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Today we're going to be attempting to answer probably one of the most fundamental questions about tefila that people have. And I feel like before I actually got to see these sources inside I never really got a great answer for these questions. It's sort of like one of those questions that you have but don't ask. And when you ask, the question's always better than the answer. And I think the reason why that is because it's just again in Tefillah sometimes it's hard to find the answers because they're spread out all over the place and you have to kind of put the pieces together and figure it out. Once you see it, it really is something. I hope you'll find it a little philosophically challenging, but at least you'll know how it works. Hopefully we'll give you some insight. The question that I'm dealing with today is Why do we have to daven at all?
Meaning Hashem knows what everybody needs. He knows what's good for you. He knows what it is that you want. He understands your situation. So why? Do I need to open my mouth? And I've heard a whole slew of answers to this in the past from different people. My favorite one that I hate the most is my favorite one that I hate the most is You're right. Tefillah can't change anything. It's a mussar exercise. It's meant for you to recognize that Hashem is someone to turn to, and that you need Hashem for everything. So we ask Him for things because it's important for us to recognize that Hashem runs the world. So we turn to Him and we ask Him. If you need it, Hashem gives it to you, and if you don't need it, Hashem won't give it to you, no matter how much you daven. Even if He wanted to give it to you, there really is no purpose in terms of davening.
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In terms of making things better or changing your reality, Hashem will do to you whatever is meant to be. And there is no changing that, and therefore there is no purpose to davening. And my goal in tefillah here over approximately the next month is going to be to disprove that in all sorts of ways. And to show you that that's the farthest thing from the truth. And then, of course, it's always good to recognize Hashem as the Creator of the world and the source of everything. I don't deny that. But that to see whether a person daven's or doesn't daven can actually very much change his reality and can affect him, at least according to Yiddishkeit. And we begin our journey in Parshas Bereishis, a very apropos place to begin the journey. The Torah is talking here about the fact. That Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world And even though we know that Hashem created the plantation before He created Adam But nonetheless, the Torah tells us that since Adam was not around yet So the plantation kind of did not come out. It did not come into fruition until Adam was created, and the Torah tells us that since the plantation.
Terem yev aaretz All of the plantation All of the bushes and trees before they were on the world and land, b'chol esav asade, and all of the grass Terem yitzmach before it sprouted. Why did it not sprout yet? Kilo himtiur Hashem elokim al aaretz, because Hashem did not bring rain yet. And The Adam Ayin Labor Sadaama. Man was not there to work the land. What's the point of bringing rain if there would be no person in order to work the land? And immediately, as you read this, you're struck with a very philosophical question. Which is When did Adam have to start working the land? Only after he sinned. This is talking about before the sin. What in the world is the Torah saying that the reason Hashem did not bring the rain in order that the stuff should sprout was because man was not there to work the land?
Man didn't have to work the land. At least in concept, until he sinned. What's shot in the pasuk? Rashi's bothered Benis, fortunately And Rashi tells us: if you take a look at the bottom of the page On the right-hand column, two lines in, I have a bracket, two lines from the bottom. Kilo himdier. Hashem did not bring rain. Umy time alay himdier. Why didn't Hashem bring rain? Lefisha adam ain laav or sadama. Man wasn't there to work the land. What does that mean? He wasn't there to work the land. Ve'ain makir betovasin shel bishamen. He didn't recognize because he wasn't there. There was no one to recognize the need for rain and the benefit of rain. However, ukeshe ba adam When man came into the world, v'yada shehem tsairach And he knew that it was necessary. What did he do? La olam for the world His spalaleh.
He davened for the rain V'yardu, and then the rain came down, v'tzamchu ha'ilanos v'adashia, and that caused the trees and the desh and the grass and the plants to sprout. Fascinating. So according to Rashi, when the pasuk says, "Va'Adam Ayn Lavo Desadama," man was not there to work the land. What is that referring to? What is "Lavo Desadama" referring to? So Rashi is teaching us a major yisod, and from this Rashi alone, you can dispel all of the people that say that davening doesn't change anything in the physical world. Because Adom Arishan's icker work was for what? Was taten. Now one could say, one could potentially say that was before he sinned But after he sinned, now maybe. The only work now is physical. Davening doesn't do that anymore. As you'll see in a moment, that's not true. Davening, there's now two levels of istadlus. It does not mean that there's only one. Before, it was only davening.
That's true. Nowadays, there's only working in the physical world. But you will see that is not true. It requires davening and working in the physical world. I know this is going to lead to a whole slew of questions, like what about the 99. 9% of the world that don't daven? How do things happen for them? We will deal with that, not in today's she'er But there will be the next she'er and the she'er after that. We'll be dealing with that question of if we see things happening for people even when they don't daven, and sometimes even when we do daven, we don't see things happening. In other words, how? You have to ask: How does davening affect things? But in terms of how does davening affect things, as I said, that will be in the next year, we'll begin to talk about that. But right now, I want to leave that question aside. Quick, yes.
This was Anavirishon. Like his kashrut on Shabbos, like where there's an idea of shoches and all that. So hold off. We'll get to it. Good. Let's look at the next source. So that leads us to the question as follows. Let's assume for a minute. Moshe, Adamarishan's davening is what caused was necessary in order to cause the rain to come. The question, though, is still on a philosophical level. Assuming we can learn from Adam to everyone else. The question on a philosophical level is why it is necessary. Meaning, why doesn't Hashem just give us what it is that we need? And how does it work? So watch this. This is a piece from a sefer called Shaarim B'Tfila, written by Rav Shimson Pinkus. I'm going to read through it very quickly. But I'm going to. I think it's a very soda stick. It's a very fundamental idea in tefila, and important for everyone to see inside. One of the main ideas in philosophy to understand in Judaism.
That even though Hashem sees everything He knows all of reality. But this is how Hashem organized the world. It's as if he doesn't see what is not shown before him. Listen to this, guys. And he makes it as if he doesn't know, mashaloma orim olav elov that which is not presented in front of him yizbarach. There are greater philosophical implications of this idea that impact bechira free choice and things like that. The main reason that person was created in the world. We'll get back to that shortly. You should also know this has to do with when a person is suffering. Even if a person is in terrible pain, if he does not express that suffering and that pain to Hashem, in terms of philosophically concerned. The way Hashem is in the world
He makes it as if He does not see it and does not hear it. The only way in which it is presented before God is how He sees things in heaven. If a person cries out. That he should have mercy on his soul. Haleches lishol, that's going to the grave. V'alshuvet zara gedol on the fact that he's suffering tremendously. V'yuma, that's how it's presented before Hashem. V'az, and then kimo averachaman, like a father who's merciful when he hears his son screaming. Then Hashem is going to leave all of his things that hold him aside, and he's going to go run to save him. Cain likewise. When a person screams up and says, "Hashem, save me," then the cries reach out to him, and then he goes on to say that. There's nothing potentially that can stop Hashem. Of course, we know sometimes Hashem says no, but the point is what Rav Shmuel Pinchas is saying is that Hashem, of course, knows everything
But the way He created the world was that what is not presented in front of Him, He makes it as if He does not know. Which means if a person needs help from Hashem and he needs Hashem to step in and change nature. And alter something on your behalf. It's as if Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not know what's going on unless you daven, unless you present him. Of course, that leaves us with the following question. I get it, Rav Blane. You showed me that we have to daven because if we don't daven, Hakadosh Baruch Hu might withhold things from us. And so, therefore, we need to daven so that he can intervene. Or else he won't, because he will make it as if it's not going on, even though it is. But the kind of question that bothered me after I discovered this was: Is this a game?
Are we playing a cat and mouse game? What is this? Like, I'm saying I just don't understand. If you know I need something, you see me going through tzar. It's like imagine you see somebody suffering. You see somebody suffering. You know somebody suffering. You didn't ask. I'm going to look the other way. What kind of? What? We're talking about God. This is God. You know what I mean? I get that that's how the world works. That's how He makes the world work. But is that really the way it should be? I'm going to answer that question. Turn to the other side. Turn to the next page. It's dumar yevamos on samach dalin. The Gemara in Yevamos on Sanhedrin on the bottom says Amrav Yitzchak mitnei ma hayu avosenu akurim. Why were our forefathers? Why did they all have difficulty having children? They all had difficulty having children.
Why is that? They're good people. Says the Gemara, "Mitnei shacharish parukhum misavet et vilasen shel tzadikim," because Hashem loves and He wants. He desires the tefilla of the tzaddik. Let me get this straight. So Hashem withholds things from us and makes it as if He doesn't see what we need. Even though they could be good things for us Because whatever is not presented in front of Him It's as if He doesn't see it. So we need to dive into presenting it in front of Him. We're saying more than that, more than the fact that. We have to dive into Him in order for Him to hear us. He will create problems for us so that we should dive into him. And even sadiqim like Avram Yitzchak and Yaakov. Do you think Avram and Yitzchak and Yaakov deserved to go through the tsar that they were going through? Why did he do it? It could have said, why? Avram and Yitzchak and Yaakov were?
Why did they have difficulty having kids? Yaakov was talking about with Rachel. They had difficulty having kids because they were a gilgal of this, and they did averus. It's not what it says. Doesn't say because they were gilgulim of some bad people in the past, and they had to go through tsar. They had to go through pain. Mipnei Hakadosh Baruch Hu misal tov, tvi l'shul tzadikim. Hashem loves the tzadikim. Can you imagine this? Before I gave you a mussel, I gave you a parable. Imagine I saw someone going through suffering, and I see what's going on, but I make it as if I didn't see and I turn my head away. That's one level of a problem that we set up until now. Now what I'm saying is, imagine I cause the problem. And they're suffering because of me All because I want them to come to me and ask me for help. Once again What's going on? And if you say that's just Avram Yitzchak and Yaakov I will show you that can apply to anyone.
Take a look at the next page. Skip the Gemara in Bravos. Turn to the second Gemara in Brachos on Daf Hey. The Gemara over here in Brachos talks about what should a person do if he's going through tsar. What should a person do if he's going through pain and suffering in his life? So Amar Rava The Itamer of Chista, Imroa Adam Shiyasurin Ba Nalov. If a person sees, you guys see where I am. If a person sees that suffering is coming on him. The first thing he should do is look into his deeds. He should look to improve himself. Check your ways, then return to Hashem. Let's say pish v'lo matzah. He searched and he didn't find anything. He can presume that it might have to do with the fact he's being mavatul Torah, and he should try to prove in that. That's the next thing a person should work on. It's not saying it's because of this, but it's saying that. You start to search your negative deeds and try to improve. But let's say you looked and you didn't find anything too terrible that you're doing.
You didn't find any major mitzvah. It was my harusa, a few minutes here and there. But I'm learning pretty well. I'm actualizing on myself. Biadua You can know it is known. She is surim shel avahim. Here, suffering due to Hashem's great love. I don't know about you. I love lots of people in my family. I even like you guys a lot. Even love you sometimes. But as much as I love you, I'm not going to try to cause you pain. That's not something a normal person usually does when he loves someone. So what in the world? We're talking about Hashem creating problems for people. Because he loves them, and the Gemara continues and says the type of yisurin should result in tefillah and Torah and things like that. Not that it makes a person not possible for him to daven and to learn, but the point is that he should turn to tefillah and try to fix it.
But it's known to be yisurin shalava. What in the world is going on? In this way I'm going. I want to share with you the last idea from Rav Pinchas. And then I want to add on to it. We start out of time. Shavuot, last page. Another major idea in tefillah. Uveemes in truth Kvar hayayochal adam l'idavik bevarah b'tefillah. If a person wants He can attach to Hashem through davening. Gam belosh sh'tehemi toh tzar Even if there was no suffering, a person could daven to Hashem. Shatihilos v'tishbachos gamin tefilas hayin Because thanking Hashem, praising Hashem is also tefillah. You don't only need to dive into Hashem when times are going rough. You can dive into Hashem to thank Him for the good things that are going on in your life by praising Him. Avochilak abliyish. There's a big distinction in the types of tefillas that those are.
Shilashiros v'tishbachos. In order for a person really to connect to Hashem through praising Him and thanking Him and things like that, you really need to try to awaken yourself in a major way to try to like the nature of a person is when things are going great and things are going well, I'm good. There's no reason that a person has to really cry out to Hashem to be close to Him for help when things are going well. If a person wants to be able to do that, it takes a lot of effort to get there. Because the nature of when things are when Hashem's treating you with kindness and with goodness, that generally speaking a person forgets about Hashem when things are going well. Can it seem like it says in the pasuk, perhaps you will be satisfied of Amarti mi Hashem, and you will go and you'll say, Who's Hashem? As opposed to when a person's going through suffering, she beteva that is part of nature. When a person is struggling, when a person is suffering, mikarvos hein es anefesh forces a person to draw close to Hashem l'sharsha to its source. Gam bal karko even against his will v'shalo meretzono And that's something he doesn't want. He goes on a whole arichas here. I'll just tell you outside.
I'm not going to read the whole thing inside. He goes ahead and he says that therefore a person can't think for a second that it's possible for him to attach to Hashem through tefillah in the way that he could when he goes through struggles versus when things are going well. Therefore, even Avram Avinu Avram Avinu, as great as Avram Avinu was Needed Tsar as a motivator. To daven properly. But that leaves us with one last question. Fine. So tefillah is better when times are tough. But why do we have to make things tough so I can daven better? Why is that necessary? A lot of people make a mistake in davening. It's a very important thing to understand. A lot of people have a question. They ask when they daven for something, and this is another big philosophical question people have. When they daven for something for a long time and it doesn't happen You daven and daven for someone to get better and they don't.
You daven for your parents to improve and it doesn't. Wasn't my tefillah a waste? And the answer that everyone gives—it's a nice answer. Is yeah, but you don't know where those tefillos are going to help you somewhere else in your life. You don't know how those tefillos are going to assist Kallah Yisrael in some other way, bring some other suos. That's an answer. But I would like to use these ideas to bring you something that I think is much more fundamental. It's a little bit of a hard thing to swallow, but truth is sometimes hard to swallow. A lot of people make the mistake and they look at tefillah as a means to an end. Tefillah is the means in order to achieve the ends of more parnassu. Tefillah is the means to achieve refuah, health. Tefillah is the means to repair this relationship. I need help with Hashem.
Rabbi Yisai, what we see from this idea. Is the exact opposite true? We were not put on this world to have good parnasa. We were not put on this world to have health. We were put on this world on a mission to draw close to Hashem. That is the whole reason we are here. We are not here for health. We are not here for wealth. We are not here for good relationships. We are here to serve Hashem. We are here to draw close to Him. We're on a mission to draw close to Him. That is the only thing in truth that matters in this world. All the other stuff is a means to get there. Parnassa is a means to draw close to Hashem. Health is a means to draw close to Hashem. Good relationships are means to draw close to Hashem. That's the big mistake that the world is making. They're making everything about the money and this and that. That's not what it is. That's all stuff in order to achieve a connection and a closeness to Hashem.
If that's true Then Hakadosh Baruch Hu would make sense that for those that He loves, that for those that He cares about the most, His sadikim That He should bring them opportunities with which to draw closer to Him. And so, therefore. Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes it as if He does not hear, not because He needs your tefillah, not because He's sitting there to come to me and ask me, so I can feel good about myself. Chas v'shalom. He's doing it because He knows that if He doesn't create needs, if He doesn't create issues, if He doesn't create challenges You're not going to achieve on the same level. Arkidei kach. Until the point that the Sharan Betvila writes that even Avraham Avinu, as great as he was, could not have become Avraham Avinu without those challenges. He never would have achieved the levels that he could have achieved if he didn't have something to cry about, if he didn't have something to daven for. Without the struggle of Yitzchak Avinu He could have never—or not having Yitzchak Avinu for a hundred years—he could have never become Avraham Avinu.
The Tsar was a tool in order to draw him closer to Hashem. Rabbi Sa'adi, if the stuff is the ends, if tefillah is a means to an ends, then you have a good question. It didn't turn out. I davened for this person to get better. They didn't get better. What's with my tefillah? That's because you're making a mistake. Tefillah is not a means of an ends. The stuff is the means. To propel the ends of connection to Hashem and tefillah The tefillah is the end. When someone is in sarr, when someone's in pain, when someone's suffering When someone needs us and we daven for them That is the end. If it happens, if it turns out the way we wanted it to That would be great. Obviously, we'd love that. We want the person to get better. But these things are. We have to look into the world, and in my tefillah, one of the things I do is actively look for things out there. Baruch Hashem, if I don't have so much sara going into my life, I should be able to look out there and find sara out there to daven for, because it propels a person in his tefillah. It allows his tefillah to get greater.
And of course, if you think for a second, now I'm going to work it into the other answer that people give. If you don't think. That the person or the situation that triggered that tefillah That person doesn't get s'chus for all of that connection to Hashem And of course he does. It's like Rebbeim Kanievsky said Gavul Adar said after the three boys were kidnapped and killed. Someone asked him. Turns out people were davening for a week. That they should be found safely And as it turns out, the facts of the case were that they were killed almost immediately after they were kidnapped. There was no process. They were kidnapped and they were killed. So all those tefilas for a week were for nothing. Couldn't have changed the reality. Could not have. They were dead. Could not have changed the reality. You know what Chaim said?
Chaim said something very strong. Said the three neshamas up in Shamayim. Three neshamas up in Shamayim were davening. That should be a little longer. Wait a little longer. Look at all the achdos. Look at all the tefillah. Look at this end. Look what Klal Yisrael is turning into. I was here when that went on. You have no idea. There has never been achdos in Klal Yisrael, maybe ever in the history of Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael since then. From the beginning of time till then and after. Since then. The amount of achdos, the amount of tefillah. If you don't think that's sus for these three boys, that these three boys caused and propelled such love and achdus and tefillah and klal yisroel It didn't turn out the way anybody wanted it to turn out. Hashem has His reasons. Hashem has His ways. But if you understand that it's not just to bring about a change, but that davening and connecting to Hashem is the whole purpose of life.
You'll never ask the question: If it didn't turn out, then it wasn't my tefillah waste. Tefillah is not a waste. Your tefillah is the whole purpose of it. And so, therefore The reason that a Kadosh Baruch Hu withholds things from us is because He knows that the purpose of your life is davening. It's not a means to get stuff. The purpose of your life is to attach to Him, and one of the major ways we do it is through tefillah. Even though Hashem sees your situation, you don't think He wants to help you. Of course, He wants to help you. But if He were to just give it to you And help you and get you out of the situation. Then what was the point of the situation to begin with? We need to use that situation in order to propel us better and bring us closer.
So therefore, it turns out Rabbi Yisrael has a crazy thing. Hashem created the world this way, which means now it's a part of nature. If we don't daven for things that we need, if we don't express to Hashem our needs and our wants Then it could be that. The things that are meant for us could be withheld for us. You have to daven for them. Not only because we need the stuff, because we have to look at davening as itself as a means to the end. I'll leave you with this. Have time? I don't know. What time is it? Three. I'll leave you with this. This idea. We say on Yom Kippur that Tshuva Tefila, uztaka Mavirin esroa hagazeru. What does that mean? Tshuva Penance. Tefila, prayer. Uztaka, giving charity. Mavirin, remove. Esroa hagazeru. What does that mean? The bad from the decree. The evil from the decree. What should it have said? The evil decree. Es hagazeru ro.
The evil decree. Why does it say Esroah Hagazerah? You want to hear something beautiful? Says Esroah Hagazerah B'sai It's because the decree is not bad. The decree is good. You want to know what the decree is? Hashem wants you closer. Except we need something to propel us to get closer. So Hashem sends us challenging situations. So there's two ways this situation can go. Either the tsar can continue Or we can use tshuva, tefila, and sedaka to remove the evil of the decree. Which means we're saying to Hashem, Hashem, we don't need the tsar in order to draw close to you. We get the message. We don't need the tsar in order to draw close to you. We don't want the roya hagazerah. We don't want the difficulties that force us to get closer. We just want to get closer. We just want your decree. What's your decree? I want Klal Yisrael closer to me.
I want you closer to me. That's good. But sometimes Hashem has to use roa. Sometimes he has to use difficulties to get us there. So we say, No, Hashem. Chulva, tefila, and tzedaka. By doing chulva, tefila, tzedaka. We're already drawn close to you. So therefore, it's maverin esroya gazer. It removes the evil aspect of the decree, the part of the decree that makes us have to put our backs against the wall to force us. We don't need to be forced. We're already there. And that's the message that we're saying on Yom Kippur. The basic idea, like this. Doubting matters, but also you should know something else. Davening isn't just a means to an end. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It is the ends within itself. In terms of how tefillah actually works How it can actually change things And to change things in a positive way, in a way that actually is beneficial for us. So we'll talk about and begin to explore in the next fundamental shiur. Which will be in two weeks. Tomorrow we're going to do in the seder, and then next week, Wednesday and Thursday is the tziu. 唔放股票 咁。
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