Description: Shavah 03
She’arim BiTefillah
Sha’vah 03
This was the way our Avos davened, as if their whole life depended on it, because in truth – it did. But not only during davening did they behave this way. Every aspect of their Avodah was done with every fiber of their being, with every ounce of energy they possessed, with ‘ramach aivarim and shesah gidim.’ They always tried to do the very best they could – the ultimate avodah.
We find this by Dovid Hamelech, the Aron had been stolen by the Pelishtim in the days of Shmuel, and when it was miraculously returned, it remained in the house of a person named Ovaid Edom, who took care of it properly. Finally, after Dovid’s kingdom was established, Sha’ul had passed away, and he had moved his palace to Yerushalayim, he wanted to bring the Aron to Yerushalayim as well, so that they could establish a Mishkan there. There was a fantastic procession bringing the Aron to Yerushalayim, and they shechted many korbanos, and they played music and danced. The pasuk says:
ודוד מכרכר בכל עוז לפני ה' – Dovid danced (this is an unusual word for dancing, it seems to mean extreme dancing,) with all his strength and power in front of Hashem.
Look how amazing this pasuk is. The Torah, which only writes one thousand percent unbiased truth, whether its complimentary or not, testifies that Dovid Hamelech danced with all his might. That means, that there was not one iota of his being that wasn’t fully committed and engaged in dancing in front of Hashem. If you stop a moment and think when we dance, by a chasanah, or by Simchas Torah, how engaged are we? How much of our mind is fully engaged in the dancing? Are we schmoozing with the person next to us while we dance? Are we giving it our all, or do we dance up a storm for a minute, then relax for ten, and so forth. Dovid, danced, and danced with all his heart and mind, with every ounce of energy and strength he had. ‘B’chol oz!’
We know when we are in a dangerous situation, when something threatens us, we marshal all our strength to save ourselves or others. We know that people do awesome things when in great danger, a fire or a car crash, chas v’shalom. That’s how much strength Dovid committed to dancing – because of his tremendous love for Hashem, his tremendous commitment and motivation to do Avodas Hashem.
The truth is, his dancing was so extreme, that his wife, Michal, rebuked him, thinking that this denigrated his honor as king. He replied, when I am in front of Hashem, let me be disgraced as the slaves and maidservants, but give honor to Hashem! This is how the Avos Haolam served Hashem.
Chazal say about the Avos, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, that they ran in front of Hashem like a horse running through a swamp of water. Which means not only did they do what they physically could, but they pushed the limit to the extreme, almost supernatural limits. They ran like a horse – much faster than a human can, in a difficult environment, a swamp of water, and in that environment the horse fears slipping and sinking into the water, so it runs at its fastest, greatest strength – that’s how they served Hashem.
How does that relate to us? What can we take from this in our davening? Let’s continue this thought tomorrow iy”H
She’arim BiTefillah
Sha’vah 03
This was the way our Avos davened, as if their whole life depended on it, because in truth – it did. But not only during davening did they behave this way. Every aspect of their Avodah was done with every fiber of their being, with every ounce of energy they possessed, with ‘ramach aivarim and shesah gidim.’ They always tried to do the very best they could – the ultimate avodah.
We find this by Dovid Hamelech, the Aron had been stolen by the Pelishtim in the days of Shmuel, and when it was miraculously returned, it remained in the house of a person named Ovaid Edom, who took care of it properly. Finally, after Dovid’s kingdom was established, Sha’ul had passed away, and he had moved his palace to Yerushalayim, he wanted to bring the Aron to Yerushalayim as well, so that they could establish a Mishkan there. There was a fantastic procession bringing the Aron to Yerushalayim, and they shechted many korbanos, and they played music and danced. The pasuk says:
ודוד מכרכר בכל עוז לפני ה' – Dovid danced (this is an unusual word for dancing, it seems to mean extreme dancing,) with all his strength and power in front of Hashem.
Look how amazing this pasuk is. The Torah, which only writes one thousand percent unbiased truth, whether its complimentary or not, testifies that Dovid Hamelech danced with all his might. That means, that there was not one iota of his being that wasn’t fully committed and engaged in dancing in front of Hashem. If you stop a moment and think when we dance, by a chasanah, or by Simchas Torah, how engaged are we? How much of our mind is fully engaged in the dancing? Are we schmoozing with the person next to us while we dance? Are we giving it our all, or do we dance up a storm for a minute, then relax for ten, and so forth. Dovid, danced, and danced with all his heart and mind, with every ounce of energy and strength he had. ‘B’chol oz!’
We know when we are in a dangerous situation, when something threatens us, we marshal all our strength to save ourselves or others. We know that people do awesome things when in great danger, a fire or a car crash, chas v’shalom. That’s how much strength Dovid committed to dancing – because of his tremendous love for Hashem, his tremendous commitment and motivation to do Avodas Hashem.
The truth is, his dancing was so extreme, that his wife, Michal, rebuked him, thinking that this denigrated his honor as king. He replied, when I am in front of Hashem, let me be disgraced as the slaves and maidservants, but give honor to Hashem! This is how the Avos Haolam served Hashem.
Chazal say about the Avos, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, that they ran in front of Hashem like a horse running through a swamp of water. Which means not only did they do what they physically could, but they pushed the limit to the extreme, almost supernatural limits. They ran like a horse – much faster than a human can, in a difficult environment, a swamp of water, and in that environment the horse fears slipping and sinking into the water, so it runs at its fastest, greatest strength – that’s how they served Hashem.
How does that relate to us? What can we take from this in our davening? Let’s continue this thought tomorrow iy”H