Audible Intent

You know, at mincha today there was a kid who was davening Shemoneh Esreh out loud. Not yelling, but out loud. All the while shuckeling this way and that. He is high school age. And I've seen him learning in shul in his free time so it's not like he's totally disconnected with proper halachic behavior (I hope, I really don't know).

So this was strange to me for a couple of reasons, firstly, the very fact that he didn't know that davening Shemoneh Esreh quietly is not just something people happen to do, you are supposed to do it. Otherwise you may be one of the קטני אמנה. Also, I thought it strange that even if he didn't know this halachah, if you found yourself in a room full of people davening silently, would you daven out loud? On top of that, I found it plain annoying that since I was right behind this fellow, I had trouble concentrating of the Shliach Tzibbur during Chazaras HaShatz.

But I didn't say anything to him, because in such situations I am unsure what an appropriate way to approach such a person would be, and I feared causing more harm than good. And then I saw an older man, a rav, approach this young fellow. I thought for sure he was going to give some sort of kind explanation to the boy as to his error. (I noticed a few people giving this boy looks during davening.) But instead he simply commented how nice it was to see one of the younger people davening with so much kavana.

This made me happy.

And the whole time I was just thinking of this story from Reb Shlomo Carlebach:

A Maaseh: Schar Halichah

My grandfather שליט״א told me recently that one of his friends was having some problems with his feet/walking. Whatever it was, I don't know the specifics. Anyway, this fellow's doctor told him that he should to shul and back every morning. He did as the doctor said and now his walking is good. My grandfather said this to me with a smile, I think hinting that this man didn't necessarily attend shacharis in shul too often before this.

I could go on about what I think about when I remember this story and what can be learned from it, but I'd prefer to let the reader think about it.

Shelach- Seeing Hashem

Sorry I didn't post this before Shabbos, but better late than never. 

This past Shabbos we read about the Meraglim. We all know the basic story. It's a big one. But what's the real story going on here? To understand this we must back up a bit and examine a larger underlying problem in the whole ordeal here, one that pertains to Bnei Yisrael as a whole. The Ramban explains that the base issue behind the whole spy saga was the very fact that Bnei Yisrael requested that the Meraglim be sent in the first place. It was inappropriate for them to make such a request in they way they did. It is reminiscent of when the People requested a king of Shmuel Hashem Himself said that this was a rejection of Him.

Rav Gedalyah Schorr elaborates that the Dor HaMidbar were zoche to witness unbelievable yeshuos and nissim gluyim on a daily basis. They were on such a madraigah that to request what they did was unbefitting of the level of bitachon they should've had. They put in too much hishtadlus.

Why was this so? He explains that when Eldad and Medad started to prophecy that Moshe was going to die and that a new leader would take Bnei Yisrael into Eretz Yisrael, the people thought that this signified a new hanhaga between them and Hashem as well. They feared that whereas up until now they witnessed amazing Hashgacha Pratis, going into Eretz Yisrael under Yehoshua meant that everything would happen al pi derech hatevah.

וַיַּ֧הַס כָּלֵ֛ב אֶת־הָעָ֖ם אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר עָלֹ֤ה נַעֲלֶה֙ וְיָרַ֣שְׁנוּ אֹתָ֔הּ כִּֽי־יָכ֥וֹל נוּכַ֖ל לָֽהּ׃

Kalev silenced the people to Moshe and he said "we shall go up..." The Meshech Chochmah explains that Kalev was combating this mistaken ideology that only with Moshe could they defeat the formidable opponents of Canaan. They feared that without their great miracle-working leader they didn't stand a chance. That's why Kalev silenced them אל משה, in regards to this focus on Moshe, and proclaimed עלה נעלה, that they would enter and conquer Eretz Canaan of their own merit. Moshe's great stature as leader was only for our sake, but we are the ikar. We see this from the Gemara in Berachos (31a), עיין שם. It is vital for us to see the intimate relationship that we have with the Ribono Shel Olam always! Moshe Rabbeinu is gone, Dovid HaMelech is gone, R' Akiva is gone, the Ramban is gone, the Baal Shem Tov is gone, the Gra is gone, the Chofetz Chaim is gone, but the Ribono Shel Olam is still with us, the Jewish People! Through thick and thin, הנה לא ינום ולא יישן שומר ישראל.

וּמָ֣ה הָ֠אָרֶץ הַשְּׁמֵנָ֨ה הִ֜וא אִם־רָזָ֗ה הֲיֵֽשׁ־בָּ֥הּ עֵץ֙ אִם־אַ֔יִן וְהִ֨תְחַזַּקְתֶּ֔ם וּלְקַחְתֶּ֖ם מִפְּרִ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ וְהַ֨יָּמִ֔ים יְמֵ֖י בִּכּוּרֵ֥י עֲנָבִֽים

The Chiddushei HaRim explains that Moshe Rabbeinu was telling the Meraglim to keep this in mind. The "etz" here is the Etz Chaim, Torah. Would the Meraglim see the power of Torah, the hashgacha of Hashem in the land, or not? And if not, "והתחזקתם", they must be mechazek themselves to believe in hasgacha of Hashem anyway.

וַתִּשָּׂא֙ כָּל־הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה וַֽיִּתְּנ֖וּ אֶת־קוֹלָ֑ם וַיִּבְכּ֥וּ הָעָ֖ם בַּלַּ֥יְלָה הַהֽוּא

So we see that the underlying theme of the story of the Meraglim is a lack of proper awareness of the Ribono Shel Olam. Perhaps this is the key to understanding the Gemara in Taanis (29a) which says that  since Bnei Yisrael cried on the night after hearing the Meraglims' report it was decreed they they would cry on that night for a real reason- and that night was Tisha B'Av. This night, the night of the Churban, is the epitome of Hastaras Panim, of Galus HaShechinah. It was the beginning of the suffering of our people that has lasted for so long and every year it reminds us of where we are- in galus. Even if we are zoche to be in Eretz Yisrael and standing in the Makom HaMikdash we are in  galus. Tisha B'Av is representative of the lack of connection to Hashem that we suffer from, of the inability to see Him clearly in the world. The Meraglim had this problem already in their time, and when Bnei Yisrael cried inappropriately over this, due to their lack of bitachon in Hashem and the inability to see that He runs everything always, even in wonderous ways, all for their sake, they created this impending reality for themselves that is the essence of Tisha B'Av (see Nefesh HaChaim 1:12).

We should be zoche to fix this soon.  

Say a Berachah? Make a Berachah!

I just realized that people usually use the terminology of "making" a berachah rather than "saying" one (at least where I'm from). Surely this is because we're not just saying words, we're created worlds and other such lofty things beyond our comprehension! :-)

A gut Shabbos!

Added Thought

I realized that in my earlier post Thoughts on Proper Perspectives in Life the focus was in the extreme negative (speaking lashon hara, looking at something improper, etc.) however it equally important to note the importance of proper sensitive to what we do even when we are "keeping to Halacha." That is to say, you tongue will continue to function, hopefully, even if you make a beracha levatalah. We must be wary. There is a yetzer hara everywhere, even in Torah matters.

The Holy Hunchback of Piaseczna

Gedenkst shon, di greste zach in di velt ist zu tun mit emetzin a tova.

Nice rendition of Omar R' Akiva