Va'Ani Sefilosi and When I Pray

There's a famous Gemorah in Megilla daf 27b. Rav Huna came to Rav with a belt of rubber (some say grass). Rav asked him, where's your regular belt? Rav Huna was a respected Rosh Yeshiva and wore a fancy cummerbund. Rav Huna answered, I needed money to buy wine for kiddush so i pawned my cummerbund. Rav blessed him that he should be covered with silk. Some time after that Rav Huna's son was married. At that point Rav Huna had become wealthy. Rav Huna was lying on a bed resting and his daughters and daughters in law came in and didn't notice him. They threw their silk coats on him, fulfilling Rav's blessing. When Rav heard this he became angry. Why didn't you say: Ve'Chein L' Mar, and it should also be to the Master? Rashi explains, maybe that point in time was an Eis Ratzon, a moment of Divine favor and had you said Ve'Chein L'Mar I too would have been blessed.

Interesting story isn't it. The first Lubavitcher Rebbe, the holy Baal HaTanya ztz'l explains the concept of Eis Ratzon, a moment of Divine favor. He asks a question. The Ari Hakodosh ztz'l says that the third meal of Shabbos, seuda shlishis, or shalosh seudos, is a period of "Eis Ratzon", a Divinely favorable time. What does this mean? The time period when we in New York City are eating shalosh seudos, a favorable time, the Jews in Los Angeles are sleeping their Shabbos afternoon nap. Hardly an Eis Ratzon. The Baal HaTanya explains that this Eis Ratzon of shalosh seudos is not actually a time period but rather a concept of a spiritual state of being. Your spiritual essence is enveloped by a Divinely favorable aura.

With this story and the explanation of the Baal HaTanya we can understand a posuk in Tehilim that we say during mincha on Shabbos and every morning in the beginning of shachris in the Mah Tovu prayer. Before we take out the Torah on Shabbos at mincha we say the posuk, Va'ani sefilosi lecho Hashem Eis Ratzon, Elokim berov chasdechoh aneini b'emes yishecho. And as I pray to you Hashem, may it be an Eis Ratzon, propitious time. G-d in your abounding kindness answer me with your true deliverance. May we posit the following thought. Dovid HaMelech asked of Hashem that when a Jew prays to Hashem, that moment should become an Eis Ratzon, a Divine spiritual aura of favor and chesed. Va'ani sefilosi lecho Hashem, whenever I pray to you Hashem, the Holy Name of G-d that signifies rachamim, Eis Ratzon, I should be enveloped with an aura of Divine favor. And therefore, Elokim, the Name that signifies Din or justice, should become a G-d of abounding kindness, chesed, and answer all my prayers.

We can also homiletically interpret the posuk that we say every morning in Mah Tovu about Va'ani sefilosi that we ask for an eis ratzon at that time. If we start off each day by learning for a while, then we are enveloped in a spiritual aura that comes from our learning. As Chazal say that when we learn and quote a Gemorah of an Amora or Tanah that they come to us and learn with us. WE also say that be'mokom rinah som tehei tefilah. In the place that we learn we should daven. Because our learning brings an aura of eis ratzon over us and then our prayers will be accepted and answered for good. Ve'ani sefilosi lecho Hashem, when I dacen to you Hashem, let the Eis Ratzon that i brought on myself through my learning, Elokim be'rov chasdechoh, G-d please answer me with your divine grace. Omein.

Shoftim and Shotrim

Shoftim v’shotrim titein le’choh be’chol she’orechoh asher Hashem Elo’kechoh nosein lechoh. Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities (literally gates) which Hashem your G-d gives you. The Sfas Emes in 5631 tells us that the Chidushei Harim would say “the gateways that Hashem gives you”. The gateways to Hashem are also a gift from Hashem. The Sfas Emes goes on further to say that we should establish enforcers at the gateways to ourselves, i.e., our senses, our eyes and ears. We need to keep out corrupting influences.

A little elaboration on the Sfas Emes and this week’s parsha. We are commanded by the Torah to appoint or elect judges and officers, sheriffs marshals etc. The Torah uses the term “gates” rather than saying “in your cities”. Plain meaning is that the Sanhedrin of each city actually had its meeting place near the gates of the city. But the Sfas Emes explains that this can also mean gateways to our senses, to our own well-being and our lives. Every society institutes justice systems with judges and enforcers in order to protect the safety and well-being of the members of that society. So too should the Jewish nation. But we are more than just a society. Our society consists of individuals who constitute a whole, the whole made up of individuals and acting as a whole body so to speak and as an olam koton, a small world. And therefore many of the commandments which Hashem has given us to do as a nation can also be viewed as ways of individuals to live their lives, serving Hashem. The Sfas Emes constantly uses this theme.

As we go along in our lives we will encounter spiritual difficulties, situations which cause us to pause and think, what do I do now? Or real quandaries about where we’re going spiritually. Or simple temptations of the Yetzer Hora. As the Sfas Emes says our normal judgment can’t give us the correct answer. We need help. So one help is from what he says in the name of his grandfather, that the concept of “gates” to Hashem is also a gift from Hashem. And the concept of placing on yourself parameters in your life to protect you. So your first defense against the Yetzer Hora are these shoftim and shotrim you put up or that our sages have instituted for us. The second defense is just plain praying to Hashem to open the gates of His chesed to you so that you can enter and be protected.

And above all to always understand and to internalize this. There are two types of faith, emuna. There’s the intellectual faith (oxymoron? Not really, think about it). This is the faith In Hashem that you internally grow by learning Torah, which is chochma, knowledge. Then as you use your own intellect to understand this knowledge, you internalize it so that you can use the knowledge in various situations. This is binah, understanding. And as you grow further you gain an intellectual and deep insight into everything that you do and you realize that everything is from Hashem and that doing what He asks of you is real living. Now you have intellectual emuna, faith in Hashem. And after all this hard work to get where you are, to understand what you’ve learned and put it to work, you let go and you feel internally and strongly that you really don’t understand anything and you just believe in all that you learned simply because its there and Hashem gave it to you. Simple pure faith with no intellectual capacity at all.

This simple pure faith is the real shoftim and shotrim. Judges and enforcers are not supposed to have flexibility. They are by nature pure justice. Justice is blind, blind to any outside pressure or influence. Intellectual faith can be played with. The intellect by nature is flexible according to what your judgment tells you. But what if, as the Sfas Emes says, your judgment fails you? Or you don’t have enough judgment. Then your intellectual faith will fail you. Now you turn to your stoic judges blinded to outside pressure by blind justice, and that will protect you. No Mr. Yetzer Hora, you can’t convince me with your corrupted logic just because I have no answer. My answer is “because”. Because Hashem said so, because Chazal say so.

My father ztzl would say to me that as I go on in life, not always will I have a father or teacher or close friend to turn to for advice in spiritual situations where I’m not really sure what to do. The Yetzer Hora has its ways to convince you. But it doesn’t have a real clear argument when you bring up questions. His only “strong” argument - “what’s wrong with it?” Aha, you have no answer. Well then, so go do it, you have no answer, there’s nothing wrong with it. My father said, if you have no other answer but “what’s wrong with it”, DO NOT DO IT. Plain blind shoftim and shotrim in your life.

Pirkei Avos says “don’t believe in yourself”. Why? I learned, I grew in knowledge, I’m an intellectual, I’m a talmid chochom. Don’t believe in the inner yourself who tries to turn your head with just those factors, how much you know. You’re confused? Nobody to ask? Don’t ask yourself. Ask your shoftim and shotrim. The parameters which have been set up to protect you from the Yetzer Hora and its arguments. The parameters around your physical senses which are the gateways into your spiritual being. The parameters set up around the gateways to Hashem. Use your pure faith, the faith that is blind to outside pressure and influence, the blind judges and enforcers that our holy Chazal established. Then will your olam koton, small individual world, your own personal society, be safe and secure from outside corrupted influences.