Description: Kriah 05
She’arim BiTefillah
Kriah 05
From everything we have been learning, it seems as though that in order to truly ‘get through’ so to speak to Hashem, one has to know the names of Hashem, so that we can call out, kriah, in the proper fashion. Who among us know those names? Maybe Moshe Rabbeinu had that power, and when he davened, the Medrash says, Hashem called out to the Malachim and told them to hurry and shut the windows of Heaven so as to shut out the tefillos of Moshe Rabbeinu. The Medrash says that his tefillos were like a sword that can cut through anything, because he understood how to address Hashem with the Sheim Hameforash. When you daven in that fashion, nothing can stand in the way of the tefillah.
However, what will we do? But the medrash goes on to say, that the tefillah of an ‘ani,’ of a poor person, which means anyone who is suffering and realizes that he has nothing, and no way to help himself without Hashem’s intervention, is equivalent and even more powerful than Moshe’s tefillah. The reason is that someone who truly recognizes how much he needs Hashem, and calls out with true bitachon and simchah to Hashem, relying on Him totally, because he knows that Hashem is a ‘baal harachamim’ without any limits, he has identified the name of Hashem in a general way – but through his bitachon his tefillos have the power of Moshe Rabbeinu’s tefillos.
There’s a fascinating Gemarah in Brachos about one of Rebbi Eliezer’s talmidim who was davening for the amud, and he was being very maarich, meaning he kept on adding to the tefillah with many bakashos and techinos. The talmidim complained to Rebbi Eliezer – look how maarich this person is! Rebbi Eliezer answered, ‘Is he davening longer than Moshe davened?’ Moshe davened for forty days and forty nights – when he was trying to save Klal Yisrael from the Eigel. Another time a talmid davened very quickly, without adding anything, and the talmidim once again complained – look how short he’s davening, and Rebbi Eliezer answered, ‘Is he shorter than Moshe Rabbeinu who said, ‘Keil nah refah nah lah?’ When he was davening for his sister Miryam, he just said, Hashem please save her!
We can understand that someone who davens long, and adds many things to his tefillah is something special, which Rebbi Eliezer compared to Moshe Rabbeinu’s tefillah, and we know Chazal say that anyone who davens long enough will eventually be answered. But why did Rebbi Eliezer find chashivus in the person who daven very short and succinctly? Is that something special as well?
But Chazal are demonstrating an amazing point. Someone who understands how to daven, the correct way, with the proper kriah, it doesn’t require many tefillos to accomplish the purpose. We know that Chazal explain the pasuk that Yaakov Avinu said he conquered Shechem with his sword and bow, Chazal say it means tefillah. We know that if someone is expert with a bow, they shoot one arrow and it finds it’s mark. If we see them shooting and shooting – they must not be expert marksmen. Likewise, someone who is a skilled swordsman can kill with one stab, but we see by Kayin that he didn’t know how to kill Hevel so he kept on hitting and hitting. Likewise, Moshe Rabbeinu understood the power of tefillah and was skilled in kriah, so with one short tefillah – he accomplished his purpose!
She’arim BiTefillah
Kriah 05
From everything we have been learning, it seems as though that in order to truly ‘get through’ so to speak to Hashem, one has to know the names of Hashem, so that we can call out, kriah, in the proper fashion. Who among us know those names? Maybe Moshe Rabbeinu had that power, and when he davened, the Medrash says, Hashem called out to the Malachim and told them to hurry and shut the windows of Heaven so as to shut out the tefillos of Moshe Rabbeinu. The Medrash says that his tefillos were like a sword that can cut through anything, because he understood how to address Hashem with the Sheim Hameforash. When you daven in that fashion, nothing can stand in the way of the tefillah.
However, what will we do? But the medrash goes on to say, that the tefillah of an ‘ani,’ of a poor person, which means anyone who is suffering and realizes that he has nothing, and no way to help himself without Hashem’s intervention, is equivalent and even more powerful than Moshe’s tefillah. The reason is that someone who truly recognizes how much he needs Hashem, and calls out with true bitachon and simchah to Hashem, relying on Him totally, because he knows that Hashem is a ‘baal harachamim’ without any limits, he has identified the name of Hashem in a general way – but through his bitachon his tefillos have the power of Moshe Rabbeinu’s tefillos.
There’s a fascinating Gemarah in Brachos about one of Rebbi Eliezer’s talmidim who was davening for the amud, and he was being very maarich, meaning he kept on adding to the tefillah with many bakashos and techinos. The talmidim complained to Rebbi Eliezer – look how maarich this person is! Rebbi Eliezer answered, ‘Is he davening longer than Moshe davened?’ Moshe davened for forty days and forty nights – when he was trying to save Klal Yisrael from the Eigel. Another time a talmid davened very quickly, without adding anything, and the talmidim once again complained – look how short he’s davening, and Rebbi Eliezer answered, ‘Is he shorter than Moshe Rabbeinu who said, ‘Keil nah refah nah lah?’ When he was davening for his sister Miryam, he just said, Hashem please save her!
We can understand that someone who davens long, and adds many things to his tefillah is something special, which Rebbi Eliezer compared to Moshe Rabbeinu’s tefillah, and we know Chazal say that anyone who davens long enough will eventually be answered. But why did Rebbi Eliezer find chashivus in the person who daven very short and succinctly? Is that something special as well?
But Chazal are demonstrating an amazing point. Someone who understands how to daven, the correct way, with the proper kriah, it doesn’t require many tefillos to accomplish the purpose. We know that Chazal explain the pasuk that Yaakov Avinu said he conquered Shechem with his sword and bow, Chazal say it means tefillah. We know that if someone is expert with a bow, they shoot one arrow and it finds it’s mark. If we see them shooting and shooting – they must not be expert marksmen. Likewise, someone who is a skilled swordsman can kill with one stab, but we see by Kayin that he didn’t know how to kill Hevel so he kept on hitting and hitting. Likewise, Moshe Rabbeinu understood the power of tefillah and was skilled in kriah, so with one short tefillah – he accomplished his purpose!