Perek 5, part 3

Let's let's pick up then from passuk chaf-zayin of V'ani B'rov Chasdecha.

ואני ברב חסדך אבוא ביתך אשתחוה אל היכל קדשך ביראתך.

The Malbim comments on

ואני ברב חסדך אבוא ביתך, עת אלך לבית השם לא היראה מן הרע תנחני שמה אך החסד המתפשט על המציאות בכללו.

The chesed which envelops the all of creation, all of existence. חסדי קל אשר אביט על כל נמצא. The kindnesses of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that I I recognize in everything that exists. על ידו אבוא ביתך, that's what impels me l'ispallel eilecha. The Ran writes in Derashos HaRan in the derash hashishi. He says אין ספק שהמציאות הזה כולו חסד פשוט. All of metzius is a metzius of chesed, the Ran writes. כמו שאמר פסוק עולם חסד יבנה. And then the Ran explains כי לא קדם לנו דבר ראוי שנקבל עליו גמול. Before being created, we or anything and everything else that was created, no one was holding an IOU against Hakadosh Baruch Hu that He was indebted to anyone or anything. So when Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave and gives existence, it's a pure act of chesed. The Rambam presumably means the same. The Rambam writes when Moshe Rabbeinu says הודיעני נא את דרכך in parshas hashavua and Hakadosh Baruch Hu responds affirmatively אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך. So what does it mean אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך, I'll I'll pass before you, I'll I'll make pass before you all My goodness? What does that mean? So the Rambam says kol devarav, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's words, כל טובי רומזים שהציג לפניו את הנמצאים כולם. I'll let you understand the entire briya. I'll let you understand the yesodos habriya. I'll let you understand the interconnectedness within the briya. I'll let you understand how the middos Hashem, the actional middos of Hashem, are operative in the briya. How does kol tuvi refer to the briya? Because the briya, she'aleha ne'emar, וירא אלהים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד. Because every day when Hakadosh Baruch Hu finishes creating, וירא אלהים כי טוב, וירא אלהים כי טוב, and then on the sixth day of course vehinei tov me'od. So that's what the Rambam says pshat, that kol tuvi means the briya. Bechlal and what he has in mind is the same idea. It's the same idea. That's what the Rav zeicher tzaddik livracha used to say along these lines after developing these same ideas. He would say that brias ha'olam is not only a as it were a act of kindness to those that were created, it was also the Rambam says in Pirkei Avos. Now let's ask a little bit of a klotz kashe. So again, how does this recognition of the חסד המתפשט על המציאות בכללו, so again how does that sort of translate into the impulse for tefilla? So I guess on one level, and this isn't wrong, it's not wrong. On one level, so one could say let's say a person is looking for I don't know for a loan. And you hear about someone who has the resources to give the loan. So if you hear that he's a really tough personality, not especially generous, you may not be so inclined to approach him for the loan. You hear no, he has a heart of gold and he's kind and compassionate. So then a person is going to be much more inclined to approach and make the request. So maybe that's what it means. A person davens because he has a bakasha and he knows that we know Hakadosh Barukh Hu by glimpsing the beria, we see the חסד המתפשט על המציאות בכללו. So that encourages us when we have a bakasha to ask Hakadosh Barukh Hu. And that's not wrong in terms of the pshat. And in fact, the next pasuk, pasuk tes, is a bakasha. השם נחני בצדקתך למען שוררי. So the pshat is bakasha. I'm not sure if the Malbim really intimates that that's the pshat though. He doesn't intimate that you know that the

חסד המתפשט על המציאות בכללו חסדי אל אשר אגביר על כל נמצא

encourages him that his bakasha will meet with a favorable response. So it maybe yitachen the Malbim means something else. Hilchos Tefilla, perek daled? Yeah, perek daled, halakha alef.

הלכות תפילה זו כך היא: שאדם מתחנן ומתפלל בכל יום, ומגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, ואחר כך שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להם בבקשה ובתחינה, ואחר כך נותן שבח והודיה לשם על הטובה שהשפיע לו, איש לפי כוחו.

Good. So this is the Rambam's definition. Good. So this is the Rambam's definition of Tefilah De-Oraisa. Right?

שיחיה אדם מתחנן ומתפלל מגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להן

and then nosen shivach v'hoda'ah. So what does it mean to be mispallel as distinct from giving shevach, making bakashah and giving hoda'ah? Because again notice the lashon is, let's look one more time please,

שיחיה אדם מתחנן ומתפלל בכל יום ומגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ואחר כך שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להן בבקשה ובתחינה ואחר כך נותן שבח והודיה לה' על הטובה שהשפיע לו כל אחד לפי כוחו.

So you hear tfilah is something more, bigger than just the shevach, bakashah and hoda'ah. That's not how we think of it, no? We think of it, no, the tfilah consists of three parts: the gimmel rishonos, the emtzo'os, the gimmel achronos. It consists of shevach, bakashah and hoda'ah. But it's clear from the lashon harambam that tfilah, yes it is that, yes it translates that way, but it's also something more. It's also something more. So lichora the pshat is, the pshat is that what the phrase which the Rambam introduced in halacha aleph from the very first halacha, quoting from the Gemara in Taanis, quoting from the Sifrei, that tfilah is avodah shebalev. The ikkar of tfilah is that a person is focused beda'ato uv'machshavto, blocking out anything and everything else, is focused on Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's what the essence of tfilah is. The essence of tfilah is the audience with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So אלא מאי משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say parents, the kids are on school vacation. So the parents take time off from work to spend time with their kids. So the ikkar is to spend time. Okay, le'ma'aseh we're going to spend time, so let's, we'll plan an activity. We'll hike, we'll go to this museum, we'll do this, we'll do that. But that's not the extent or the definition of what's happening, right? That's sort of Hashta d'asinu l'hachi that we're spending time, so we'll, it will translate that way. So tfilah is, as it were, that a person spends time with Ribbono Shel Olam. Hashta d'asinu l'hachi, shevach, bakashah and hoda'ah. But it's something more and that's what's reflected in the lashon harambam: שיחיה אדם מתחנן ומתפלל and yes, nosen shevach, שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להן, v'chulu. And it's yitachen that eseilech l'veis hashem and

חסדי קל אשר עבר על כל נמצא על ידו עבר וספר ויתפלל לפניך.

That's why the Malbim isn't specifying the bakashah because ein hachi nami the impulse for tfilah isn't just the impulse of that we have all these tzrachim that we want, need to ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu for. That's certainly true and it certainly is an impulse, but that's not the extent of the impulse for tfilah. ה' הנחני בצדקתך למען שוררי הישר לפני דרכך. Shorerai, what does it mean? So the Malbim explains in the bi'ur hamillos, excuse me,

בו תמיד על המביט מרחוק על דרכי חברו ומצפה רעתו.

Ukimlitza zo lekaman you find similarly the same phrase we know it from Ledovid Hashem Ori, הורני ה׳ דרכך ונחני באורח מישור למען שוררי. So lashur means to look, and says the Malbim, and specifically to look begrudgingly, hoping that the person is going to fail, hoping that the person will be defeated. I don't know, either it doesn't have exactly this usage, but ashurenu velo ato, right, erenu velo bekaroiv, as Bilaam says. Either there it just has this re'iya or no, maybe the Malbim would tell us that you know on some level, on the one hand, Bilaam sees whether it's Dovid Hamelach, the Melech HaMoshiach who will emerge and futtaka he's not happy about it. ashurenu velo ato, maybe that's sort of a kavana in what Bilaam says as well. What are the two bakoshos of A, necheni betzidkosecha and B, hayashar lefanai darchecha? So the Malbim explains kedarko so beautifully. necheni betzidkosecha means to lead me. velo nichom elokim, right, Parshas Beshalach, velo nichom elokim, לך נחה את העם, Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu. It means to lead. So necheni betzidkosecha means that a person can not succeed in avodas Hashem for either of two reasons. Either the person cannot identify what the right path is. He can be on the wrong path, so Hakadosh Boruch Hu, necheni betzidkosecha, lead me that I should identify the right path. Then a person can be on the right path, but get sidetracked, get derailed, either because of various because he's encumbered by devarim hametridim oso, maybe it's difficulty with parnassah, rachmana litzlan, or with health, whatever the case may be, whatever the tirda or tzara, rachmana litzlan may be. Or it could be that a person is nimshach achar hataivos. He's on the right path but he's nimshach achar hataivos that derails him. So that's hayashar lefanai darchecha, make it smooth. A, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, necheni betzidkosecha that I should be on the right path, and B, let that path be straight, let it be smooth. So why is that leman shoreroy? It would seem that those bakoshos certainly A should stand on their own and B, it's kind of funny. What, the only reason is so that my enemies won't have the satisfaction of seeing me nichshal? I mean that's the way Dovid Hamelach pitches it, right? Hashem נחני בצדקתך למען שוררי. They're waiting that I should fail. Hakadosh Boruch Hu no, don't give them that satisfaction. Again, and it's the same bakosha and later as the Malbim quoted from the Kapittel Ledovid Hashem Ori, הורני ה׳ דרכך ונחני באורח מישור למען שוררי. So itachen that the pshat is here that we had earlier in Kapittel Bais,

יתיצבו מלכי ארץ ורוזנים נוסדו יחד על ה׳ ועל משיחו.

Dovid Hamelach's adversaries, Dovid Hamelach's enemies, the sho. whom he references in our kapitel, opposed not only David Hamelech, they were opposing the Ribono Shel Olam. Didn't Chazal say that that we find, I think the Pinkas talks about this Chazal in Shabbos, Makkos, that that we find the description of koton by the Levana,

את המאור הגדול לממשלת היום ואת המאור הקטן לממשלת הלילה.

We find it by Yaakov Avinu, v'yad Yaakov, that Rivka takes בגדי עשו בנה הגדול ותלבשם את יעקב בנה הקטן. And then we find that description by David Hamelech. David Hamelech is the what when Shmuel's going to to be mosheach, Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells him that he should anoint one of the sons of Yishai, so it turns out it's the ben hakoton that he's supposed to supposed to anoint. So in each of these cases, be it the Levana, be it Yaakov Avinu, be it David Hamelech, the adjective koton is used. So what does koton mean? So we know from the Levana that the Levana has doesn't have its own light, right? The Levana just reflects the light of the shemesh. So it means a this total hisbatlus. Yaakov also, lashon eikev, heel. It represents a total hisbatlus, a total hisbatlus. And when David Hamelech is described as koton also, so Chazal see that not just as pegging his his place in the family, but as characterizing, as defining his character, that David Hamelech was the ben hakoton. He had complete hisbatlus. When a person has complete hisbatlus as David Hamelech has, so then the opposition to David Hamelech, it wasn't that it wasn't anything there was nothing David Hamelech did that was annoying, it was על השם ועל משיחו. It was really an opposition to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. If that's the case, so then one can and should ask, ה' הנחני בצדקתך למען שוררי. The Rambam writes in in Iggeres Hashmad, in in the Rambam's day, not where he was at the time, so there was there was a gezeiras hamalchus, a a light motif of of Jewish history the past two two millennia. They were being coerced, threatened with death, unless they would profess a belief in Mohammed as a as a navi. Maybe the navi, I'm not sure exactly whether it was indefinite or definite article in the shmad. So ultimately the Rambam writes whether that is or isn't yehoreg v'al yaavor. But in in the beginning of of the Iggeres, so so the Rambam writes that all persecution of the Jewish people is really a rebellion against Hakadosh Baruch Hu because because the persecution of the Jewish people all stems from the fact that we're the am hanivchar, and really what the the goyim are doing is they're rejecting Hakadosh Baruch Hu's bechirah. They they can't pick up arms against Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so they fight against us. The same, it's

על השם ועל משיחו. כי אין בפיהו נכונה קרבם הוות קבר פתוח גרונם לשונם יחליקון.

In the Biur Hamillos, the Malbim explains when does the pasuk... Speak of the mouth, when does it speak of lashon the tongue? So he says that the peh is sort of what a person says outwardly. And lashon represents which is again anatomically, which is inside, more internal, represents what the person really means and really thinks. Ein befihu nechona, there’s nothing right or correct or true about what they say. They posture as though they're my ally, they're my friends. But inwardly, kirbam havot. Havot is lashon of destruction. Kever patuach gronam, their throat is like an open grave into which they're seeking to draw me. Leshonam yachlikun, and the lashon, meaning their true intent, is to be machshil me. Right, chalak is what's smooth, so yachlikun is to entrap me, to draw me in. Haashimem Elokim, indict them, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, find them guilty. יפלו ממועצותיהם ברוב פשעיהם הדיחמו כי מרו בך. So David Hamelech references moatsoseihem as well as rov pish’eihem. The Malbim explains that where does David Hamelech see ki maru vach that they’ve rebelled against Hakadosh Baruch Hu? When a person is mumar l'teiavon, so on one level it’s not a rebellion against Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It’s just that the person is succumbing to his taivos. It’s not ki maru vach. Mumar l'teiavon is not rebelling against Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But when a person’s intellectually, brazenly rejects, when a person, when it’s premeditated, when it’s deliberate, it’s not succumbing to a taiva. There’s eitza involved, it represents his counsel, it’s premeditated, it’s deliberate, it’s mimoatzos, from counsel. Or it’s berov pish’eihem. It’s not something that happens, it’s something which is consistent all the time. It’s berov pish’eihem, there’s such an overwhelming, so that’s clear that it’s just it’s a rejection, ki maru vach. Okay, so maybe we’ll stop here in the Malbim for today, but we’ll shift to the Gemara now.