AMIDA (berakha 16) Please, listen (or ignore) my prayer

This is the sixteenth and last berakha of the section called ‘requests’ (baqashot).

In this berakha we ask HaShem to listen to our prayers, to accept and fulfill our requests. According to the Rabbis, in this berakha we could also include any particular petition that was not specifically covered in the previous twelve berakhot. For example, since there is no berakha that deals with Shiddukh (=finding a spouse) or having children, etc., we could make those request here.

We ask God to listen to our prayers, knowing that no matter how much we believe we deserve God’s attention, or how noble our cause is, etc., there is no guarantee that we will be granted what we have asked for. HaShem always listens to our prayers, we assert in this Berakha, but sometimes His answer is “NO”.Why? Basically, for the same reason a good parent will not necessarily fulfill all of his children’s request. Many times, a parent would ignore the petition of his children, sometimes, for his children’s own benefit. Imagine you are going for a job interview, and you are eager to get this job, and you pray and beg God to help you getting this job, if HaShem knows that this job is not good for you, or that there will be a better job, would you want Him to listen to your prayer?

Rabbenu Bahye ibn Paquda (Zaragoza, Spain, 11th Century) quotes in his famous book, “The duties of the Heart”, a superb prayer, which I believe encapsulates beautifully the message that HaShem knows better than us what is better for us. Paraphrasing it with my own words, this Berakha says: HaShem when I pray to You, when I request something for me or for my loved ones, if YOU believe that the fulfillment of that request is not the best for us, please, do as YOU see fit, and please, ignore my petition. I trust YOUR judgment over my own judgment. I leave it up to YOU. YOU should choose to accept or ignore my request, and I will readily accept YOUR verdict. “

This should be our state of mind when we ask haShem to listen to our prayers. At the end of the day, if HaShem decides to ignore my request, I know HE loves me, and I know HE knows better.

THE ORIGINAL PRAYER FROM
“HOBOT HALEBABOT”

(heshbon hanefesh, Chapter 3)

“My God, I dare to stand in front of You, not by ignorance of my own little stature and my inadequate knowledge of Your greatness and transcendence, for I know that You are High and Exalted and I’m of too little account, too lowly and small to petition You, to praise and sign hymns to You or to sanctify Your name which is sanctified by the voices of the High and Holy angels. Rather, what gave me the courage to address You is that You have commanded me to pray to You, and You have permitted me to praise Your exalted name according to my limited understanding of You and my limited grasp of Your glory, so that I will express my service to You with humility.

And You know better than me what is best for me, and the ways in which I should be guided. I am therefore informing You of my needs, not so as to call Your attention to them, but so I will become conscious of my great need of You and of my trust in You. So, If I should ask You , out of my ignorance, for something that is not good for me or of no benefit to me, I accept Your choice rather than my choice. And so I leave the fulfillment of all my interests to Your lasting determination and supreme governance, as David said “God, my heart is not haughty, my eyes are not raised high, I do not presume to grasp things too great and mysterious for me. Thus, I have commended myself to You, like a weaned child, who depends entirely on his mother…” (Tehillim 131:1-2)

AMIDA (Berakha 15) Praying for the real Messiah

This berakha ends the section of “National Requests”, the six blessings in which we pray God for our gueula (=redemption) which is actually our desire for normalization as the nation of Israel. Our desire to be established in the land of Israel, following the Law of Israel.

This gueula process will culminate with the coming of the Mashiah.

The Mashiah will be a King, a political leader, who like King David will be completely committed to serve God.

But how will we suppose to recognize who the Mashiah is?

The Rabbis did not give us an explicit list of the Mashiah characteristics. But Maimonides did (MT, H. Melakhim, Ch.11).

For Maimonides, everything we should know about the potential Mashiah is learned from Bar Kokhba. How so? Because Rabbi Aqiba believed that Bar Kokhba was the Mashiah, until Bar Kokhba was defeated and killed. Then, Rabbi Aqiba realized that althought Bar Kokhba possessed the necessary requisites to be Mashiah, evidently he was not. Now, Maimonides reasons, whatever rabbi Aqiba saw in Bar Kokhba is what we should expect to find in the potential Mashiah.

He then mentions the three preconditions for the Mashiah.

1. Like bar Kokhba, the Mashiah needs to be a descendant of King David.

2. The second condition is that he will be committed to Torah study and meticulous observance (הוגה בתורה ועוסק במצוות), aspiring to establish a Jewish Kingdom where HaShem will be the Supreme King.

3. The third condition, as per Maimonides, is that the candidate for Mashiah will be a military man, actively fighting the wars of Israel. Not “fighting” in a symbolic army (a sort of a Jewish “Salvation Army”) but in the real Jewish Army, like the brave Bar-Kokhba who was a soldier and then the commander of the Jewish army that fought against the enemies of Israel (in 130 ACE, the Romans).

Maimonides explains that if a Jewish leader possesses these three conditions he could be considered the Mashiah. If he also gathers the remnants of the Jewish people into the land of Israel, and he builds the Bet haMiqdash, then he should be declared officially as our Mashiah Tsidqenu. (B”H, bimhera beyamenu!)

AMIDA (berakha 14), Yerushalayim, a city and its soul

תשכון בתוך ירושלים עירך

In this blessing we ask HaShem 1. to restore His Presence in Yerushalayim. and 2. to reestablish the Throne of David. This double request alludes to the spiritual and the political aspects of Jerusalem.

First of all, Yerushalayim is the city of the Bet haMiqdash . The Bet haMiqdash was the Holy Temple. The soul of the Jewish people. We Jews believe in God’s Omnipresence (=God is everywhere). However, the Tora asserts that in the Sanctuary there was a special “Divine Manifestation” (Shekhina), a feeling of God’s presence which could not be experienced anywhere else. It is impossible to describe with words how this “God’s Manifestation” was felt. However, if upon visiting the Western Wall (one of the outer walls of the Temple) you are overcome by an incomparable sensation of Holiness and closeness to HaShem, the feeling you experience in the Wall, is a tiny reflection of that overwhelming “Divine Manifestation” felt in the Bet HaMiqdash. In this Berakha we first request God to reestablish His Manifestation in Yerushalayim. Restoring His Sanctuary, the Bet HaMiqdash.

We also pray in this Berakha for the reestablishment of the “Throne of David”. Aside from being the spiritual center of the Jewish people, Yerushalayim was also the political capital of the Jewish Nation. All National Institutions were established in Yerushalayim. In this aspect, Yerushalayim was to the Jewish Nation what Washington DC is to the USA. The Jewish King had his palace and residence (=the White House) in Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim was the residing place of the Bet Din haGadol (= the U.S. Supreme Court of Justice) and Yerushalayim was the city of the Sanhedrin (= the U.S. Congress). When we cry for the destruction of Jerusalem we lament not only the destruction of the Bet HaMiqdash, but also the eradication of all our political and governmental institutions. Thus, in our Berakha, when we pray to HaShem for the reestablishment of Yerushalayim, we also pray for the restoration of the Jewish Government (David’s Throne).

Today, Baruch HaShem, we have Yerushalayim again. But we still don’t have the Bet HaMiqdash. The Bet HaMiqdash is to Yerushalayim what the soul is to the body. Now, if Yerushalayim is today the most beautiful city in the world, and this is Yerushalayim without her soul, imagine how magnificent Yerushalayim will be, once her soul, the Bet HaMiqdash, is restored!

AMIDA (berakha 13) Take care of those who take care of us

על הצדיקים ועל החסידים

In this blessing we ask haShem to protect and help the righteous and pious. Those who are committed to pursuing kindness, justice, the knowledge of God and the obedience of His commandments.

We ask for the righteous in this particular section, the section which deals with “National” requests. Because the Tsadiqim are our national heroes, our role model and inspiration.

This berakha begins by mentioning two types of good people: Righteous (tsadiqim) and pious (hasidim). Righteous are those who strictly follow God’s commandments. Hasidim -pious -is a level above righteousness. Hasidim are righteous people who outdo their religious duties in one particular category of Mitsvot: Hesed. Hesed means kindness. And it includes the performance of the good deeds we do for other people: visiting the sick, comforting the mourners and helping those in need. While excess in certain ritual areas might be counterproductive, objectionable or a symptom of arrogance, in the area of Hesed doing more than what we are required is unquestionable and noble.

In this berakha we ask HaShem to protect and reward the righteous and all those who put their trust in God. It is important to notice that anyone might belong to the category of righteous or pious. Depending exclusively on one’s actions and intentions. Thus, we ask HaShem to inspire us to follow the footsteps of the righteous, so we could also be counted as such: “Place our lot among them, and let us never be shamed for in You we have trusted.”

It seems that the Tsadiqim and the Hasidim deserve a special protection. Why? Because the real righteous and pious people live according to standards of altruism which are very different from the rest of us. The Tsadiqim behave as if they have come to this world to give, not to take; to defend others, not themselves; and to care of other people, not of their own needs. And while usually people who benefit from the kindness of the Tsadiqim appreciate their unselfishness, many times the noblest Tsadiqim are vulnerable and exposed to ingratitude and even abuse. We pray to HaShem for an ideal situation in which, while the Tsadiqim take care of other people, HaShem will take special care of the Tsadiqim.

AMIDA (Berakha 12) Religious and Political Betrayal

למינים ולמלשינים אל תהי תקווה

The ‘amida was composed around the Fifth Century BCE. Originally, the ‘amida was known as the shemona ‘esre (=eighteen) prayer, because it consisted of eighteen blessings. Around the year 100 ACE, with the advancement of Christianity, Shemuel haQatan composed a new berakha which was introduced to the ‘amida by Rabban Gamliel and its Court. This berakha is known as birkat haminim, the prayer in which we request God’s assistance to deal with those who wish to destroy Am Israel physically or spiritually. Particularly, the traitors among the Jewish people. But who qualifies for this shameful categorization? Is this berakha referring to a Jew who abandons Jewish observance? Absolutely not! Judaism is very understanding of Jews who, for different reasons fail to keeping the Mitsvot (tinoq shenishba ben hagoyim). Actually, we are encouraged to inspire all our brothers and sisters, and bring them closer to HaShem. We are commanded to love them and embrace them, not, God forbid, to ask for their destruction.

This Berakha is meant for two very specific types of “betrayal”.

1. Religious Treason (minim) which alludes to those Jews who abandon Judaism and now dedicate their efforts to proselyte and actively try to convert other Jews to their new beliefs (i.e., Jews for Jesus, etc.).

2. National Treason (malshinim) which refers to those Jews who join the political enemies of Israel. Think about Medinat Israel today, the nations who, like Amaleq, seek the destruction of Israel. Unfortunately, there are Jews who actively join these nations, movements or political parties, and align themselves with those seeking to wipe Israel off the map. A Jewish individual who does this, places himself or herself at a point beyond redemption. That is why we do not pray for their return. Because the damage they have done to Israel is beyond repair. We ask for God’s help to deal with them, because there is little we can do to defend ourselves against “our own brothers”.

Shabbat Shalom!

Candle lighting in NYC 5:20 pm

Shabbat ends in NYC 6:19 pm

AMIDA (Berakha 11) All you need is love

השיבה שופטינו כבראשונה

Previously, we explained the blessing teqa’ beshofar gadol “Make sound the Shofar… that will announce our redemption… and bring us back to the Land of Israel”.

In this blessing hashiba shofetenu we ask God to provide us with the right political leaders kebarishona “like those we had in the past”.

Our first and greatest leader was Moshe Rabbenu.

What was so special about Moshe?

1. When the people of Israel worshipped the golden calf, Moshe Rabbenu (see last week’s Parasha) rejected God’s offer to get rid of the “stubborn Jews” and make him a leader of a new Nation. Moshe Rabbenu begged God to forgive the people of Israel. And he told God, “If not, please erase me too from Your Book”. For Moshe the whole concept of leadership would not make any sense if it would hurt the people of Israel. A good Jewish leader is the one that loves Am Israel more than he loves himself.

2. Why Moshe broke the tablets, when he saw the people dancing around the golden calf? According to one opinion, Moshe broke the tablets in an effort to defend the people of Israel. How so? The tablets,(“YOU SHALL NOT HAVE OTHER GODS”) were the most clear evidence against the people’s sin. Moshe choose to cover-up for them, breaking the incriminating document. In a sense, Moshe was willing to bring upon himself a more serious sin (breaking GOD’S tablets!) just to downplay as much as possible the sin of Israel.

3. Moshe’s love for Am Israel made him the best advocate we Jews ever had. God said: “Let me get-rid of this stubborn people”. “Stubborn”, because I took them out of Egypt, I opened for them the sea, I gave them the Manna, I gave them the Tora, I revealed Myself to them, and now, they abandon Me and worship a calf?!”. Moshe said: You’re right, the Jews are stubborn. But once they get it, once they will have You as their God, because of their stubbornness, they will NEVER abandon You. They will be forced to convert, but they will resist. They will embrace You and Your covenant, no matter what. They will be willing to suffer humiliation, persecution, torture and death, and still be loyal to You. They will even go to their deaths saying ‘Ani Ma-amin’. This is going to be Your ‘stubborn people’.”

ahabat Israel, love for the People of Israel, is the prerequisite for the right Jewish Leader.

Rabbi Yosef Hayon (15th Century, Portugal)

Not many details are known about the biographical data of rabbi Yosef Hayon (or Hayun). We know that he was born and died in Lisbon, Portugal. And that his main rabbinical activity must have been between 1440 and 1480. We also know that he was considered “The last Rabbi of Lisbon”, before the forced conversion of the Portuguese Jews in 1496. Rabbi Hayon was one of the four students of rabbi Isaac Canpanton (1360-1463), the Gaon of Castile (Spain) and author of darkhe haTalmud, a book that instructs teachers and rabbis how to teach the Talmud.

We also know that Rabbi Hayon lead a selected group of students to whom he taught the More Nebukhim, Maimonides’ Guide of Perplexed, a book that requires, beyond mastery of Biblical and rabbinical literature, a vast knowledge of philosophy, language and science. Among his students in that circle was the celebrate Rabbi Don Isaac Abarbanel (1437-1508)

Rabbi Hayon wrote commentaries on most Biblical books. But most of those books are not extant today. What we do have in its entirety is his commentary on Pirqe Abot, written in 1470 .

Some of the personal characteristic of Rabbi Hayon might be learned from his commentaries about the ideal Tora Scholar.

Rabbi Hayon says (p. 163, Venezia Edition): “If a Tora scholar wants to have many students, he has to be a role model. If the teacher’s personal actions do not reflect his wisdom and his moral teachings, he will not have students”.

When a Tora scholar teaches or speaks (p. 104), “he has to use few words with rich meaning, and not many words with little meaning… long discourses are not easy to digest for the students”

A rabbi (p.281) “cannot loss his temper, not just with his students but with every person, because anger and wisdom exclude each other (כי הכעס מעלים חכמה). On the contrary , the rabbi has to be friendly with all those who come to learn from him. This attitude is what will allow students to getting closer to the rabbi”.

Rabbi Hayon explains (p.174) that there is a balance to be kept in the relationship between a rabbi and his students. The rabbi, being an authority, has to behave with humbleness toward his students. But the students should not behave toward the rabbi according to the rabbi’s humbleness; the students must act toward the rabbi with the respect owed to a high authority.

Rabbi Yosef’s great humbleness is reflected in one of his commentaries (p.187) where he says that a student should not learn just from one rabbi (תלמיד חכמים), “because even a great rabbi could be mistaken in some of his opinions, and other rabbis with less knowledge might have great ideas”. Let’s remember that this encouragement is coming from the Senior Rabbi of Portugal.

To download the book MILE DEABOT click here

AMIDA (berakha 10), Jewish Religion or Jewish people?

תקע בשופר גדול לחרותינו

The ‘amida is divided in three sections. The first section, which includes three blessings, consists in praising God. The third section, also three blessings, is about thanking God. And the middle part, thirteen blessings, deals with our requests to God. This last section is subdivided into two major subjects: 1. Personal requests (we ask God to grant us: intelligence, protection, good health, livelihood, etc.) and 2. National requests (Coming back to Israel, have our Political leaders back, restore our capital Jerusalem, etc.) .

Our berakha, “Bring us back to the land of Israel” inaugurates the section dealing with our National aspirations. Indeed, the first thing we ask God as a nation is to gather all of us from the four corners of the earth and to bring us back to our homeland, Israel.

Incidentally, this berakha clarifies a very relevant point, shedding light on the present debate about Israel’s claim to be recognized as a “Jewish State”.

Israel’s foes, Palestinians and the Arab League of Nations, etc., justify their rejection of a Jewish State saying that a religion-based country (a Jewish State) is a racist and apartheid state (See for example this). They’d say that Israel’s claim is as if, for example, Japan would declare itself a Buddhist State, and grant citizenship only to people who practice Buddhism, or so. (Needless to mention that the same logic is not applied against the establishment of the “Islamic republic of Iran” or “Saudi-Arabia”, an Islamic theocratic monarchy, which officially prohibits public non-Muslim religious activities).

An important lesson we learn from our berakha, and from the next five “national” requests, is that “religion” is not the only way to describe Judaism. Judaism–or Jewishness–concerns primarily the legal status of every member of the Jewish NATION. Being Jewish is a virtual “citizenship”, maternally inherited, which does not expire even when a Jew lives in exile for centuries. You cannot conceive Judaism as you conceive any regular religion: a system of faith, without national elements. Religious groups do not have a land of reference. Christians are not “a nation”. If you are a Christian you do not pray to go back to Rome or reestablish the Christian government in the Vatican. You do not have National aspirations. On the contrary, State and Church are deliberately disconnected. The same can be said about Islam (Farrakhan’s “Nation of Islam” is the name of his religious movement, not the way Islam views itself, as it can be clearly seen from the name League of Arab “Nations”).

Judaism, as we learn from this berakha, would not make sense without the Land of Israel, or the aspiration to come back to it. Israel, the Jewish State, is the original Homeland of the Jewish People. In this sense, “Israel, a Jewish State” is as if Japan would simply declare that “Japan is the Homeland of all Japanese people”.

Jews who live outside Israel, are proud, law-abiding and grateful citizens of the countries where we live, but we are still part of the Jewish Nation (Nation=shared history, shared language, shared Law, shared Land). And as we express it in this Berakha, our hope is that one day we will be gathered from the four corners of this planet, and reunited again in our original homeland. Fulfilling thus the ultimate vision of the Jewish Prophets: The people of Israel, living in the Land of Israel, under the Law of Israel.

SHABBAT: Iphone vs. iShabbat

כי ששת ימים עשה ה’ את השמים ואת הארץ

Shabbat is the day in which Jews celebrate Creation. On Shabbat we give our testimony that the world is not here by happenstance. Our beautiful planet and the whole universe was made by an Intelligent Creator. The way we celebrate Creation is by not disturbing Creation. We do not modify, recreate, ignite or activate anything. Similar to God’s purposeful lack-of-Creation on the seventh day, we too stop all forms of human creativity. The creative tasks applied to the construction of the Mishkan serve as the model of all creative tasks we refrain from on the seventh day.

But, beyond this, is Shabbat still necessary?

Well, I believe it is. I actually think that in certain sense Shabbat is today more relevant than ever in human history. Think about the newest addiction: “The average American teenager sends or receives 75 text messages a day, though one girl in Sacramento managed to handle an average of 10,000 every 24 hours for a month.” Says Pico Iyer in the NYT (December 29, 2011). Texting and Whatsapping became epidemic. And we are not communicating better. Actually “We have more and more ways to communicate…but less and less to say.”

Pico seems to believe that Shabbat is the future of human civilization “Since luxury…is a function of scarcity, the children of tomorrow… will crave nothing more than freedom, if only for a short while, from all the blinking machines, streaming videos and scrolling headlines that leave them feeling empty and too full all at once.”

Shabbat is needed to re-humanize us: “Two journalist friends of mine observe an ‘Internet sabbath’ every week, turning off their online connections from Friday night to Monday morning, so as to try to revive those ancient customs known as family meals and conversation.”

Lastly, Shabbat also helps us to save some money: “Those who part with $2,285 a night to stay in a cliff-top room at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur pay partly for the privilege of not having a TV in their rooms; the future of travel, I’m reliably told, lies in ‘black-hole resorts,’ which charge high prices precisely because you can’t get online in their rooms”

Disconnect your phones (and see that your children do the same!). And reconnect with HaShem, with your family and with yourself.

AMIDA (Berakha 09) , “Make us rich… but save us from Affluenza”

The 9th berakha of the Amida, barekhenu or barekh alenu, is the blessing in which we ask haShem to grant our livelihood (parnasa).

This blessing focuses specifically on requesting dew, rain, a good year’s crop, and a successful production of vegetables and fruits. We ask HaShem to provide us material blessings and protect our source of livelihood from weather inclemencies and other natural disasters.

We particularly ask God to send rain. One of the most disastrous scenarios for the economy of Israel, and this is true even today, is a period of drought. Rain coming on its due time is God’s blessing to the people of Israel, as it is explicitly recorded in the Shema Israel. We also learned in the second part of the Shema that rain in the land of Israel is conditioned to the people of Israel’s keeping God’s Covenant. The Tora describes a sort of cause/effect dynamics between the People of Israel’s behavior and Israel’s skies. Heavens of the Holy Land are not governed by the rules of nature but by God’s retribution or reward to Israel’s loyalty.

Although this berakha refers exclusively to the agricultural aspects of Israel’s economy, because it was conceived for the ancient Israel nation, when Jews dedicated mostly to agriculture, it also alludes to our general economic success. This berakha implicitly includes our request to God to bless our sources of livelihood in present times: our businesses, our jobs, our investments, etc.

Another important thing we learn from this berakha is that we specifically ask God to send rain as ‘blessing’ (tal umatar librakha). In other words, we expect to receive whatever rain is needed for the land, and not more than that! Rain in excess is the opposite of blessing. Similarly, in many areas of material life, excess might be counterproductive. Material excess can turn into a psychological “disorder”, which might affect us and our children, known as “Affluenza” 1. The feelings of unfulfillment and frustration that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by tireless pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to consumption.

We should ask HaShem to bless us, providing us with what we really need.

More on asking God in excess of
what you really need

“How the Lives of 10 Lottery Millionaires went Disastrously Wrong” (from money.co.uk)

Who wants to be a millionaire? Most people, surely (except billionaires of course). But sadly, winning a truck-load of money on the lottery, any lottery, comes with a heap of baggage. Daydreams of a millionaire lifestyle seem to have a habit of turning sour faster than a sub-prime mortgage, isolation, paranoia, drugs, crime, poverty and prison await those who fail to adjust, as this top ten of ‘Lottery Losers’ shows:

1. Jack Whittaker won a record $314.9m Powerball Jackpot in 2002. But life since then has been a long list of arrests, lawsuits, broken relationships and even death. In 2007, his then wife, Jewell admitted she wished she had ‘torn up the ticket’.

2. William “Bud” Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lotrery in 1988. He later described the experience as a nightmare and wishes it had never happened – who can blame him after he was sued by a former girlfriend eager to get her hands on the cash and his brother hired a hitman in the hope of inheriting the winnings. He invested in ill-fated family businesses and within a year was $1m in debt. Today he gets by on social security payments.

3. Luke Pittard from Wales won a ‘measly’ £1.3m on the National Lottery. After the novelty worn off and the obligatory lavish holiday, wedding and new home were done and dusted, he got bored and returned to work at MacDonalds.

4. An as-yet-unnamed Sicilian won £79m on the Italian lottery in 2008. Before he or she could even collect the winnings consumer groups were demanding that the windfall be seized by the government. The winner has since gone into hiding, fearing the Mafia will come calling.

5. Janite Lee won $18 million in 1993. Her generosity in giving money to a variety of political, educational and community causes was commendable – but just eight years later she filed for bankruptcy.

6. Mark Gardiner from London won $ 11m in 1995. Thirteen miserable years later, he hasn’t lost his money, but he has lost all his friends – even the ones he treated to new £100,000 homes – and lost touch with his family.

7. Michael Carroll won a £9.7m National Lottery Jackpot in 2002. Since then he has appeared in court more than 30 times and been jailed for drug related offences. In 2008, he admitted that ‘just’ £500,000 of his windfall remained.

8. Willie Hurt won 3.1 million in 1989. Two years later the money was gone and he was on a murder charge. Hurt spent his fortune on a divorce and crack cocaine.

9. Charles Riddle won $1 million in 1975. The original lottery car crash, he quickly got divorced, faced several lawsuits and was eventually indicted for selling cocaine.

10. Ken Proxmire won $1 million in the Michigan Lottery.He moved to California and invested in a car business with his brothers. Five years later, he was bankrupt and back working as a machinist.