The Genesis of prayer | Rabbi Dr. Aaron Adler

Okay, tough. Just want to begin with the preliminaries. As usual, the Wednesday morning shearim um in memory of Daniel ben David and Leah bat Abraham Strauss and Mordechai ben Moshe and Rachel bat Joseph Mayer Marcus and Bracha, parents of Judy and Menachem Marcus. And our shear as usual is in memory of Elisheva Frist, Elisheva Sima bat Zalman and Bracha. Okay. Um regards from uh our brethren in Cincinnati. Um they're still there, but some of them are eyeballing Israel in the near future, which Baruch Hashem Baruch Hashem and uh um I think we maximized on the fact that Nefesh b'Nefesh was running a Aliyah Shabbat throughout the United States, and as it was um I was a guest speaker for that Shabbat. Whoever's phone is ringing. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Whoever it is. Whoever it is, we're not home. Okay. Here here here in the back. Thanks. Okay. Okay. This is it. This is it. Okay. Let's um hear what the Rav had to say about Parshat Vayeira, and he had a lot to say about everything in the Chumash, and as I mentioned previously, we have a now five-set five-volume set of Chumash Rashi with the Rav's commentary. The Rav never sat and wrote a commentary. He He said many things at different occasions. Much of it today is in print, and the OU simply edited things that the Rav said about any particular pasuk and placed it next to that particular pasuk, so it looks like it appears as if it's a commentary, but it's not a commentary. It's not like reading uh you know, Rashi or Ben Ezra, for sure not. But, nevertheless, you get the Rav's take on aspects of parshat hashavua. When we speak about the avot, a big time, we're talking about among other things the genesis of tfila. It's you know, there's a concept that the Ramban introduced already in parshat lech lecha, ma'aseh avot siman lebanim, that somehow what goes on with Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov is a prototype of that which will occur to Am Yisrael as the nation develops. Uh one of those class class A examples of ma'aseh avot siman lebanim is going to be the whole institution of tfila. So, we'll just say a word about tfila. The philosophical problem of tfila as the Rav developed it is how in the world can a human being who is finite, has a beginning and an end, in Hebrew we say he's a ben muta, he is mortal, mortal man with all the limitations of mortality in terms of time and place, how in the world can such a being communicate with the infinite? Kadosh Baruchu is haya hoveh v'yihiyeh, beyond time, beyond place, and so on. There there seems that there can be no um method even or channel of communication. So, how does that work? How is it possible even from the point of view of the humility side of human beings, how in the world can we have the chutzpah to even turn to Hakadosh Baruchu? So, these these are philosophical issues that the Rav decided to kick around a little bit. Um one of the things he said was and he writes this in the article Lonely Man of Faith that appeared in Tradition, a publication of the Rabbinical Council of America, 1965, translated to Ish Ha'Emunah Ha'Boded, uh the film that was made on the Rav's life in 2005 carried that title as well, Lonely Man of Faith, Ish Emunah HaBoded. So, there the Rav writes that the um channel or frequency of prophecy of Nevuah is the identical channel of Tefillah, of prayer. The only difference is who's doing the dialing and who's doing the receiving. Who's on the talking edge and who's on the the the receiving edge. So, in Tefillah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is initiating and man, human being, is receiving. Now, you can ask the same question, how's that possible? Well, that you'll ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu how he um somehow communicates to mankind. Uh, to human beings, those who will ultimately be the Nevi'im, the prophets. Uh, the Kabbalists came up with some type of an idea called Tzimtzum, which means to contract, where Hakadosh Baruch Hu voluntarily contracts himself into a framework that humanity will be able to identify with. I don't think I can give a uh a better uh definition of the Tzimtzum factor. So, Hakadosh Baruch Hu who is infinite and just so omnipotent and so above and everything can voluntarily put himself in the room. And that's called Shechinah. The The fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells us V'asu li Mikdash v'shachanti b'tocham, build a sanctuary and I will rest there. What do you mean I'll rest there? Kids in kindergarten in the United States grew up with Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is everywhere. Fine, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu is all over the place. So, if he's all over the place, every place is Shechinah, the resting place. But not on What do you mean everything is resting place? The There's no place that could be without Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So, how could there be the creation of the world? So, the way it's understood is the creation of the world is actually the first act of Tzimtzum, the first act of Hakadosh Baruch Hu allowing for some bubble to exist where he, with capital H, is on the outside and he's interested that we should bring him back in. That is really the core of what Yahadut is is teaching us that Baruch Hu let kept himself out of the framework of this creative world only to be invited to be brought back in and that is the notion of kedusha to bring a kedusha in and use whatever you are assigning kedusha status to to Hashem the service of God and it can be anything of the creative world. It could be a place, it could be a time framework, it could be a object, an animal, it could be human thought, could be clothing, anything of the creative world can be dedicated to avodat Hashem and that is really the mandate of what the the Torah was all about. So you have this notion of who communicating with mankind through the avenue or vehicle line called line of communication called Nevuah and it is actually functioning on the same road on the same line but working in the other way where human beings are doing the talking and it's it's going to get there to cuz he allowed this line of communication to to to occur as part of the creative world. The rough did point out that standardized tfila begins at the very moment of Jewish history where pray where Nevuah where pray where prophecy is actually ebbing and and leaving us which is the beginning of the second Dash era. There was Nevuah from the days of obviously done and and Noah there was communication of Moshe the adult the top of the list of all the prophets and that continues until the destruction of the first Dash somehow carries over to the very beginning of the second Dash with three prophets Malachi and Zachariah because of certain needs to to designate exactly where is the place of the in the by it you have to have a prophetic moment. So there are some moments of prophecy at the very, very early stage of the Second Beth Mikdash, and then it comes to an end. And it's at that period that the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah make formal tefillah standardized. So, here we'll we'll say a word about the the whole mitzvah of tefillah. Um there is a big dispute between Rambam and Ramban. Is there a mitzvah to daven to turn to Hakadosh Baruch Hu with our needs once a day, at least once a day? Ramban includes it as part of the 613, although he admits that there's no formal time framework and there's no formal text, just whenever you want within a framework of 24 hours, turn to God, ask for something, and there's even a formula, not a text, but a formula, and that is begin with some words of praise to God, then get to the point and ask what you're asking for, and then say thank you at the end, some praise at the end, and and that's the formula. Now, that formula was adopted by the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah when they standardized the Shemoneh Esrei, when the first three berachot are shevach, our praise, and then the the middle you have the core, and then from from retzei until the end, you have the hodaya, the modim section of the thanksgiving at the end. So, it's not that the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah made that up, they simply adopted that which was already known. This is the Rambam's understanding. Ramban challenges Rambam on this and says there is no formal mitzvah that a person has to daven once even once a day, forget about three times a day. Uh but there is a mitzvah in the Torah, says the Ramban, that in a crisis moment you turn to God. That there is a mitzvah. Now, Rambam agrees that in a crisis moment you have to turn to God, but he calls it something else. He doesn't call it tefillah, he calls it by a different name, za'akah, screaming out. Screaming za'akah with a ayin. Screaming out to God. And and that kicks in the whole world of fasting and and upgraded tefillah and so on. So, here you have the difference between a regular tefillah, routine tefillah, and then you have crisis tefillah. So, everybody agrees there's crisis tefillah. Ramban counts it and he calls it feel Rambam counts it and he calls it zakat but standard routine feel on a daily basis only the Rambam has it the Ramban does not have it at all but all agree that the the coming the ancient instituted that we all have to have been three times a day so that is a rabbinic add-on according to the Ramban and according to the Rambam it's a rabbinic structure of the biblical command. So how do we fulfill the mitzvah of feel it's through the framework of morning afternoon and evening we'll get to the idea a little bit later about you know what about where do women factor into the three times a day that's a whopper of a mahkota because if you dive in once a day you're in you're following this camp if you dive in twice a day you're following somebody else if you dive in three times a day I'm talking to the ladies now you're you're following a third means all of the above are true and all of all of the above they're all those views are out there in the world of Allah No feel it means you're asking for something and if you have all of them nothing to ask for there's a reason that coming authored the way in the plural because for sure somebody else has something to ask for and not every Jew is diving in and therefore we have an obligation as part of Israel even we are responsible for one another so we are diving in also for those who are not do you remember is a Weizmann president of Israel? So in is a wasn't exactly a bells of he had a lot of miles he had a lot of very very good virtues Okay with a driver but he he he is a little bit of a guy you know this he He one of the first two pilots of the Israeli Air Force. We know that. Um so in my book, you know, he rates. The um So okay, so he becomes president and he makes an announcement at the first press conference that he's not going to publicly be mechalel Shabbos. I mean, what he does in his house, he does in his house, but as president of Israel representing everybody and representing a tradition of of what Am Yisrael is, president of Israel's not going to do anything that's demonstratively a public desecration of Shabbos. That's not a small matter, by the way, cuz Shabbat there's a difference between bifarcheshia and not bifarcheshia, in public or not. So this is an announcement. So some reporter asked him, "Are you there? Are you going to be davening? Are you going to be praying?" So he looked at his um his closest aide, whose name was Ari Shumer. He says, "Ari We have a yarmulke and everything." As he says, "Ari davens for me." So everybody laughed at this press I remember this. Everybody was laughing. That wasn't even such a joke. Niba valoya damaniba. He said something, didn't even realize how true it was. The reason that we all daven in in the lashon rabim, in in plural, is because we have to take into consideration those who aren't davening for whatever reason. And we are responsible for them as well. So what Jay is asking about the somebody who baruch Hashem everything's fine and everything, so I have nothing to ask for. And um you know, when you go through the sched- the the the text of the Shmoneh Esrei, you know, most probably there's something there that you most probably uh could ask for. But all right, but even if baruch Hashem everything was wonderful and hunky-dory, like the Ramban said, if that's what you go through, then you don't have to daven at all, according to the Ramban. You don't have to daven, nothing bothering you, and so on. But the chachamim authored the tefillah in the plural that you should always consider others who require the tefillah as well. Right. Okay, we said all right. Okay, they are we are once explained it because we also say it for forefathers. Aval anachnu vavoteinu chatano, or as the Rav used to kibitz and say, people say Hashem look this way by banging on the next guy, you know? You You it's not me, God forbid, you know, it's the next guy who needs it. Okay, so let's take a look at the first source of the maram in masechet brachot, it's the fourth perek of masechet brachot which begins tfilat shachar. Um, and it says itmar, it has been taught. Rabbi Yossi bar Chanina amar tfila tfilot avot tiknum. Our forefathers have established the tfilot. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi amar tfilot k'neged t'midin tiknum. The tfilot were established corresponding to the beta mikdash schedule of the daily offerings of the morning korban and the afternoon korban. Korban tamid of shachar and korban tamid of bein ha'arbaim which are the afternoon hours. And tfilat arbit was for the leftover burnings of internal organs that took place even into the night time. So there was even some corresponding beta mikdash activity at night. And on a special occasion of shabbat rosh chodesh and yom tov that they offered a korban musaf, so there's tfilat musaf that corresponds to the korban musaf. So there's two opinions. One opinion is that tfila it corresponds to something about the Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. We'll see it spelled out in a moment. And the second opinion is that it corresponds to the schedule of korbanot in the beta mikdash. It's set up in the gemara as a machloket. When you read it superficially, at certainly at the outset, it seems to be two opinions. And then with two opinions, you know, the what's what begs is, all right, what how do we is this just an aggadic idea that we can live with two opinions? Are there any halachic ramifications for for either? We'll see in a moment. But I'll just say a little bit of a what they call a milta d'v'dichuta, d'chuta, a little bit of humorous to comment about tfila avot tiknum. They say a story of of of a wife dealing with her little kids, you know, and it's very 4:30 in the evening, 5 5 in the evening, and she's struggling with the kids who are crying and they have to get them to eat, get them to this and that. Finally, the husband comes home, and she you know she's like sighs with relief. She's going to get some help, and he says, "I'm going to Mincha." Right right then and there. And the wife says, "That's why it says "Tefilot Avot Tiknum." The The fathers is Right. Yeah. It's not a joke. Yeah, Bobby. All right. So, Bobby, did you just make that up? Did you Or did you hear it? Oh, you heard this. Okay. Okay. Okay. Uh that's a nice uh homiletic idea. >> [snorts] >> Uh at least I can tell you from the Gemara point of view it has no basis whatsoever. And I'll explain to you why. The idea that Bobby is suggesting is that maybe the silent Shmoneh Esrei that we we all say, that's one thing. And the Chazaras Hashatz, when the when they repeat the Shmoneh Esrei, that's something else. And that only happens when you're in a minyan. Because if you're not in a minyan, there's no Chazaras Hashatz. The purpose of Chazaras Hashatz originally was for people who did not know how to daven. And the chazan would would fulfill you know be mighty. You would fulfill you your obligation. And then you would have to just stand silently with two feet together and answer amen without Baruch Hu Uvaruch Shmo. And as if you are doing the davening. Almost like kiddush. So, somebody makes kiddush, so you're listening to the kiddush, and you answer amen at the end, and it's as if you said the kiddush. That's a concept called Shomea Keoneh. It's you're hearing it. It's as if you responded it. You said it itself. So, so that can work for Shmoneh Esrei, too. Um what's happened with Baruch Hashem, the improvement of a Jewish education in throughout the years that you know people knew how to daven, um this became only a problem for Rosh Hashanah and Kippur. So, Rosh Hashanah and Kippur, there were people who did not know how to daven, and uh perhaps didn't even own a machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Kippur. Uh and therefore the chazzan's task was much more important on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur than it was during the year. And that's why the qualifications for a shliach tzibbur for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are rather strict. Whereas for a Tuesday mincha, you can have a barmitzvah boy just go up there and be the chazzan, it's not a problem. In theory, a barmitzvah boy can be, you know, for neilah on Yom Kippur as well, except that we'd rather not have that. We we'd rather have somebody who's at least over 30 years old, married with a family, who knows what tzaros in life are, and so on. Knows what representing the tzibbur You want somebody who's a little bit more mature. So, with the standards for a chazzan for Yom Kippur are more strict, and one of the reasons is because he has a task of of dealing with people in the shul who don't know how to daven. And he's being mochiach them, and that that And he has to have in mind to do that as well. I'll I'll just say there's an interesting responsa in the Rambam a lot of people are not familiar with. Um Rambam comes to Egypt, and he davens in shul, and what does he find? That people are talking during chazarat hashatz. Chas v'shalom, right? You never davened in such a shul. I can I'm not going to name the shul, but I remember in the States I once davened in a shul, I couldn't hear the chazzan. That's that's how loud the the talking was. I went closer to the bimah to answer kedushah, cuz I just wanted to my dad should be in earshot of the chazzan. And and the rabbi of the shul got up and started yelling at the people for to be quiet, and nobody heard him, cuz it was so noisy. I'm telling you, it was such a bushah. It was really a bushah. And and you come to shuls here in Eretz Yisrael, it's very very different. Don't mean that you don't have here and there somebody, you know, saying something to their neighbor during chazarat hashatz, but by and large, the chazarat hashatz is quiet, and people are uh listening to the chazzan as much as they're able to listen to the chazzan. Rambam gets to this place and in Egypt, and and people are talking during davening. So, what's the solution? It's not to give a shabbat shuvah drashah that you're not allowed to talk during davening. He institutes that nobody is going to daven Shmona Esrei in a silent manner and everybody will fulfill their davening only through the Shliach Tzibbur. So, then now there if you want to say I daven Shacharis or Mincha, you must necessarily stand with two feet together silently and listen to every word of the Shmona Esrei of the Chazzan and then and only then are you considered a davener and that's how he he he conquered the problem. Yeah. Okay, because you don't see a Kadosh Baruch Hu there and uh Yeah. Right, you think about it. Okay. Okay, now let's progress. Source number two is the Rambam on the subject of Tefillah. You can't get better than that. Hilchos Tefillah uh Unesi'as Kapayim, which is Duchaning Bevirchas Kohanim, perek aleph, halacha aleph and Rambam says after he tells us that originally the Tefillah was once a day and whatever you had on your mind to say. And then came the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah and they established three Tefillos today, Shacharis, Mincha and Arvis and now he's going to tell us why we have three Tefillos today. And he says, "V'chein Tiknu, they established, Sheyu Minyan HaTefillos, the number of Tefillos K'minyan HaKorbanos, corresponding to the number of public sacrifices daily in Beis HaMikdash. Shte Tefillos B'chol Yom, K'neged Shnei Temidin, the two daily sacrifices that we had morning and afternoon. V'chol Yom Sheyesh Korban Musaf, and every special occasion, Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, Yom Tov, that we have a Korban Musaf, Tiknu Bo Tefillah Shlishis, K'neged Korban Musaf. We have a third Tefillah uh corresponding to the Korban Musaf. U'Tefillah Sheyiye K'neged Tamid Shel Boker, and the Tefillah that's corresponds to the routine carbon the daily carbon of the morning is called he and I create feel a touch a car. That's we call Shacharit feel a touch a car. Would feel a connect to the mid been a buying the afternoon feel a year and I create feel a touch me and I just we call Mincha would feel a shake and I get how much of him to win a great feel a touch a moose of him. We call it we call it moose of but the same thing feel a touch a moose of him. Fine. And then in the next Allah ha the right the Rambam separates the discussion about Maariv and that's going to be interesting in itself. The hand it came in new they also established it's almost like an afterthought and after what I just said now by the way there's one more Tefillah the hand it came in new she Adam it follow Tefillah by Lila another Tefillah because that in the beta make dash a variety made the internal organs of the animal of the afternoon carbon was still burning on the misbehave so that was still some left over activity going on in beta make dash after a night time even though there was no formal beta make dash activity going on at night time but there's type of left over so here you have a source that you should be eating leftovers right that that's a very very important part of our diet the walking to make all a Lila shall they marry brings the possible here a lot but at a poker fine and and and then at the end and then he says a line later then feel that are with Tchouva ketfila Shacharit and Mincha This is the reason that the Rambam separates the discussion of Shacharit Mincha and Mussaf from the discussion of Maariv. He says Maariv is not as obligatory as Shacharit and Mincha after all became nevertheless not a good call Israel become a commercial they had I'm Israel wherever they may be accepted upon itself the custom there's a big difference between an obligation and a custom with ballet are with to dive in Maariv the key blue alley ketfilat chova, and they accepted upon themselves as if it's an obligatory tfila, which means that today when you educate a bar mitzvah boy, you don't tell him it's two plus one, you tell him there's three tfilot, the shacharit, mincha, and maariv. What he'll grow up and he'll see that there is a difference between maariv and the other tfilot. To be fair, there's machloket in the Mishna and the Gemara, is tfilat arvit chova or reshut, is it obligatory or is it optional? Both in the in the level of the tana'im of Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua from Yavneh, they they they Rabban Gamliel said it was chova, Rabbi Yehoshua said it was reshut, and then in the days of the amora'im, Abaye and Rava, they are like classics of the of the amora'im, Abaye says it's chova and Rava says it's reshut, and they whenever there's a machloket between Abaye and Rava, except for six examples, exceptions, the halacha's like Rava. So, tfilat arvit is reshut, it's optional, but and because it's the the halacha says it's optional, the Chofetz Chaim in his Mishna Berurah says, women never adopted this minhag. So, I already jumped to some conclusion here of one of the opinions about women's davening, who his opinion was that women should be davening at least twice a day, shacharit and mincha. What about maariv? He says this what the Rambam says now, it was a acceptance by Am Yisrael to daven maariv as a minhag, this was not accepted by women. But once men did accept it, so for men at least, according to the Chofetz Chaim, it became a law, basically, obligatory, so much so that the Shulchan Aruch, who understands that it's optional but we only carry it as a minhag, uses the phrase tfilat arvit chova, that it's obligatory, not saying that it's obligatory once upon a time, but now it's obligatory because we don't give people the choice, it's not like take your pick every night, you want to daven maariv, you don't want to dive Marif. It's no longer given to choice. And also, those who believe that women have an obligation for Shacharit Mincha and Maariv, because the Rama makes no distinction here between Mincha and Maariv at all. Doesn't The word women Nashim is not a factor in the section that I just wrote here read here, because the Rama must probably believe that women should be davening Maariv, too. The one who believed that was the Rav and for other people. He He wasn't the only one in town. But in the Rav's family, women daven three times a day, Shacharit Mincha and Maariv. So, I'm aware that there are different opinions out there. So, we just now mentioned two out of the three. Women should be davening twice a day or Shacharit and Mussaf and Mincha and three times a day. But, the issue of Tefilat Aravit Chova and Reshut became the straw that broke the camel's back in the Beit Midrash of Rabban Gamliel when he was deposed from his position of being the Nasi. And it it it led to a whole story saga of the Beit Midrash of how can they depose somebody who is the Nasi. You can read all about it in the Masechet Berachot in that fourth perek. But, this was the issue the issue at hand. So, it's not a small issue. And because Tefilat Aravit is only Reshut, so again, only Reshut doesn't mean that we we have the option today to daven it or not. As I said, we accept it upon ourselves as the Rama says, "Ke Chova as a Tefilat Chova as if it's We we're playing along with it as if it's a mandatory." But, one one point that it still remains Reshut is there are all kinds of leniencies that go in with Maariv. For example, the night of Rosh Chodesh, so the minyan goes that the gabbai right before Shmone Esrei will give a bang and say "Ya'aleh Ve'yavo." Right? He'll make an announcement. Or the night of of Chanukah or Purim, "Al Hanisim." Now, that kind of announcement won't be made in the morning because of connecting Ga'al Yisrael and Shmone Esrei. You know that I have any interruption whatsoever. But, you have Ga'al Yisrael by Maariv as well. But, the the Halacha is, you know, Tefilat Aravit Reshut. It's only optional, so we're a little bit loose on on this particular issue. Yeah, Feggy. Right. It's Tashlumin. Right. You can do that. Yeah, you can only make up the answer is yes, categorically yes. You can use the next tfila opportunity to make up for a tfila that you missed before by diving twice Monester. The first one becomes relevant for that particular time framework, and the second one is the makeup. Is the makeup. Yes, the answer is categorically yes. Okay. So, what you have in source number two is basically the Rambam identifying with the second opinion that we had in source number one. The second opinion of Rabbi Shimon Levi who said that it corresponds to the Korbanot. But, then we get to source number three. And this one makes Rambam exciting. Yeah. What would the Oh, one second. That was the first opinion. That was the first opinion. We didn't even spell it out yet. We we tackled the second opinion about Korbanot and noticed that the Rambam in source number two only dealt with the relationship to the schedule of Beta Mikdash. Now, we have source number three. Source number three says as follows. It's from the very end of Rambam's Mishneh Torah, which means it's his 14th book and its last unit, which is the law of Melachim. And and the Rambam is going to talks about the appointment of kings and the laws of kings, the laws of wars, the name of Hamon. He has there. And at the end, the last two chapters he talks about the Yemot Hamashiach. It's the only Halachic safer that even deals with the Messianic era. But, right before he gets that, he talks a little bit about our relationship to the gen- the nations of the world. Bnei Noach. Basically, what we call Bnei Noach. The nations of the world. So, he starts off by saying in source number three, Al Shisha Dvarim Nitztava Adam Rishon. Adam Rishon received six mitzvot. Really? It's a where the question is where do you see that he received six mitzvot? So, this is number one, avodah zarah, against idolatry, eish birkat Hashem, which is a euphemism. It means just the opposite, not to curse, right? Uh blasphemy, al shfichut damim, murder, giluy arayot, adultery, gezel, theft, v'al ha dinim, and to set up a judiciary so that they should be able to judge on the five avirot that were just enumerated. And then he goes on to say, "Af al pi she kulan hein kabbalah b'yadeinu miMoshe Rabbeinu, we have such a tradition from Moshe Rabbeinu, v'ha da'at notelet lahem, and they all make logical sense, miklal divrei Torah yireh, uh miklal divrei Torah yireh she'al elu nitztavu, if you look carefully in the psukim, you can see that these six items are alluded to, not mentioned openly, but alluded to. What the Rambam is alluding to is a Gemara. The Gemara in masechet Sanhedrin tells us that there are two opinions as to what Noach received. So, the second opinion is that Noach received seven mitzvot, and we call this seven mitzvot the Noachide laws, the seven mitzvot b'nei Noach. So, I'll just say parenthetically, if you open up the Encyclopedia Talmudit on the second volume, which talks about b'nei Noach, so there are opinions that the seven are actually headlines to more more detailed mitzvot, and there's a dispute amongst the authorities how many mitzvot go under the category of the seven. The maximum is 30. So, there's actually a listing of 30 mitzvot that have to abide by, and there's even a chart that they have an appendix in that second volume of Encyclopedia Talmudit, of a an appendix called b'nei Noach, and you get a nice chart, and you see it all worked out according to everybody, and so on. Similar, by the way, to Rav Saadia Gaon's comment that the Aseret Hadibrot for us is nothing but 10 headlines of 613 mitzvot. So, you can start filling in the blanks. For most of us, we can do justice with many of the Aseret Hadibrot, filling in the mitzvot that fall under the category of the first, the second, the third, and so on. So, there there is such a notion of the seven mitzvot of Noach. The Rambam doesn't mention that. He mentions that that there are seven mitzvot of Bnei Noach, but the Gemara says that six of the seven are Adam Harishon already heard about them. So, there's two there are two opinions. One opinion is that that Noach hears about seven mitzvot for the first time in humanity, and the second opinion is that Adam Harishon heard six out of seven, and the seventh was given to Noach. And and Rambam adopts that opinion. He says that Adam Harishon gets the first six. "Hosif l'Noach" was added to Noach, "ever min hachai." The aveira of not slicing off a limb from a a live animal and eating from that limb. Well, it's a very cruel thing to do. Says Torah says, "If you want to eat meat, at least kill the animal first, and then you can eat the meat." Noach doesn't yet have shchita, doesn't have the laws of shchita, but at least to to kill the animal, however you're going to kill the animal, and then eat the meat. He says, "She'nima "Ach basar b'nafsho damo lo tochelu." Me- And that's interpreted if the if the animal is still alive, don't eat from that meat. So, that's called "ever min hachai." And everybody agrees that before Noach, nobody ever heard of that. And the reason is cuz before Noach, they weren't allowed to eat meat. Everybody was vegetarian until Noach. And then the Torah permits Kadosh Baruch Hu permits Noach and his children to eat meat, "k'yerek esev," just like vegetables, just like that which grows. So, there is now a heter to eat meat, but don't cut off the limb of a live animal. And that becomes the seventh. And then the Rambam says, "Nimtza" what comes out of it is seven mitzvot. If you would have been in Cincinnati with me on Sunday, you you hear all about this "nimtza" story. What [snorts] is What is the Rambam doing here? He's doing first grade arithmetic. 6 + 1 is 7. I think I would have figured it out by myself that I have six to Adam and one to Noah, I'm with seven mitzvot. Why does the Rambam tell me Nimtzu and it comes out is seven mitzvot. So, I have a whole chapter in my book on this word Nimtzu and it's actually, I believe, a technical word that the Rambam is using to to join together into forge together into one unit everything that was just said separately. He said six and he says one. Don't think for a moment that the treatment of the last one is any different than the first six. They now form a unit called Sheva Mitzvot B'nei Noach and there are ramifications for this. I don't want to digress too much. Just that as an example, the Rambam will say, "There are 18 brachot in Shmoneh Esrei." And that's why we call it Shmoneh Esrei. We've adapted the phrase Shmoneh Esrei as a generic, just like a Kleenex is anybody's tissue, no matter what company, and Coke is anybody, whether it's Coca-Cola or not, it's Coke. You right? So, so So, people have used generic names to mean other you know, the the wider thing. So, even on Shabbos, when you only have seven brachot in the Tefilat Amidah, we call it the Shmoneh Esrei of Shabbos. Right? Or the Shmoneh Esrei. That's what we do. Beseder. So, the Rambam says, "In the days of Rabban Gamliel, as as a type of frontal attack to of the early Hebrew Christians who were known as the Minim, the Chazal instituted an additional bracha which we call Velamalshinim Altikvah or Ve'alaminim Ve'alaminim Altikvah." None of those are the original Nusach. The original Nusach was Lamashumadim Altihitkav. Shmad means going over to the other religion. That's what it meant, shmad. And uh we unfortunately suffered from shmad throughout the uh generations. And it was changed, the nusach of the bracha was changed in Europe cuz we feared it was done by internal censorship of we we censored the bracha because we don't want to get in trouble with the Vatican. There was already enough trouble with the Vatican that we had to doctor up the nusach of the bracha. But that's what this bracha was all about. And then the Rambam tells us, nimtza comes out we have 19 brachos. The same thing. We 18 + 1 is 19. Anybody can do the math. Why was it important for Rambam to do the math for us? Why is it important to know that it's 19 brachos? If not to teach us that the new bracha, the add-on, is of the identical status of the first original 18. You might think that the 18 that were established by the Anshei Knesses Hagolah have a certain status. And now there's a a hitchhiker, a trepiste, there's a hitchhiker to the Shmoneh Esrei. And maybe, you know, we have a little different attitude towards that add-on bracha. And Rambam says that's a mistake. Once they incorporated the bracha into the fabric of Shmoneh Esrei, so now we have 19 brachos. And they are no different than the last bracha, the new bracha add-on is no different than what we had before. Okay, so let's get back to source number three. And after Ever Min Hachai, Rambam says, I'm about three lines from the end of source number three. "V'hu" it says, I'm sorry, "V'chein haya hadavar b'chol ha'olam ad Avraham." That's how things continued till Avraham, another 10 generations. "Ba'Avraham" came Avraham Avinu, "Nitztavah yetar al elu b' milah." Brit milah was added to Avraham Avinu. "V'hu hitpalel Shacharis." And then Yitzchak "Kifrish ma'aser." "V'hosif tefilah acheres lifnos hayom." With regard to Brit milah, that you don't have to struggle. That's a pasuk. Clearly that Avraham Avinu gets the mitzvah of Brit milah. With regard to Shacharis, we'll go back to source number one in a moment to see where that comes from. And Yaakov "Hosif gidan nasheh." I'm sorry. With regard to Yitzchak, it says he added ma'asrot. The commentators on the Rambam are baffled where the Rambam got that from. There's no indication in the Chumash that he gave ma'aser. It's used for Avraham and it's used for Yakov. But dafka for Yitzchak, there's no such pasuk. So, where did he dig it up from? Okay, that's a shiur in itself. But he has a tfila lifnot erev, the afternoon tfila. And Yakov hosif gid hanasheh. Gid hanasheh is not eating the sciatic nerve. And that was after the fight between Yakov and whatever spiritual being malach it was in Parshat Vayishlach. And vitpalel arbit, and he davens the nighttime tfila. Uvemitzrayim, here comes another hair-raising comment of the Rambam. Mitztaveh Amram, father of Moshe Rabbenu, bemitzvot yiteirot, with more mitzvot. And guess what? Nobody has a clue what the Rambam is talking about. There's no source There's no source that the that Amram adds mitzvot. Ach Amram Moshe Rabbenu vinishlema Torah al yado. Then it's all completed by Moshe Rabbenu. So, regarding Amram, you know, big question mark here. Yeah. So, you have the Gemara in Masechet Bava Batra daf yud zayin, which says that there were four people who escaped the malach hamavet because of sin. Right? So, one and all four of them are people who if you would want to write their biographies, you wouldn't need one more than one page. Right? One is Binyamin. We don't know much about him. Whatever we know about him, it's passive. He was taken to He was But you don't see him in action doing anything. And one is Amram. One is Yishai, the father of David Hamelech. And one is Kilav, one of the sons of David Hamelech. We know very little. Very little. So, so that's a interesting that that that we talk about the great heroes of Tanakh. All the ushpizin on the wall in the sukka, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakov, Moshe, Aaron, David, and so on. Everyone had a sin. Everyone had a fault. Everyone. And that's a message of the Torah. That that Kadush Baruch Hu didn't think that human beings are going to be faultless. If you're looking for infallibility, try the Vatican. It's not our religion. We don't we don't support infallibility. And the fact that the Hazal dig up four names of of of people who we hardly have any information about is already telling that don't worry this is not going to happen to you. You're you're not part of that. Right? Okay, so we don't know Yeah. Yeah, look that you can see the partial name of the Rambam struggling. You know, they're they're digging you're looking for Midrashim that are hiding somewhere. The say that it's could you is it Kedushah? You don't know that it's Kedushah. All it says there is that he married somebody that a person from Shevet Levi married whatever married meant in those days. That all this is all Kacha dug up dug up. Right? It's not in the Humash. It's clearly not in the Humash. Okay, so now what you have is the same Rambam who in source number two identified with the position that Tefillah corresponds to Korbanot the the Beit Hamikdash schedule is now telling us another story that Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov are the initiators of the Tefillah. Let's go back to source number one and see where this second where this idea comes from. So I'm now on the fourth line of source number one on top. Tanya Kavatei de Rabbi Yosi bar Hanina. The Braita says it's supporting that first opinion Tefillot Avot Tiknum that the forefathers established that Tefillah. Avraham Tikken Tefillat Shacharit. It's bold letters. Shenemar as it says Vayashkem Avraham Baboker El Hamakom Asher Amad Sham. Avraham woke up in the morning and he stood at the place. De Ein Amidah Ela Tefillah. And the Gemara is going to try to prove that the word Amidah means Tefillah. And by the way, this is why we've nicknamed the Shmoneh Esrei Tefillat Amidah not only because of the requirement to stand but the precedent of Avraham Avinu of standing by a place. And when the Torah says he went to the place, Avraham Avinu got up to the place that he stood, it meant he got up and he diving he turned to the and to feel her. And the feel her is going to be saving the wicked of stone. That's what he's diving for, to save the wicked of stone. And let's just continue. And towards the afternoon hours, Yitzchak gets up and he has a a talk. What kind of talk is he having? He's talking to the people as it says in the villa. Besides that, so there's an illusion. The word doesn't mean chatter, idle chatter, but it means communicating with the people. And this is in the afternoon hours. And by the way, You know what that means? At work. You know, you have a profession. What field are you in? Don't we say that? Field means a profession. So, the profession for 90% of the people in the region was agriculture. So, that was the field that they were in. They were in agriculture. But you're the office. I don't know last week on Thursday in a high-rise office building at some office that had a little table in the office building and there was at some point I was back in there was the 1:30 to 2:00 to 2:30 to 3:00. Wow. And people would just come upstairs and there was a in case they had a first aid at a lane, whatever it is. It was a small little little 2 by 2 cubicle and it was a and it was so I told somebody there. I said many especially in the winter hours, you know, people can't get back to community shoes. So, if so many community shoes don't have in the in the weekday. They may have a late that they might have at 8:00 at night. People are home to go out to but 4:00 or 4:15, they can't have. People still at the office. So, where do they people dive in? Unless you have retired people who make a minyan and have a hidden, right? College guys are always ready to come to make a minyan cuz they're not busy. The um the the the idea of diving mincha on the job is Yitzchak. Yitzchak so by Sadeh. And then there was Maariv, Yakov to came to fill out our veg and then Yifga Bamakom Vayalan Sham. He he and the word P'giah means a meeting. Like P'gisha. P'giah means we use that in biblical Hebrew often, by the way, that Livgoa Livgoa doesn't mean to hurt. Today in modern Hebrew, P'giah means to hurt somebody. Here it means a rendezvous. It's a rendezvous with Hakadosh Baruch Hu and there's a possuk that's cited and so on. So, you have the second opinion of in the Gemara, actually listed as the first opinion, Tfilat Kin'eged Avot is corresponds to the forefathers. Okay, so it's a machlokes. What does the Rambam do with it? He brings both. He brings both, but in two different sources. Source two, he brings the opinion that it's corresponds to the korbanot. And source three, he brings the source that Avraham Shachris, Yitzchak Mincha, Yakov Maariv. So, why can't the Rambam get his act together? You know, make a decision. Which one is it? So, why does he have both? So, here's where the Rav comes into the picture and says that what the Rambam says in that third source, that the Tfilah corresponds to the forefathers, that is there to resolve the philosophical issue. Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yakov, as great as they were, were also human beings. They would be limited to time and place. They were mortal. And they turned to Hakadosh Baruch Hu in Tfilah and Hakadosh Baruch Hu thought it was okay. So, even though we may have may scratch our heads, how can this happen? How can a human being, mortal individual, communicate with the infinite? The fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu agreed that this is something that can happen, becomes a precedent for us. We don't have to rack our brains. How can a human being mortal individual speak to Hashem? Abraham did, Isaac did, Jacob did, and thought it was okay. And welcomed it. No doubt he welcomed it. And therefore that precedent is also okay for us. That is this idea forms the basis of the first of the which we call a vote. And then we continue the a vote or maybe go ill with me translated by the rough. The has the a vote. You know, I'm standing there and I'm deeply concerned that is not even there listening to me because who am I? Human being to talk to but it was the great asset that agreed to listen to Abraham and Jacob. Therefore, we can beseech to bring us some type of help, redemption, salvation, whatever word you want to use for maybe go ill. Who are the it's all of us. It's all of us. We're the of Abraham and that gives us the license to continue so this is the the the idea of is basically the resolution of the philosophical issue. Even though we may not have resolved it completely, but we've resolved it on a practical level because Abraham Jacob were also human and they welcomed it and therefore it's good enough for them. It's good enough for us and we can do it as well. So much so this became the importance of the first there's a whole discussion about which means focus and direction and literally means direction but here it means focus and concentration when we're that when you're your head is not somewhere else which happens to some of us sometimes. I'm going to first admit it and not not the first to admit it, but the halakha acknowledges that these things happen and they happen pretty regularly. So, the Gemara says, as long as you have kavana in that first bracha and if your mind is loose somewhere else, all right. And then the Rama, he gets it becomes even looser. He says, "Even if you don't have kavana in the first bracha, don't bother saying it again because who thinks you're going to Who says you're going to have kavana the second time around?" Right. And Rabbi Norman Lamm in his corner of the world has a very nice piece trying to understand the legitimacy of tefillah without kavana. Maybe we'll have time we'll be able to say a word about that. But, at least the halakhas halakha says very emphatically that the first bracha, you have to know what you're doing there. What do you mean know what you're doing there? And the answer is you have to understand that this is the license to talk to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That is tefillah avot tiknun. Now, what is tefillah corresponding to the korbanot? Here the hakhamim came into play and they gave us a program of following the world of Beit Hamikdash because the the tefillah is going to eventually replace the korban. The what There'll be a Now, this is all done at the beginning by Chazal. You have another 400 plus years this Beit Hamikdash activity going on with an organized minyan estrei. And nevertheless, the idea was that not everybody is in attendance at Beit Hamikdash. There's things going on there, but Am Yisrael, wherever they may be, somehow complement the avodat Hashem at Beit Hamikdash with their tefillah in the same framework of time. And therefore, the fulfillment of tefillah, to use the word kiyum. Here the Rav is using language of Brisk, of lamdanut. The difference between the hiyuv, the obligation to pray, which is the avot, and the kiyum, the fulfillment, is through the works of the Beit Hamikdash. And And that's how the Rav explained how the Rambam adopts two opinions in the Gemara that seem to be mutually exclusive, but they're not mutually exclusive. We can live with both by understanding that each one is talking about a different facet of tefillah. and uh and and and and so on. Okay, I want to still get to the next point on the second page, second side. We know that it um we know that the tfila of Avraham Avinu was the safe stone. And he negotiates with the Kadosh Baruchu. He says um he he says uh would you kill the tzaddikim with the resha'im? You want to eliminate God says he's going to eliminate all of all of Sdom. All right, I mean, one second. Maybe there's some tzaddikim there. So, they they negotiate. And and Avraham Avinu says, "Well, maybe we'll find 50 tzaddikim. Would you destroy the whole city?" And the Kadosh Baruchu says, "No, I won't destroy if you find 50 tzaddikim." And then he says, "You find 45 tzaddikim." We'll see in a moment what that means. And he says, "You find 40. Find 30. Find 20. Find 10." And Avraham Avinu couldn't find any. So, it all was lost. But, the Kadosh Baruchu was willing to negotiate with Avraham Avinu on this. That if there are 50 tzaddikim or 40 or 30 or 10 or 20 or 10 or 20 or 10, that he won't destroy. Why won't he destroy? Why don't he just save the 10? Make a tevat Noach, as if to say. Because Avraham Avinu believed that if there are at least 10 tzaddikim in Sdom, they're going to ultimately inspire the others to do teshuvah. And therefore, it's not worth killing out everybody. And the Kadosh Baruchu goes along with this. And we'll see how this applies to our tfila today. What is the 45 number? Very odd. 50 40 50 45 40 30 20 and 10. So, Rashi tells us that Sdom was a metropolis. And he actually uses that word, metropolitan. Metropolitan. In in in about a third down, you see where it says pasuk vav, "Im amtzah b'Sdom." And this is Rashi talking. "L'chol hakrachim." All the boroughs of Sdom. "L'fi she'ist siduram hayta metropolitan." Was a metropolis. Sdom was a place that had five zones. Five boroughs, if you may. No different than Kiryat Arba. What was Kiryat Arba What's the shot of Kiryat Arba Hevron? The word Hevron comes from the word hibur. It was conglomerated. It was you know there it was four different areas that now have a central government. So the Hevron meant it was all which was Kiryat Arba and four areas four towns if you may but now has a central government to it so it's hibur it becomes Hevron irrespective of all the wonderful midrashim about Kiryat Arba and Hevron and with Sdom. Sdom had five zones to it and what Avraham Avinu was asking for if there is a minyan of tzaddikim in any given zone would you save the city and Hakadosh Baruch Hu said yes we'll take a look and they couldn't find it in all five and before we get to the 45 and he couldn't find it in four. He said all right he was mevatel he gives up on one zone. Let's try to save four zones and with 40 tzaddikim couldn't find. And he tries to save three zones and two zones and one zone and it all peters out. What's the 45? Rashi says he asks for would you God join the minyan if I only find nine? 45 is nine times five and Rashi says the same was asked for 36 nine times four and same for 27 nine times three and same for 18 nine times two and then nine times one nine. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu says yeah I'll join the minyan. I'll join the minyan. If you can find nine in any zone Hakadosh Baruch Hu says I'll join the minyan. Which is a phenomenal phenomenal idea. And then if you look at source six the Even Ezra says the Af al pi shas Hakhamenu zal he atiku Hazal learned and the the idea of minyan from a completely different source is from the a combination of a drasha with them with Korach and the Meraglim and then they were 10 Meraglim and they were Ad Matai la'Edah HaRa'ah Hazot. So Rav Rav Even says, even though that's where the concept of feel but see what is derived from, she ain't feel up but see what the mess around. Gums there a passuk here in Parshat Yitro and Vayeira Vayeira, Yachzik Yedei Umanutenu. It fortifies our belief. Get a load of this. In this parsha, you get to see the the power of 10. Of of tzaddikim. So, the Rav asked the question, so why didn't they derive the concept of minyan from right here? Avraham Avinu was looking for 10 tzaddikim. Where do we learn it out? From 10 resha'im. From they they were 12 meraglim, but two were tzaddikim, Yeshua and Kalev, but the 10 was bad. Ad matai da edah ha ra'ah hazot? And the Gemara says, edah ra'ah, the the evil 10. And the word edah is brought back to the passuk minei dashti betoch benei Yisrael. Betoch benei Yisrael hibadelu mitoch ha edah hazot. A combination of drashot that carry from the word kidesha shem passuk kidesha shem to the 10 meraglim who were evil. So, I I once saw a many many years ago, uh I don't know why I was home on a Sunday morning. My yeshiva was Sunday. Maybe I wasn't well. It could have been the day that I told my mother, aleha shalom, that I had a a sprained ankle because they were launching Gemini 10 9 that day, and I wanted to watch the the launch live. Right. I actually uh fooled my mother one morning, and I said that I had a sprained ankle, and >> [snorts] >> they didn't force me to go to yeshiva. So, uh So, I I I turned on that there was channel 13. It was an educational station in New York City, and I saw at 10:00 in the morning, there was an interview show. Uh they always had a different religion. Uh it was by after a whole year, you go through all the religions of America, and they always gave Jews, you know, three slots, the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform. It was the uh turn of the Conservative Rabbi, and they asked them what constitutes a a quorum of 10. Where does the number 10 come from? Because sometimes in the movies already, you're getting things like a minyan. So, uh like Dr. Kildare went to shul once. Uh if you remember Dr. Goldberg, Richard Chamberlain, right? The tiny mosquito. So, so Binyamin ready became known in Hollywood and the people knew about this. So, he says, "There's a word in the Torah, aidah." And he says, "And the numerical equivalent is 10. Aleph, dalet, hey." >> [laughter] >> "I can't believe it." I said, "He wasn't a Yemenite." Cuz a Yemenite would say, "Aidah." You know, right? Would really do the guttural ayin the way you should. But the Ashkenazi who messes up between an aleph and an ayin, messes up. At least I was being melamed zechut. At least he remembers that the word aidah was functional here, once I was saying, was functional here in terms of understanding the number. But but the Rav said, "Why don't we derive it from from the from tefillah of Avraham Avinu?" She said, "A dynamite idea." Says, "It comes to teach us the power of 10. 10 can bring down the whole nation. 10 can also bring up the whole nation. You learn the power of 10 from the Maraglim." And a flip you can flip it over. It was really an unbelievable idea. And the last thing, once I say, the last thing is the halacha derives an interesting idea from Hakadosh Baruch Hu joining the minyan. Look at source number seven. It says, "Amar Rav Huna, tisha ve'aron mitztarefin." Nine and the Aron Kodesh is a minyan. Now, what do you mean? Aron Kodesh, that's not exactly a live person who's going to answer the Kaddish So, the Aron doesn't mean the Aron, it means the Sefer Torah. And the Sefer Torah doesn't mean the Sefer Torah, it means the one who is behind the Sefer Torah and that is Hakadosh Baruch Hu. "Tisha ve'aron mitztarefin" means that in an emergency situation, you'll be able to add Hakadosh Baruch Hu to the minyan and daven feel a bit tzibur with nine people. And then becomes a whole discussion, do you rely on this halacha lema'aseh practically in Shulchan Aruch in source number eight and source number nine. The Shulchan Aruch and there are Rav Yosef Caro, the Rama, the Mishnah Berurah, just Shulchan Aruch. You know what Shulchan Aruch can mean? A person comes to shul for Mincha in the winter and there's nine people and they can't get the show rolling. This man has yahrzeit, he's got to say Kaddish for his mo- father or mother and if he doesn't say yahrzeit, he does he's going to be the next yahrzeit cuz he's going to drop dead with a heart attack and the Rav sees that, you know, we we got to have minyan here with this guy saying Kaddish. So, the Ramaw says that that's a Shulchan Aruch, you can include a Kadosh Baruch Hu. The Ramaw says, "If there's a katan, under bar mitzvah, holding a Chumash, so he's like representing a Kadosh Baruch Hu." So, the Rav said, "This halacha is derived from the tefillah of Avraham Avinu of 45 that asking if a Kadosh Baruch Hu would be kind enough to join the minyan and be the tenth or be the tenth one and a Kadosh Baruch Hu answers affirmatively." So, the Rav says, "You know, I I disagreeing with the Ramaw, why take a kid 10 11 years old and hold a Chumash? First of all, give him a siddur so he'll be able to daven. What a what's good use is it that he's holding a Chumash? And the second is, I have a better idea." He says, "I would take an infant in a baby carriage of what we say in slichot, to a gamulei chalav shelo pashu, an infant that never touched, tasted any taste of sin to be the representative of a Kadosh Baruch Hu on this world. Why take a 10-year-old who's a shabab who made a lot of trouble already in life, you know? So, I'd rather have a an infant." That's what he said actually on a very halachic basis. So, rabbonim have the discretion in their shuls to uh to uh apply this halacha or not apply the halacha, but it's mentioned in the Gemara, men- dealt with in Shulchan Aruch and it all stems from Parshat Vayeira of Avraham Avinu asking for the 49. So, it depends what kehillah. There are some shuls that will still do it. They don't think it's not a good thing to get used to cuz then the minyan becomes nine and you don't want the kehillah to think that the minyan is nine. The minyan is 10. And I was once after I finished davening Maariv in a neighbor children park, walking home and there was a shtiebel, little shtiebel, and there was Asia Reb asked me to help him with the minion for Mincha. I was finished my already and he says you're the tenth and you're the tenth and the tenth. All right, do the man a favor. I told him I done already. Be the tenth. I go in there, there was nobody there. I said one second I'm the tenth. He said the other nine didn't come yet. All right.