Description: Introduction to She'arim BiTefillah
She’arim BiTefillah
Introduction 01
We will begin to learn the sefer ‘She’arim BiTefillah,’ written by Rav Shimshon Pincus zatzal. As the author himself attests, the sefer is designed to be learned a little at a time, so that each thought can be appreciated for its own worth, and we should be able to appreciate the different nuances that he points out about tefillah.
I’m excited to learn this sefer, because it opens up a new world of davening to us. We all wish we could daven better, concentrate more, and relate more to the words. We may have tried different methods in the past, some with more success and some perhaps with less. We’ve hopefully tried to learn ‘peirush hamilos,’ the meaning of the words, and this is integral – it’s difficult to get anywhere if we don’t even know what we are saying! But just learning the meaning alone isn’t always enough to get us inspired, enflamed, and motivated to daven with all our hearts. For that, often we have to find places in tefillah that we can relate to, that we feel were written for us, and are words which touch our hearts.
But sometimes we feel that we are locked out of davening, that somehow, we haven’t discovered the key to making our tefillah a true connection between our neshamah and Hashem – like it’s meant to be.
This sefer provides us with a whole new context to approach davening, and is the key we are looking for. It doesn’t focus on the words of tefillah, nor does it focus on different messages throughout davening. Rather it teaches how to daven.
Do we know how to daven? We know how to say the words, and we know when to bow, and when to straighten out, when to go forward three steps and when to step back three steps. But after that – what is the point of davening? Why do we need to daven every day? But most importantly - what are we trying to accomplish?
If a person eats matzah on Seder night, but doesn’t understand what matzah has to do with Pesach, what’s it’s place in the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim, and why we are eating it, although he’s yotzai the mitzvah, and gets rewarded, he has gotten very little of the spiritual benefit we can reap by eating matzah! But if he knows what he is doing, what matzah means and what its history is – the simple act of eating becomes an intense form of thanking and showing gratitude to Hashem. If someone delves even deeper into the meaning and symbolism of matzah – it changes his Avodas Hashem even more, and can truly spark the fire in our souls, making that mitzvah something special.
Davening is no different. Just doing it is beautiful and a mitzvah. But understanding what davening is all about, what it accomplishes, and how to accomplish that – opens up a whole new world to us.
This sefer addresses those questions. Rav Shimshon Pincus teaches us how to approach tefillah, and how to daven! Rav Shimshon Pincus zatzal has an amazing power to explain deep and intricate concepts, and bring them to life with meshalim and examples. He had a fire burning inside of him, and was able to ignite all that heard him, and even merely learning his sefarim, you feel a bit of that excitement and energy.
We will begin by learning the sefer’s own hakdamah, and proceed from there, iy”H. As we did in sefer Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, I won’t quote the sefer directly, nor will I say, the sefer says such and such, rather I will just give over the words of Rav Pincus as I understand them, speaking as if he was speaking. I hope we can learn through the whole sefer, and be able to incorporate it’s many lessons into our davening, inspiring and motivating us to daven properly!
She’arim BiTefillah
Introduction 01
We will begin to learn the sefer ‘She’arim BiTefillah,’ written by Rav Shimshon Pincus zatzal. As the author himself attests, the sefer is designed to be learned a little at a time, so that each thought can be appreciated for its own worth, and we should be able to appreciate the different nuances that he points out about tefillah.
I’m excited to learn this sefer, because it opens up a new world of davening to us. We all wish we could daven better, concentrate more, and relate more to the words. We may have tried different methods in the past, some with more success and some perhaps with less. We’ve hopefully tried to learn ‘peirush hamilos,’ the meaning of the words, and this is integral – it’s difficult to get anywhere if we don’t even know what we are saying! But just learning the meaning alone isn’t always enough to get us inspired, enflamed, and motivated to daven with all our hearts. For that, often we have to find places in tefillah that we can relate to, that we feel were written for us, and are words which touch our hearts.
But sometimes we feel that we are locked out of davening, that somehow, we haven’t discovered the key to making our tefillah a true connection between our neshamah and Hashem – like it’s meant to be.
This sefer provides us with a whole new context to approach davening, and is the key we are looking for. It doesn’t focus on the words of tefillah, nor does it focus on different messages throughout davening. Rather it teaches how to daven.
Do we know how to daven? We know how to say the words, and we know when to bow, and when to straighten out, when to go forward three steps and when to step back three steps. But after that – what is the point of davening? Why do we need to daven every day? But most importantly - what are we trying to accomplish?
If a person eats matzah on Seder night, but doesn’t understand what matzah has to do with Pesach, what’s it’s place in the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim, and why we are eating it, although he’s yotzai the mitzvah, and gets rewarded, he has gotten very little of the spiritual benefit we can reap by eating matzah! But if he knows what he is doing, what matzah means and what its history is – the simple act of eating becomes an intense form of thanking and showing gratitude to Hashem. If someone delves even deeper into the meaning and symbolism of matzah – it changes his Avodas Hashem even more, and can truly spark the fire in our souls, making that mitzvah something special.
Davening is no different. Just doing it is beautiful and a mitzvah. But understanding what davening is all about, what it accomplishes, and how to accomplish that – opens up a whole new world to us.
This sefer addresses those questions. Rav Shimshon Pincus teaches us how to approach tefillah, and how to daven! Rav Shimshon Pincus zatzal has an amazing power to explain deep and intricate concepts, and bring them to life with meshalim and examples. He had a fire burning inside of him, and was able to ignite all that heard him, and even merely learning his sefarim, you feel a bit of that excitement and energy.
We will begin by learning the sefer’s own hakdamah, and proceed from there, iy”H. As we did in sefer Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, I won’t quote the sefer directly, nor will I say, the sefer says such and such, rather I will just give over the words of Rav Pincus as I understand them, speaking as if he was speaking. I hope we can learn through the whole sefer, and be able to incorporate it’s many lessons into our davening, inspiring and motivating us to daven properly!