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At Yibesheir in Marashah, a few years back Quite a few years back About seven, eight years ago And they asked me to give a shir on Tefila And I basically gave a shir that I give here Just without the papers And it felt actually really good, like it was nice. It flowed much better to just give the shir without reading the sources inside. It got me thinking, maybe I should change up Tefilas Shir. Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I should just give the Shir and give the idea. But I feel like part of what we came here for is not just entertainment, but also education. And I personally feel that the ideas, although on an entertainment standpoint It's better to just speak it out. But from the perspective of the Ideas lasting, it's better to see how the ideas develop from inside. And because someone, a lot of people say ideas, and you just don't know if it's legit. He's a rabbi, he's got a beard, it's probably legitimate. But on the other hand, when you see the sources, some of these ideas are so unbelievable that it's almost like you wouldn't believe it. So if I were to tell you this year, yesterday and just.
Say the idea, you'd probably be like, yeah, that just sounds a little wacky. But when you read it inside, you see channin, you see motion, you see the gemaras. The idea sticks, and you see how the ideas develop. So therefore, I do believe it's important. Not every shiur will be source based, and we'll be going through the sources. As I mentioned, there are some that are going to be exercises and other things that we're going to do. But I do think it's important to have a mixture between the presentation and at the same time seeing where the ideas develop through the sources themselves. As I mentioned, there is no meseches tefila. These sources are scattered throughout shas and poskim. So you have to find everything and then put the pieces together. That's why I think going through the sources in an organized way is very important.
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This year today, I say this a lot. What's cool about this year for me is this wasn't a shiur that I heard. This year is based on my own curiosity and my own research. And my own curiosity and my own research, I found these ideas And some of them really took me back And took me aback. And this is one of those because I remember when I first discovered this I even remember where I was. I was in Shalom Rav in Sfas, sitting there with a shul over there. And when I first discovered this, I'm Amish. I spent about three and a half hours Blown away by this finding. So I don't know if you'll feel the same way, but this is just one of those really important ideas in Tefillah. We know there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah. We have different svarim that delineate to us what those mitzvot are. I know there's no such sefer that ranks the 613 mitzvot. There's no top ten.
All of the mitzvot are important. Tia mitzvah kala kah mitzvah chamura bein echas. It says in Perkei Avos. Even a small mitzvah should be considered like a serious mitzvah. But we all know that there are more fundamental mitzvot than less fundamental mitzvot. We would never call someone not frum for Saying it's a bad one, but saying lashanah. We would never say someone's not frum for that. But eating on your kippur That might be one of those that you might say, "Well, that person's probably not from." So we all recognize that there are mitzvot that are more significant. So imagine you would put together a savor And you decide you're going to come up with an idea for a savor. I'm going to list the 613 mitzvot according to rank. Not just according to the list of the order of how it's written in the Torah. Whatever it might be, I'm going to list them according to rank.
Who here can give me number one The most important mitzvah in your mind? Number one. Fear of God. Fear of God. Nochiashem lo kecha Fear of God, fear of Zara. Something like that. Kibud Avim. Definitely up there. I don't put that as number one, but definitely put that in the top ten. What's the goal? I'm a curious guy. I remember when I went in the year 2000. So they had it was the end of the century, so they had on ESPN the top 100 athletes of the century And it's just entertainment. There's no real way to know who the top athlete is. I just want to know how you're gonna rank these. Entertain me for a minute. Shabbos. Kosher. Talmud Torah. Talmud Torah. So I got the top ten. Give me the bottom ten. Hashem, don't listen for a minute. Give me the bottom ten.
I know what you say. It's very important. Things like shiluach haken. That's like you know, that's like Come on, how often does that happen? Mitzvah for a guy, I'm saying. For a guy, it's not a mitzvah. Why is a mitzvah for a girl? I'm gonna take my placid cigar for saying that. I just lost my garthel. Give me how they. The truth matter is the bottom ten. You probably don't even know them. Shabbos is bottom ten. Shabbos. Talking to someone in the bathroom. Talking to someone in the bathroom. Whatever. The point is, Now that you're done entertaining me. Oh. Where does Tefillah fall? What do you think? If you were to just shoot a guess out there By raise of hands Bottom twenty. Top ten Top twenty Top fifty. I'm gonna go twenty-seven on that. So most of you fall into the category of Tefila would fall into top ten, top twenty, top fifty. Everyone agree top one hundred?
Top one hundred makes top one hundred. I've got to agree a hundred percent. And in fact, there is a basis for this. It says in the Parsha Avos Al Shlosh Shetvarim Ha Olam Omdin. On three things does the world stand? What does Pirkei Avot say? Torah, avoda, and gemilas hasadim. Torah is tam Torah. We rank that mitzvah very high. Gemilas hasadim, the love, definitely up there. Zechadon of Torah and avoda, which is tefillah. Avoda is tefillah. So as I was doing research to try to find the safer mitzvahs. Where Tefillah falls out I found something very fascinating. Do you know that there is a machlokas Rishonim as to whether Tefillah is a mitzvah at all? That means there are many Rishonim. In fact I would even venture to say a majority of Rishonim don't even rank Tefillah as a mitzvah. Minat Torah. It's not even a mitzvah.
Al shloshivar ba'alamdim, al Torah al va'oldeus v'sadeim. Tefillah doesn't even rank in the top six thirteen. You couldn't make room for six thirteen for tefillah. But then I opened up a Rambam and I said. I'm a Rambam guy because The Rambam does, in fact, rank it as a mitzvah. However, I think it'll be very fascinating when you read the mitzvah, what comes out. So let's take a look at Halacha Aleph. Mitzvah Saseil Esparo B'Chol Yom. There is a mitzvah to daven every day. Sheneh Mar, as it says in the Torah, Va'avad Temes Hashem Elokechem, that you should serve your God. Mipia Shmuah. From Torah Shabbal Pe, we know Lomdu. Shavoda zu ki tefila That this avoda is referring to tefila. Shneamar, as it says in the pasuk, uleavdo bechol levavchim, you should serve Hashem with all your heart. Amru chachamim, the sages say, the seches tainis, ezui avoda shemaleiv zu tefila.
What's the avoda of the heart? This is referring to tefila. However, says the Rambam, the ein minyan at tefilas minat Torah. Whole idea of davening three times a day That's not min ha torah. Once a day is min ha torah. Three times a day, mid the rabbanah. The ain mishnah hatzvila is also min ha torah. Specific sayings, essentially everything that's written in the seder, besides Shema Everything else is the rabbanah. The ain letzvila zman kavua min ha torah. And even tefillah has no set time, which is why women are really obligated to daven once a day. Because tefillah is not really a mitzvah saseh as man grama Because it's only once minat Torah any time of day. So technically, if one wanted to fulfill the mitzvah minat Torah according to the Rambam, what does one have to do? Talk to God once a day. Is there anything specific you need to say?
No. I mean Shema, but that's not Tefillah. You don't say Shema. You say Tefillah Kol Shema. But other than that To daven to Hashem means to speak to Hashem once a day. So it comes out to something fascinating. There's a machlokas rishonim as to whether Tefillah is a mitzvah at all And even the one or two that holds it is a mitzvah. It says it's only a mitzvah to speak to God once a day. Say whatever you want. Now I'm going. The Rambam gives some sort of a format as to how you should address God. But at the same time, the sitter is not the mitzvah minat Torah. You could fulfill it through the sitter. But that is not the mitzvah minat Torah. And the Ramban, right on the spot Argues on him. If you turn to the other side of the page This is where the Rambam writes.
That it's the fifth mitzvah doesn't mean in order. He counts it as the fifth mitzvah of the six hundred and thirteen mitzvahs. To the right of the page, the Ramban writes in his Sefer HaMitzvot. "The Ain Haskama B'Zeh." I don't agree with this. I hold that the sages hold that a tefillah is only the rabbanan. As we say in Parsh Shlishi, Linyan Bal Keri, Shikora Kriya Shema, Muvare Chalva, etc. And he says, only Kriya Shema Berachas Amazun is Doraisa. Tefillah is the Rabbanon. This is what the Ramban says. A machlokes as to whether or not Tefillah is even a mitzvah And if it is Perhaps only once a day. So now I get a lot of excuses. I'm sure when Rabbirg, whoever it is, wakes you up in the dormitory, why aren't you at Minyan? And you say, I'm not feeling well, Rabbi. Next time you could say Rabbi.
Sorry, but it's not a mitzvah. And even if you're a Rambam guy, which Rebbech, I know you are because you went through Rambam. Even if you're a Rambam guy, it's only once a day. I'll do it later and say whatever I want. No one uses that excuse because no one knows. And I remember when I first heard about this concept, being blown away by this. Tefillah in our culture seems to be one of the most important things that a Jew could do. If you think about being religious, you think about going to shul. You think about people going to shul on Shabbos. People go to shul. Going to shul is not even a mitzvah. It's not even a thing. Going to minyan is certainly not a thing. Minah Torah. Greeting from the sitter is not a requirement. So why such a big deal? On the other hand.
We find a very confusing message from Chazal. Because we hear how tefillah is maybe not even a mitzvah And we hear how tefillah, even if it is a mitzvah Once a day. But on the other hand We have a very interesting gemara in kedusha. I've printed it out for you. The gemara in kedusha debates what's a greater mitzvah. Learning Torah or doing mitzvahs What's more important? What's more fundamental? Learning Torah or doing mitzvahs? The Gemara debates. One opinion is brought down: Torah is greater. The other opinion is brought down: Mitzvah is greater. The Gemara concludes Nenu kulam ba'amru. Everybody came together and said, Talmud gadol, Talmud learning Torah is greater. Shat Talmud mevi li day Mitzvah Because Torah brings to action. So Torah is greater because Torah leads to action. Which one's greater? Action. You said Torah is greater. But you see how this like I'm not getting into this Gemara now. But this mamish like back and forth. Like which one's really better?
Which one's really better? Torah or mitzvah? Torah or mitzvah? But on the other hand, even though the Gemara does say that You turn the page too. Gemara in Brachos on that plain base The Gemara says, "amr reb elazar" Gedola tefila yosrim ymais e tovim. That while Torah and Masa is a debate Tefila In a certain sense, it is greater than both of them. And if you skip a little further down Wait to hear this one. It's about five lines down from the top. Va'amen revi lazar, gedola tefila yoser min akharbonos. Tefila is greater even than the Karbonos. Anyone have a question? What? Tefila is based on the Karbonos. Don't we say that Tefila is based on the Karbonos? How could something Karbonos be min Torah min Rabbanah Tefila? According to some, it's min haTorah. According to some, it's min the karbanim. But even if you hold it's min haTorah Isn't it in place of the karbanos?
So how could something that's in place of the karbanos be greater than the karbanos? It's a very fascinating gemara. The last gemara that I have quoted here. It's a long gemara. I'm not going to read it inside But it's important for you to have the source so that you have it. The Gemara asks What's the source for tefillah? What's the source for the concept of shacharis Mincha, marrif? Where does that come from? So the first suggestion that the Gemara has Es kommt von den Avos. Avram opfert Shacharis, Yitzchak opfert Mincha, Yaakov opfert Marrif. First, the price that the Gemara brings down. Then the Gemara brings down another price. It says, "You know what? It's based on the carbonos. Shacharis is Keneged, Talmid Shlacharis Minchas Mincha and Maariv is Maariv. They're based on the carbonos. What's very interesting is the Gemara. The Gemara brings down these two prices.
And that's it. The Gemara says. Avos, carbonos. What should the Gemara have done after it put down those two brises? Before we get to that, what question should the Gemara have asked? It's a very obvious question. Uramini. We have a contradiction. We have two brises. One brise says it's avos. The other brise says carbonos. Is that a contradiction? The Gemara does not bring it as a contradiction. Why not? All these questions, all these anomalies you find throughout all the Gemaras. You come to realize one of the most fundamental principles in Tefillah. That is something the Ramban himself says in his Sefer Amitzvos. The Ramban says Although if you turn back to the second side Page one Although it's true that tefila is only the rabbanan However I'm on the left. Column on the right-hand side
Second line down. Included in avodas Hashem is learning Torah and davening. In a time of struggle, in a time of suffering. And this is what it means. The he mitzvah al kol tsara v'tsara There is a mitzvah any time a person goes through suffering or struggle. Chetaval al tzebor, certainly when it comes upon the tzebor Litzok lefuna b'tfilo v'truah, to call out to Hashem. And what does the Ramban base this on? Ule avdo It's part of the service of Hashem. When a person's in sar He needs to call out to Hashem. They say I once heard this from Reb Brant Shvigel that the Rav Rav Salavichik Used to always mumble under his breath And people always assumed he was talking and learning. Finally, one of the talmidim asked him Rebbe, what are you saying? So he says, "Whenever I go from place to place and I'm not learning I whisper, 'Vishuoscha kivisi Hashem.'
I hope for Hashem's salvation. He asked him, "Why do you do that?" He says, "Because according to the Rambam, there's a mitzvah to daven once a day." But according to the Ramban, there's a mitzvah to daven to Hashem in your time of need. Who doesn't recognize that we need Hashem every moment? He looked at the Ramban instead of something like, "Oh, when I need Hashem, then I'll call out him." No, I need Hashem every moment. That is the mitzvah, and the Ramban says that even though the formal tefillah is only a mitzvah derabanan. But calling out Hashem in your personal time of need is an absolute requirement under the category. It doesn't have its own mitzvah. But it's part of the mitzvah uveula avdo. The same way you have to serve Hashem by doing mitzvahs, you have to serve Hashem by learning Torah, you have to serve Hashem by reaching out.
By talking to him in your time of need What comes out is something fascinating. Rabbi Isaac There's two dinim in tefillah. There are two aspects to tefillah. There is formal tefillah and there is informal tefillah. Formal tefillah is the stuff that you read in the siddur. Where does that idea come from? The Karbanos. We model our tefila, shach rizminchen mariv After the karbanos. That kind of tefila is d'orais or d'rabanan. D'orais. That d'rabanan. That kind of tefila is d'rabanan. Rabbos said there's another type of tefila. And that type of tefila doesn't come from the karbanos. Where does that come from? The avos comes from Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. I ask you a question. Don't be a smart aleck. You think? Abraham daven Shacharis. You think Yitzchak daven Mincha. You think Yaakov daven Maariv. Rachum. You think that happened? I know what you're going to tell me, based on the Gemara elsewhere. Entertain me for a minute.
Probably not. What does it mean that we're learning it from Avraham Yitzchak and Yaakov? We're learning the idea of the requirement to connect to Hashem. Avraham Yitzchak and Yaakov did not have a formal sitter. But you better believe Avraham Yitzchok and Yaakov had a relationship with God. That type of tefillah It's not based on the karbanos. That type of tefillah Its source is minatar. That type of tefillah is the essence of what it means to communicate and to connect to Hashem. This is what it means: gedola tefillah yosher mina karbanos. Tefillah is greater than the karbanos. We're not talking about the sitter. We're not talking. That's a replacement for the karbanos. We're talking about the heartfelt tefillah that a person calls out to Hashem. The Rambam says you have an obligation to do that once a day. The Rambam says you don't have a formal obligation to do that once a day, but you have to call out to Hashem in your time.
Rabbi Sa'ad, here's the problem. As the Rambam himself says. When Chazal put together the seder They did it for one reason and one reason only. What did people do before there was a seder? The Anshe Knesset Zegedola came out thousands of years after Matan Torah. People didn't say Baruch Shem They didn't say Ashrei. So what did they do before the Anshe Knesset Zegedola? The mitzvahs are the same in the Torah. They talked to Hashem. His brothers They spoke to God. They took out time during their day, probably a large percentage of their time. It says about the Chassidim of Rishonim that they used to daven for a total of nine hours a day. They would talk to Hashem. That's what they did. But you know what happened? There is one problem with allowing davening to be informal. Imagine davening was informal for you guys. What do you think would happen to tefillah?
It would well. Besides that, something much more. It would disappear. It would disappear. After you read the sedoros People would lose the ability to express themselves and have a relationship with Hashem. If you don't make it formal, it would just disappear. What's the job of the rabbanon? The job of the rabbanon is to try to uphold the Torah. So they created the sitter as a crutch. They created the sinner to assist you in connecting to Hashem. Not a replacement for a connection to Hashem. But we've done what? We have replaced sincere connection to the Rebbeim of Shulam with a book. And we think that if we read what the sinner says, even though we have no clue what it means. That we can use that to replace a relationship with God. It's almost like we have corrupted it to the point where we have allowed the derabbanan to replace the daraisa.
If two people were to walk into a room One person walks into the room, puts on a kepa And goes up to the front and cries out to Hashem for five, ten minutes, and kisses the aron kodesh. With tears in his eyes, he walks out. Another guy goes to shachrus min chamariv, Reads the book Doesn't know what he's saying Doesn't think about who he's talking to. I ask you Who's fulfilled the mitzvah? Rav Osayyeh. My goal here is not to get you to drop the sinner. My goal here. Is not to destroy formal tefillah But I want you to see the sources. You can understand what I do want. Eventually, our goal is going to be to see not only how the sitter does not replace real legitimate tefillah But it's an unbelievable ingenious system. That Chazal created in order to help you in your tefillah.
But before we do that We need to start with the basics. With the foundation With the basis of what all of tefillah is based on, and that is working on your connection to Hashem. When you work on your informal connection to Hashem Then you will be able to use the sitter to assist you in growth and connectivity to Hashem. But if you don't, If you don't ever work on that aspect of your tefillah Then the sitter will never quite lead you to the goal of really connecting. So therefore I don't want to talk about the sitter right now. I don't want to talk about the derabbanan. The way to really build this foundation. Is to start with the doorice. Is to really try to work and start building in your relation with Hashem. There's something great about a sitter. What's great about a sitter? It creates a space between you and God.
There's like I don't really know how to relate to Him So it's much easier to read it out of a book. That's why Chazal did it to help you. Not to compare. That the Jews built the ego. You want to know why they built the ego? Because when they thought they lost Moshe, they said, "What's going to be in between us and God?" The connectivity of us directly to Hashem that was foreign to them. We need a conduit. Let's create the ego. What I'm going to challenge you to do is something that I think for many of you will really start to change your relationship with God. But more importantly, ultimately, it will be a way that actually changes your davening. The sitter will suddenly become alive and start coming more meaningful. I'm not going to start with the sitter. I'm going to start with the fundamentals.
And that is to remove the intermediaries. Your relationship to Hashem. For the purposes of this year And the purpose of the exercise I'm about to give you is not the gemara. Your relationship to Hashem is not the sitter. Your relationship to Hashem is not the mitzvahs. Of course, it is all those things, but for the purposes of this year. We're going to do something that no one ever does. We're going to talk about God. Torah, not mitzvahs Not any of those other things, not mikva. God. That's a little uncomfortable now. Who feels uncomfortable talking about a relationship with God? It's uncomfortable. I don't expect you to answer that. It's uncomfortable. Therefore, I'm going to give you a challenge. I told you There are three types of guys that take the shiur. Number one, there's a guy that checks in, checks out, shows up here, shows up there.
Listens to a few ideas. Number two There's a guy who comes and listens. Number three, there's a guy who's willing to do the work, to do the hard work. I hope you choose to do the hard work. The hard work I give you this week is to take a minimum of five minutes every day to talk to Hashem. I know it's going to be awkward for a lot of you. It's going to be awkward. Where do I do it? So I'll give you some ideas that I do. Number one Look at this campus The forest. You can walk anywhere you want. You can literally verbalize words. I want to tell you something. I'll tell you another trick. It's a beautiful thing. When I was younger, when I was your age A guy talked to himself in public. They put him in an insane asylum. Today, all you got to do is put in one of those iPod. What do they call them? AirPods in your ear.
And you're talking to yourself, and everyone thinks you're on the phone. Go on your phone. You talk to Hashem right there. You don't want people seeing you. So there's. Three ideas that I have. Number one is go out Go out to the forest, go out to an area out here that's safe. And go walk five minutes a day and talk to Hashem. Five. It's okay if you do ten, fifteen minutes. You're allowed to do ten, fifteen minutes, minimum of five. So those are for the adventurous among you. Second option that I personally love is when you're in bed Underneath your blanket. You don't speak loud. Cover over your head. Talk to Hashem in privacy. Your own bed. Cover yourself. Talk to Hashem there. That sometimes is the best. For those of you who find both those things a little creepy, I'll give you a third option.
During Shema Kolenu After Rikomal Tshivenu, or before you take three steps back in Shmona Esrei You're allowed to stop there and talk to Hashem. Take a few minutes. Talk to Hashem in English, your own language, in the way you want to speak to Him. Use the idea that I said to you last year. Which is, don't make it so formal. Be real Not the fairy tale godmother Someone who's standing right beside you Who wants to help you Who is listening to you? To have emuna and bittachon in that To have faith and trust that Hashem is there He wants to hear you. He's listening and can help. And to talk to Him like He's real. To take five minutes a day. That's all I ask. Not an hour, not two hours, not three hours. Five minutes a day for the next. And let's try to start building tefillah midaraisa So that eventually we'll be able to also use the tefillah derabanan, the seder, to be able to actualize the daraisa as well. We have to start from the foundation. What exactly?
What exactly we? I apologize about my voice. I'm a little under the weather. What exactly should we talk about? I feel like when we talk about a problem It's more like It's like problems thinking in discussion Like what is it? So here's here's the here's the interesting thing. Where most people get frustrated is when they talk to Hashem once in a while. They do like all the basic stuff. Hashem, please take care of my family, take care of this, that, the other thing. Give me my parents, parnasa. Give me parnasa. Help me get into a good college. What I'm going to challenge you to do is do it every day of the week. It's going to start to get repetitive. What that's going to force you to do? It's going to force you to actually start digging deeper. And that's where I'm headed with this Because we said tefillahs and avodah should be leif and avodah of the heart. Stand reality. Most of us are not in touch with our heart.
Most of us are not serving Hashem with passion. Most of us are not serving Hashem from the heart. If you're not there Then tefillah is not going to go. If you want to get really good at tefillah and really change your life through tefillah and feel connected, you have to start digging. And so I'm starting off slow. I don't have to push too hard in the beginning. Five minutes a day during shemakolinu, wherever you want. Switch it up. It doesn't have to be the same thing every time. Try to be a little original. Try to be real. And watch as that affects every single aspect of your day. That's what it will do. Eventually, with time. So hypothetically, if someone wanted to just do his sporty douchey, like the buttery instructors to use a sitter, what kind of topics is someone supposed to cover? Anything they want.
No rules for the purposes of this. No rules. So then, what? What gives the right to instruct me to recite? We'll get there. Different brachos. We'll get there. The rabbanan only intended to help you. And They did you a tremendous service. I have not gotten there yet because I can't build the whole building in one she'er. You got to give me a chance. Start with the foundation. We'll get to the rabbanan. I promise you, we will not leave them hanging. They're great, and you'll see the unbelievable thing that they did for us. But in order to understand that, you have to start from scratch. Kind of say the fact that now we know that giving from the sitters isn't actually with the rice. So it kind of makes me more likely to just talk to God, but makes me less likely to use sitters. That is true. That is a risk that I run in giving this year. That is definitely a risk I run in giving this year. If there's a tremendous drop off in minion, advisor might pull me into the office and be like, "What'd you do?"
But I am asking you to recognize that you are watching a series. You're watching a movie, and you only saw the first ten minutes. So you have to hang in there. You will eventually be impassioned and recognize that the sitter is doing unbelievable things. I can't even begin to describe to you those things right now. You have to be patient. So can I ask you another question? Very quickly. If you would see one of these. We've seen one of these like hippie guys just talking out loud, just saying his psalms like that. And I said, 'Do you use the Siddur?' He's like, 'No, I just talk to God.' "Okay. " No, he's filling a beautiful daraisa. Fortunately, he's being over in mitzvah darabon. He's being over. He is being over in mitzvah darabon. Again, it's not a matter of worse or. He's being over mitzvah darabon for sure.
Like obviously. There is a reason that Chazal put the seder together the way that they did, because there are certain things that you can't fulfill just by doing it on your own, and we'll talk about that when we get there. So when you ask something, you're supposed to just ask it out. If you want something, you're supposed to just ask it straight out. God grant this. Again, you would deal with anyone real I'm hoping you're not just going to look to God as a catalog that you're ordering from. I'm asking you really to use your five minutes to work on your relationship with Him. You can use and talk to Him about things that you need, but it should be for the purpose of trying to go deeper in your relationship with Hashem. That's really the purpose of this. And by the way, that's what makes Tefillah Gedola from everything. To a certain extent, when the Gemara says that Gedola Meimaisa is because there is nothing in all of Torah that requires you.
To have a relationship with God A person can learn. We know this from yeshivas. A person can learn totally for intellectual stimulation. Having nothing to do with God. Used to be in the older yeshivas in Europe, people used to learn Gemara and smoke cigarettes on Shabbos. So it doesn't have anything necessarily to do with God. It's a great intellectual entertainment. People can be very good at learning and have no relationship with Hashem whatsoever. Chesed Atheists could be great balei Chesed. You don't have to be a religious person to be motivated to do Chesed. But I've yet to meet an atheist that davened. I haven't yet met that. So davening is synonymous with faith. Davening is synonymous with relationship, and that way, Tefillah is really greater than everything else. And says that move away from more mundane matters and raise your chile up on more like spiritual level.
Of course, we'll talk about that as well. But right now, we're again we have to know where we're holding. Right now, whatever you want to talk to Hashem. Be the person building. That the sinner and minion. I know it's what you were saying. It's like rabbanim and you don't really. It's not direct, but I think also I'm sure you probably get this. I feel like the sitter in Minyan does so much more than just a position. Not like if you say, if you were to say, okay, let's take sitter in Minyan, let's take the Rebbeim and do this, you lose so many things about Judaism that are so fundamental, like community, which is gone, no doubt. Which is why I'm not actually suggesting that we stop going to Minyan and get rid of the sitter. Yeah, I'm over-dramatizing this for the purpose of effect. To internalize this lesson, that's one of the hard things about the shiur and learning about tefillah in general. In order to give you all of the ideas, I need to be able to really give an impression on you of each individual shear.
The growth is going to come from working on each individual thing by itself, and then when you learn all of the ideas, see how really they all connect to one another. Take everything with a grain of salt. Recognize I'm not saying you should just do the tefillah min haTorah and ignore the tefillah min the rabbanon chas v'shalom. But I am—it's important that you at least know this and start to work on it. Got it. If you're asking something from Hashem, can you? I don't say make a deal with him because that's always dangerous to make deals. But with God Can you give him reasons why he should do something? Absolutely. Like. Absolutely. If you really need someone to. Absolutely. And we see examples of people that make deals with God in the Gemara. But as long as you don't take those deals too seriously But you shouldn't do that. Really, you should, as you said, you can give reasons.
Make a case, make your argument. That's a lot of what I was saying last year. Argue. Ultimately, at the end of the day, you have to respect your father's decision when he says no to giving you the keys to that car. But you're silly if you're not going to argue that. It's your whole night. You have a right to do that. Hashem wants that from you. We ask Hashem like English. If we're asking for something, do we say he should help me? Like if we're asking for something, like to help us with something personal, do we say for to help us, let us, make us do it? Like how do we say? I don't want to really get into that yet because we'll talk about that a little more in a later shiur about how to address Hashem. But right now, I'm leaving it vague on purpose because I want this. We're gonna do this slowly. I'm educating you from scratch, so I want this to be organic. I want this to come from you. As long as you say it. I always say in your private conversations.
Just don't curse at Hashem and Chas v'Shalom, and don't rip on him. But you can be passionate about what you say and you can make your case. We're supposed to be happy with what we have and happy to ask for more. Talk about that. That is an entire she'er based on that question. You remember that? We'll meet next time.
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