal is to be in relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. By the way, Hashem does say yes. He just says, "Not now. Yes, later." Moshe, you're going to get in. Mashiach comes. Maybe all those tefillot helped Am Yisrael come to Eretz Yisrael. So, it just an unrevealed way it looked like Hashem said no. So, it That is very interesting that we learn the concept of praising Hashem and davening from from Moshe Rabbeinu, even though his tefillah is not seemingly lechayei, it is not acce- accepted. Okay. So, we got some Talmudic background. We got a little bit of our even a little bit of biblical background. And we even got into some of the details on a halachic level. A few more halachic details and then we'll graduate to part two of the sheer, which is why. Okay, very nice. We We alluded a little bit to the why, but we're going to go a little bit deeper in Hawaii. Just one more halachic detail. So, what is Sukah d'Zimra? We're throwing this word out there, but technically, what do I got to say? Do I got to say Hodu? Do I got to say uh Mizmor Shir? Do I got to say Vayevarech David? What is the technical uh definition of Sukah d'Zimra? So, it goes like this. In Talmudic times, it it basically meant the sandwich. You need Baruch She'amar, you need Yishtabach, and then you need Ashrei. The Gemara in Berachot daf dalet says you I want to be three times a day anyone says Ashrei muftech she'hu ben olam haba. Guaranteed he's like an olam haba guy. So, you want some Ashrei. You also want the third and fifth halukah. That's what Rebbe Yosi means when he says, "I'm be amongst those who finish the Hallel." Means the end of Tehillim is is the fifth halukah. And you want to say the third one, too. And some Rishonim say all five chapters of Tehillim. Those are the basic what what Sukah d'Zimra meant in Talmudic times. Baruch She'amar, Ashrei, halukahs, Yishtabach. Later, we're going to every sheer unravel, there was an evolution. During the Savoraim, during the Gaon Gaonic period, and more and more was added in. Mizmor l'Todah, etc. We'll go through it. Okay? But um But that's the basic. You need to know that when you're running late. And you need you need to know what to skip skip first. Okay? Another really important halachah of Sukah d'Zimra. The Shulchan Aruch paskens 51st chapter, look it up, it's not me. We don't say Sukah d'Zimra ella We don't say it b'merutzah. We don't say it fast, Ella. We say it slowly like we're counting money. That's the lotion of the Mishnah Berurah, the Shulchan Aruch. There's no machlokes about this. You're supposed to say it slowly. Mishnah Berurah points out you got to you want to verbalize every word. You don't want to swallow your words. If you swallow your words, it's like swallowing money. Okay, you don't want to lose the money. Every dollar counts. Every shekel counts. So, you say every word carefully. Ah. You go to shul sometimes and it's not like that. What can I say? That's their problem. But we we we we're learning this year together. That's what the Shulchan Aruch says. You got to say every word. Well, what if you're running late? What if the chazzan's way ahead of you? So, there's another halacha. It's better to say a little bit with kavana than everything without kavana. So, if you know yourself and you're not going to be able to say every single word, so you say the minimum. Whatever it is, Baruch She'amar, Ashrei, Haleluka, Yishtabach. You have to say those basics, but better to say every word of that with kavana than to say everything with no kavana and slurring every word and not knowing it what's going on. That's the halacha brought down in the Shulchan Aruch. Doesn't matter if you say more or less, the ikkar is that your intention should be towards the heaven. Because that's another very important halacha to just know about. What can we do? We struggle sometimes. You go to shuls, at least us guys, and they're in a rush. People are in a rush. So, you got to know how to navigate make the halachas, but with Hashem we're going to also give some spiritual tools. Not just halachically how to succeed, but also how to make it a meaningful experience. Okay? So, that brings us to uh part two, which is what is the goal of Sukkot de Zimra? We said goal one is to prepare ourselves, to prepare, to make it to you can't just jump into your Shacharit we need to give us some time. Comes the Kabbalist, and this is brought down by the Matteh Moshe. Matteh Moshe is a Kabbalist that's very often quoted by the Mishnah Berurah and the Rama and and the Ashkenazi poskim. And he's quoting early Kabbalistic sources. It's also mentioned by the Sha'arei Orah. And they say, you know, you have to understand what the word lezammer means. Sukkot de Zimra. On a simple level, what does it mean to say Sukkot de Zimra? It means to sing. But there's another meaning of the word lezammer. To prune. All right? Like it says in the Shmita year, says in Vayikra, you're not allowed to do Zemira. You're not allowed to prune. You're not allowed to take away the you know, take away the bad stuff that allows the grapes to grow better. That's called Zemira. It's one of the melachot. You're not allowed to do that. So, what are we doing in Sukkot de Zimra? We're taking away the negative, which allows the positive to grow. So, what is the negative that we're taking away? >> [snorts] >> Says the Matteh Moshe, this is a little might be a little freaky. Sorry, but it's the truth. Here is the whole everything we see here is polluted with kitrugim. Negative energetic forces, which are a result of sins that had and overindulgence in physicality. And these prosecuting angels are everywhere. That's what the Matteh Moshe says. And the thing is we want to throw our prayers to the heavenly chambers, but we got some issues. All of our bad negative energetic forces that have been created through our lashon hara or other sins, they knock our tefilos down. And they don't let our tefilos go to the heavenly chambers. But God, in his kindness, has given us a defense force to knock down these drones that are trying to knock down our prayers. And that is called Suk Dedizimra. We say these holy words of David Hamelech, these powerful words, clear down a You know, it's like clearing the straits of Hormuz. So, it's clearing the straits of the heavens to allow our prayers to ascend to the heavenly chambers. Okay? So, that's your cabalistic perspective. And this thought is brought down by all of the cabalistic-oriented uh rabbis. By the way, the Sefaradim, as we know, Sefaradim are generally more cabalistically inclined. Not always, but generally. So, there's some Sefardi poskim who go up to the Ben Ish Hai, for example, and others, who say, "Never skip Suk Dedizimra. Even if you have to miss davening with a minyan. It's more important to say every single kapitel, every single word of Yevarech David Hashem. Don't skip anything." Why? Because your prayers are just not going to go to the heavens. They're not going to go to the heavenly chambers unless we clear that space. And every single word is part of the building blocks of tefilah. And so, you have to You have to say everything. So, the Shulchan Aruch and the Ashkenazi rabbis say, "No, you can skip if if the minyan's more important." And certainly, if you're the 10th man in the minyan, that's more important that you should be with the the tzibur. But there's some cabalistic uh poskim who say, "No, it's too important. We can't miss. Every word is clearing that pathway." All right? So, that's one interpretation of the zemer. We're clearing the passageways on a spiritual level. But maybe on a more uh rationalistic or practical level, who are we really clearing? What are we clearing when we're singing, hopefully, Sukkot de Zimra? We're clearing our minds. Okay, that's what we're clearing because our minds get cluttered, right? Especially you're early in the morning, and now you have so many things to do, you just woke up, you got a lot that's on your mind, and your WhatsApp is ringing, and people are calling, and everything's going on, right? And Sukkot de Zimra is meant to be a mind-clearing session, where we go into the zone of connection to Kodesh Baruch. That's what the safer Tfilat Chanah says, not contradicting the capitalistic perspective, but in addition, we're clearing our minds of all of our distractions, so that we can connect to Kodesh Baruch. And here, I'm going to exit the realm of the theoretical, the Sefirah, what it's what we're in the Sefirah, and now level with us all. They Come on. Really? How often, when we're saying Sukkot de Zimra, do we really feel more connected to Hashem and more ready to dive in our Amidah and our Shema? And how often are we just being yoitze? At least I speak for the men folk. I don't know, maybe women, they're praying on their own and singing and meditating, but I know for a lot of us men folk, we're just running, trying to check the boxes, you know, say as many words as you can, and we say the words, and maybe it it's a mitzvah, but is it really clearing our minds and and preparing us for for the rest of our tfilah? You can you can disagree with me. I hope I'm I see you guys are silent, so I guess for you it is a very inspiring spiritual experience, but uh but for for some of us it's not. It it it's just it it doesn't do it. So, what do we do? You're always welcome to ask questions. But, I'm asking you a question of what can we do to practically make Sukkot de Zimra a more elevating, uplifting spiritual experience? I'll take your questions, too, but first I want you to answer my question. What do you think? What can we do on a practical level to make it more inspiring experience? Any thoughts? >> I think we should show gratitude for the opportunity. >> But, how do you show gratitude? You're saying the words. Right now I'm doing it. But, how? How? It's very nice idea on a theoretical level. You're saying say the words thank you Hashem before you daven. Or when I'm davening. >> You have brochos right before. What was his >> Brochos is that gratitude. I know I know. >> I mean, it just continues. >> But, it just continues. >> Maybe they should start at the beginning. >> So, no, usually you do we do start at Baruch She'amar, Hodu for Nusach Sefard. But, uh but we're still uh you're just running through it. Or some people are. So, let me give you some ideas that have popped through my head. They're not original ideas. They're simple ideas. I'm a simple guy. Idea number one, learn the words. If we actually know what every single word means, we have a fighting chance of actually being inspired by them. And that's why you come to the shiur. Or you'll come next week cuz we're going to actually go through the words. Okay? So, that helps. We If it's not Chinese. Number two, understand the great power of what we're saying. In other words, even though we know might not even know what the words are meaning. But, if we know that these are powerful words, says that every word of tefillah in the entire universe was embedded in the words of tehillim of sukka d'zimra of david hamelech haroeh. So even if I don't even know what these words mean, but if I know that all the tfilos of all of am yisrael all the praise of all of am yisrael has been embedded in these words, just knowing that they are very powerful, knowing that these are clearing spiritual force fields, maybe can give me a little bit of chizuk uh to say the words with a little bit more heart. That's the advice I would give myself number two. Advice number three. Sing. Zimra means sing, right? Imagine I'm taking the words of uh Halleluka Halleluka, right? Beautiful song. But instead of singing it, I'm reading the words. And then I saw her bathing on the roof. It's it's it's not going to have the same effect because it's these words are not meant to be said, they're meant to be sung. They're meant to hit our heart, they're meant to hit our soul. And our heart and soul is expressed in a deeper way when we sing them than when we say them. Right? And if you don't believe me, let me give you an example. I don't know, maybe you guys have experienced a Carlbach Kabbalat Shabbat where people are singing and dancing. And after a half hour of jumping, dancing, and singing, how is your kavana when you say the shma, when you say your shmoneh esrei, compared to if you went to a boring place and you just said uh uh and you just mumbled through the words. Forget about the words themselves. But how is your amidah in your shmoneh esrei? It's going to be a completely different experience, at least for me it is. Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, the Gaon, said when he first witnessed a Carlbach singing and dancing, he said this is how it should always be. This is what hallel is supposed to be. This is what it's meant to be. Oh, you tell me for many years Am Israel didn't do Kabbalat Shabbat? Yeah, they didn't, but now we do. The Arizal came and came with R' Carlebach and came with R' Carlebach and all the other great teachers of music and they've and now we sing and we dance and it's a different feel experience. So, Am Israel should not be afraid, in my humble opinion, to start singing and dancing even a little bit during Sukkot and Simchat Torah. I'll give you an example. My I have a good friend, Mayer. And I was uh I work as a tour guide. So, just uh 3 weeks ago, I took him to Tzfat. We're dancing, singing Kabbalat Shabbat with the Hesder Yeshiva in uh in on Friday night and it was very moving for those who were willing to jump into it. And then on Sunday morning it was it was Rosh Chodesh. Rosh Chodesh uh uh Sivan, yeah? Sivan, ER. Sivan, whatever it was. Rosh Chodesh, yes, Sivan. My birthday, actually. And um I took them to to the Hesder Yeshiva. And in the Hesder Yeshiva they all play instruments for Hallel. And they're playing flutes and drums and guitar and everyone's jumping and dancing. And Mayer, afterwards, was crying. Maybe he's listening. He was crying. And [snorts] he he told me he was crying after the davening. He's saying, "I'm crying for two reasons. One, I was so moved. It was the most beautiful feel I've ever had. And two, I was so angry. Why was I not zoche? Why didn't anybody ever teach me that you can sing and dance Hallel the first I don't know how many I don't know how many years he lived. Whatever many years he lived. Right? He was he was angry. Why didn't anybody tell me you could sing and dance for Hallel? Uh so, right now Am Israel does not know how to dance and sing so much on a regular Tuesday. I guess there's some practical concerns. People have to go to work. You know. I get it. But maybe if you're not davening with a minyan, take a breath. Breathe. And ask yourself, "How am I feeling right now? What song is flowing through me?" Could be a happy song. Could be a sad song. But whatever it is, bring that into your tefillah. Maybe you don't have to sing the entire P'sukei D'Zimra, but one song, two songs, three songs. It will add b'sach hakol two, three, four more minutes into your day. But can transform the entire tefillah experience. Of course, guys, I'm talking primarily to myself. I'm not I'm preaching to myself. I also am in a rush very often. We started a new minyan once a week where we try on Wednesdays, just on a random day, to sing and dance a little bit. Two songs, three songs. Trying to bring this revolution, this consciousness into Am Yisrael. That P'sukei D'Zimra means sing. All right. Now we've seen a revolution Kabbalat Shabbat, hallel with zam- zemer. Even on a regular day, we can sing and dance a little bit. In my humble opinion, it's meant to be sung. That's how David Hamelech wrote it. Let's sing it a little bit. So that's advice number four. I think that's where we're holding. That I would give myself. And maybe advice number five, to remember the goal is not to just check the box. The goal is at the end of my tefillah experience, my P'sukei D'Zimra experience, to feel a little bit more connected, a little bit more conscious, a little bit more present, a little bit more ready to say the Shema with kavana, and to connect to the words of emunah and bitachon that of course, the beautiful words that are encapsulated in P'sukei D'Zimra. Okay? So, um So those are my advice that I'm giving to myself. One more thought. It's hard. It's hard to wake up in the morning and say words with kavana. A lot of times we're tired. A lot of times we're in a rush, a lot of times you're not feeling great physically in the morning. But that's okay. The more we if we know that the harder we work and we push ourselves, we push ourselves to be energetic about Sukkot Zimrah, then the more we're going to get out of it. Then Hashem's going to reward us. He sees our strong how hard we push ourselves and we still make it meaningful, then he's going to reward us in the next world and in this world. If we push ourselves even though it's hard, he's going to push back and bless us double, triple, tenfold. So we you know, when you you don't want to play a basketball game against a 5-year-old. You want to you want to play someone on your level. So if it's hard, that's good. Right? Get a get a little sweat off to to to concentrate a little bit, to sing a little bit, to dance if you're crazy enough a little bit, and to make Sukkot Zimrah a little bit meaningful. Okay. Maybe we'll we'll end just with a few words from the the safer that I put out. Uh Rav giving us some words of chizuk about singing with kavana our words. He was actually saying this in the context of uh Kabbalat Shabbat, but it's the same idea. So says like this. Why is it that when we talk, you can't hear two people at the same time. And if me and you were going to talk at the same time, it won't work. But when we sing, the more people singing together, the more beautiful it is. More harmony. You know why? Cuz speaking is this world. But singing, shh, it comes from the world of beyond. Comes from the next world. So when we're singing, we automatically are connecting ourselves to the heavenly chambers. Cuz you know what's happening in the heavens? The angels, they're singing in all the heavenly chambers. So when as soon as we start singing, we're connecting ourselves. That's why we close our eyes when we sing cuz we don't want to see this world. We want to connect ourselves to the next world. Beautiful. Rabbeinu Hakadosh Rebbi Nachman says, if you're crying Hashem says, "Listen, I don't know why you created me at all. But if if a guy comes to Hashem and says, "Listen, I don't know why you created me, but now that you created me, the situation is not so good." So God says, "Thanks. I'll give you what you need. Just don't bother me again. I don't want to have to do with you." But then, and then when he comes back, Hashem says, "Oy vey, he's coming again." When you come before Hashem with joy, tons of joy, all the gates of heaven are open. So if you remember to open up our days Sukkot D'Zimra with singing, with dancing, with joy, and maybe we'll have one last teaching. Once when there were decrees against the Jews of Russia, Rabbeinu Hakadosh from Apta decreed a fast day. The Ruzhiner Rebbe said, "No. Let's make a day of joy and rejoice." When the matter is told to the Rebbe of Apta, he said, "What's going on? Why did you make a rejoicing day? The Jewish people are in trouble. We should fast." He says, "When they see you Jews in heaven fasting, it doesn't make such an impression. Nothing new here. When there's tsouris, Jews fast. But in heaven when they see the students of the Ruzhiner dancing and singing with bitachon that everything's going to be okay, it tears up all the decrees." So as much as we have to daven with the depth of our hearts and say Tehillim every day for all the chayalim, for the situation, for all of our lives, maybe all the more so every day we should know that when we dance and sing Sukkot D'Zimra with joy, who knows what wonderful uh blessings we're bringing into the world and what decrees we're ripping up. So may we be zocheh to continue learning Sukkot D'Zimra together and to uh bring simcha into our lives. >> Be as well as I am. I'm a kind I should call him. >> I should call him and since we get with we we talk all the time, you'll have to sing with me especially cuz my guitar is a little out of tune. So you'll have to you don't have to clap and sing a little extra with me with all the same. 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