Tefillah: Your Personal Connection

Schachter, Nussberger, Morse, we're about to start. I'd like to begin by asking a little bit of a favor. Generally, if one undertakes to speak, so what sort of comes with the territory is an obligation to hold people's interest and the attention. Not to make it sort of heavy and burdensome that they should have to stay engaged, but to be engaging. So I'd like to begin by asking indulgence and a favor that at least initially, I think I'm going to be even a little less engaging than usual and even a little bit maybe heavier than usual. So I ask people's help and indulgence. יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון. The principle of all knowledge, principle of all life, the principle of all meaning is to know Metzius Hashem. Is to know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists. The Rambam is quite clear that the mitzvah is not only to believe but in his opinion the mitzvah is to know. The simple connotation of the word to know in this context and most contexts is that the Rambam has in mind to know through some form of logical proof and deduction and as a matter of fact the Rambam very schematically there in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah where he penned these immortal words then gives us a sort of a quintessential, gives us the abbreviated version of what elsewhere he expands on, basically what the Rambam says is that anything physical can't be self-sufficient, anything physical has to have some cause and if the world is here and the world isn't, can't be deemed self-sufficient so obviously Hakadosh Baruch Hu stands behind the world. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the cause of the world. Rav Saadia Gaon says the same thing with a crucial difference. He speaks explicitly of in his opinion something which modern science probably agrees with. In his opinion we can prove that the world has been created, that the world hasn't existed eternally and once you can prove again that the world has been created so again it's something which what's created needs a creator, a creator who's self-sufficient and that creator is Hakadosh Baruch Hu. At any rate according to the Rambam the mitzvah is not only to believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu but to know as well. There are other types of knowledge or indications and inferences, inductions that we have about Hakadosh Baruch Hu as well. There's a very beautiful little monograph well worth reading. Rosh Hashanah according to the Sefer Ikkarim is part of Malchiyos is a Yom Tov of emunah. The Sefer Ikkarim says that in contradistinction to the Rambam who enumerates Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, the Rambam's famous thirteen principles of faith that he formulated in the Peirush HaMishnayos so the Sefer Ikkarim says that he would have been a little bit more concise and he would have just formulated three ikkarim, three major principles of our faith. And he says that one is Metzius Hashem, another is Torah Min HaShamayim, and the third one is Sachar VeOnesh. And he says sort of as a proof that these are the fundamentals of our faith, of our emunah is if you look in the Brachos of Malchiyos, Zichronos, and Shofros, he says that Malchiyos, Zichronos, and Shofros correspond to these three ikkarim. Malchiyos, Metzius Hashem. Shofros, אתה נגלית בענן כבודך is Torah Min HaShamayim. And Zichronos, אתה זוכר מעשי עולם ופוקד כל יצורי קדם is Sachar VeOnesh, the principle of reward and punishment. So Rosh Hashanah is a Yom Tov of emunah. So this is very much besides being the prelude to what we want to discuss a little bit in terms of Teshuvah. So very much me'inyana d'yoma, very timely. So in this very rich monograph, Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen outlines basically in terms of history of philosophy different, again, indications—I don't know if the word is argument or indication or proofs, whichever word is most appropriate—that we have in terms of fulfilling the Rambam's imperative, the Rambam's mandate of leda. One is the one that we referred to, again, albeit briefly and superficially, known as more the cosmological proof or approach, again from the world. Another similar one is looking at all the intricate and incredibly intricate design in the world, and basically this proof goes back to the Chovot HaLevavot, the mashal that people often quote about the odds of spilling a bottle of ink and coming up with an intelligible work, with a Shakespearean play or whatever it is. So basically the Chovot HaLevavot already says that when you look at the intricate design in the world—a design that, again, modern science is unable to attribute to any natural cause—that clearly that also points to Hakadosh Baruch Hu who designed it. The miraculous course of Jewish history that, despite all persecutions and all the best efforts of the umot ha'olam notwithstanding, that we're here. And the final indication is the intuition that many of us have, probably rooted in our consciousness, in our conscious, which is that there's such a thing as universal moral law; that we feel, we intuit that there are certain universal values such as murder being wrong and immoral, and what's the source of any kind of universal morality can only come from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So those are basically four areas for, again, types of indications, inferences, proofs in terms of Hakadosh Baruch Hu—again from the fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, again as the cause, the creator of the world; Hakadosh Baruch Hu as the designer of the world; Hakadosh Baruch Hu responsible for the miraculous supernatural course of Jewish history; Hakadosh Baruch Hu as the source of the moral law, morality that we intuit. So those are ways in which we fulfill leda in its simple sense, to sort of know cognitively, to know intellectually that Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists. But the Torah is clearly not content with that, as the sefer, as the Kuzari puts it; the Torah is interested that we shouldn't just relate to, we shouldn't know of Hakadosh Baruch Hu who's a cause, who's a creator, but there's supposed to be a personal relationship that we have with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We're supposed to connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that it should be a personal relationship. Anochi Hashem Elokecha, which again according to the Rambam is the source of the mitzvah of leda שיש שם מצוי ראשון; so the pasuk continues, as you all know, אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים. So when Hakadosh Baruch Hu presents his calling card and when Hakadosh Baruch Hu as it were presents his claim for our loyalty, he doesn't say אשר בראתי שמים וארץ which he could have, he says אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים. So there are many many important explanations for this, but one of them is that there's the association that we have; similarly, the Torah says in Parshat Behar עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אותם מארץ מצרים, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, "You know why they're avadim? Because אשר הוצאתי אותם מארץ מצרים." Because I took them out of Eretz Mitzrayim. So again Hakadosh Baruch Hu stakes his claim on our loyalty and to Torah and mitzvot on the fact that he took us out of Mitzrayim. עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אותם מארץ מצרים. So why is this? The answer is as follows, that avdut in addition to having the association with a sense of just belonging to the master, but avdut also—the Gemara has the famous story where רבי יוחנן בן זכאי's son takes sick, seriously, seriously ill—so רבי יוחנן בן זכאי sends to his talmid Rabbi Chanina ben. ben Dosa, he sends him a kvittel that he should daven for his son. So Chanina ben Dosa does and his tefillos are accepted and Yochanan ben Zakkai's son recovers. So then Yochanan ben Zakkai says that

ומלא הטיח בן זכאי ראשו בין ברכיו כל היום לא נענה.

He says I could have lowered my head in tefillah for the entire day and I wouldn't have been answered the way Chanina ben Dosa was answered. So his wife, so the Rebbetzin asks Yochanan ben Zakkai and says וכי חנינא גדול ממך? You're the rebbe, he's the talmid. So what do you mean that you couldn't have effected this yeshuah, this refuah the same way your talmid Chanina ben Dosa did? So he gives a rather cryptic answer. Yochanan ben Zakkai says no, it's not that he's greater than me, but

אני דומה כשר לפני המלך הוא דומה כעבד לפני המלך.

So what does that mean? That clearly the sar outranks the eved. But on the other hand, the sar needs an appointment to get in to see the king. The sar maybe secretary of state, maybe secretary of defense, he has cabinet ranking, but he needs an appointment to get in to see the president. The president's personal secretary doesn't have cabinet status, doesn't have cabinet rank, but can come in at will without an appointment and interact with the king. So that, again, however that answers the question, apparently independent of one's gaddlus in Torah, there's also a koach hatefillah which Chanina ben Dosa had. Whatever that means in context, however that answered his wife's question, but one thing that we take away from that Gemara is that avdus also carries with it a sense of intimacy, that there are no barriers in terms of the between the eved and the odom. The eved is around the odom at all times. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says עבדי הם אשר הוצאתים מארץ מצרים. They're my avadim. My avadim means that there's going to be again ke'eved lifnei hamelech that there should be a personal relationship, an intimate relationship that every one of us forges with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now to make that claim, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says if I were just some impersonal creator of the world, so I wouldn't have any claim on that type of approach, that we should look to forge a personal relationship. But no, but I'm personally involved with them, I'm personally involved with each of you, so mimeila says Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that's why I tell you that you're obligated to reciprocate. אשר הוצאתים מארץ מצרים. I take a personal interest as it were and involve myself in your affairs, in human affairs, so you have to reciprocate. And one of the drashos which is presented in Al HaTeshuah, so the Rav suggests that he thinks that maybe the Rambam has this in mind in leida as well. And maybe when the Rambam says leida, he doesn't mean purely again intellectually, logically, cognitively, but maybe the Rambam also means by leida in the sense the way leida is used with והאדם ידע את חוה אשתו, also in a sense of intimacy, and that what it means is again to be intimate with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to feel, to experience Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence, that the Rambam includes that in his mitzvah of leida as well. This presents one of the major challenges in religious life is how to forge and how to feel genuinely, for real, that personal relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, not just to carry out his commandments, but to again forge and feel that personal relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And in many ways it's more challenging than leida in its cognitive, in its logical sense. The leida in the sense of intimacy, of again feeling and forging that personal relationship is a greater religious challenge. So on the one hand, the truth is that all mitzvos are designed to do that. There is a famous comment of a Chiddushei HaRim, the first Gerer Rebbe, who says that in addition to the simple translation of the word mitzvah, commandment, and אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to whatever the case may be, so he says that mitzvah is also מלשון צוות מלשון צפתא, which means to be together. And that mitzvos are something whereby we... become bound to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, whereby we're together with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So on one level, it's true of all mitzvot, but that all mitzvot are designed to bring us closer, to help us again create and forge that personal relationship. In the Elohai Netzor there are different girsa'ot, whether we say אחרי מצוותיך תרדוף נפשי or uvemitzvotecha tirdof nafshi. So if the nussach is אחרי מצוותיך תרדוף נפשי, so it means that my soul pursues your mitzvot, right? Yirdof acharei mitzvot, that my soul pursues your mitzvot. If it's uvemitzvotecha tirdof nafshi, if it's not acharei but uvemitzvotecha, so that doesn't mean if the object of pursuit in lashon hakodesh isn't denoted with the preposition of the beys. The beys together with rodef, let's say we quote at the Seder the pasuk of תרדוף באף ותשמידם מתחת שמי ה'. So what does tirdof be'af mean? It doesn't mean that one is pursuing wrath, that one is pursuing anger, it means that one is pursuing with wrath, with anger. It indicates the instrument of pursuit, not the object of pursuit. So if it's uvemitzvotecha tirdof nafshi, so mitzvot are not the object of pursuit, they're the instrument of pursuit. So what's the object of pursuit? So presumably the object of pursuit is unstated because it's understood, it's self-understood, that uvemitzvotecha with your mitzvot tirdof nafshi may my soul Hakadosh Baruch Hu pursue you. So that's the idea of the Chiddushei Harim. So on one level and maybe that's a topic for another time, how we realize that potential of mitzvot to serve not only as commandments but things that bind us to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But certainly within the galaxy of mitzvot, within the spectrum of mitzvot, in trying to again achieve and forge this personal relationship, the mitzvah of tefillah occupies a very very special place and is certainly again looms very very prominent in trying to meet this challenge of having a personal relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should be a presence in our lives, not just again someone who's a source of commandments which give order and direction to our lives but that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should be a presence in our lives. So how is that so? So let's discuss a little bit kavanah in tefillah and proceed from there im yirtzeh Hashem. The Rambam and Shulchan Aruch define the kavanah in tefillah is that יראה עצמו כעומד לפני השכינה. That a person sees himself standing in the presence of the Shechinah. Ramchal in Mesillat Yesharim elaborates this a little bit and he says צריך האדם לחשוב בעודו מתפלל or for that matter oseh mitzvah but we'll leave that aside for the moment, כי לפני מלך מלכי המלכים הוא מתפלל. And then Ramchal says there are three foci that we should have in this awareness of being in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence. First of all, שהוא עומד ממש לפני הבורא יתברך שמו venoseh venosein immo. That the reality of talking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu in tefillah should be for us the same way when we see a friend and we engage him in conversation, כאשר ידבר איש אל רעהו, the same reality that a person is again literally, mamash, talking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, שהוא עומד ממש לפני הבורא יתברך שמו venoseh venosein immo. He says obviously this is very challenging,

כי זהו היותר קשה שייצטייר בלב האדם ציור אמיתי יען אין החוש עוזר לזה כלל.

We have no sensory help in terms of focusing on this reality. But that's the first thing to be cognizant of again is that literally שהוא עומד ממש לפני הבורא יתברך שמו. Second of all we should have an awareness of romemuso, ואחר שיקבע זה בדעתו צריך שיזבונן על רוממותו יתברך, a person should should reflect, should meditate on Hakadosh Baruch Hu's exaltedness, אשר הוא מרומם ונישא מכל ברכת תהילה, and finally a person should reflect on his own lowliness. ועוד צריך שיתבונן על שפלות האדם ופחיתותו. So those were the components of the awareness that we're supposed to have in kavana according to Ramchal. Again, that a person is mamash, literally, actually talking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, nosei venosein imo again, the way we talk to each other the same reality. And second of all, to know who's involved in this dialogue, who's involved in this exchange, Hakadosh Baruch Hu who's meromam venisa, exalted, and we, lowly creatures. Now Rav Pincus has an amazing, two amazing insights in terms of the role and the indispensability of hachana, of preparation for tefilla, both of them in in his small sefer Shearim b'Tfilla. So first of all he comments he has a fascinating observation. He says that ordinarily when we hear the word hachana, so we, I don't know, either we brush it aside as amilei dechasidus or actually without the word milei, we if you don't wear a gartel so then you don't necessarily attach too much significance to hachana to mitzvos and it's something which is extra. It's, it's lifnim mishuras hadin, you have to do a mitzvah. Okay, maybe you want to, ich veis, double your return on it, maybe maybe you have a chassidishe bent. So then you then there's a hineni muchan u'mezuman and then you you prepare, you make preparation for the mitzvah. So he comments how when the Rambam quotes the din of kavana, הרמב"ם פרק ד מהלכות תפילה, take a look rabosai, חמשה דברים המעכבין את התפילה. Five things which are absolutely indispensable, without which one does not fulfill the mitzvah of tefilla. The fifth of these five things that the Rambam lists is kavana, that a person should have concentration during davening, that there should be an awareness that he's omeid lifnei Hashem standing before Hashem during davening, and in that halacha the Rambam says that we're required to make hachanos before davening. In the halacha where the Rambam says that kavana is absolutely indispensable for tefilla, it's there where the Rambam tells us as part of that halacha, not as part of not as putting his arm around our shoulders and saying, "You know what? I'll give you an eitzah tova, I'll give you a free bit of advice." So the, the clear message which Rav Pincus recognizes in this Rambam is that the hachana again is an absolute requirement by tefilla. It's not something which is enhancing, it's not something which is extra and therefore recommended, but something which is absolutely indispensable and without which one is not going to apparently be able to muster the requisite kavana to daven properly. That's his first insight. Then he has another, another very profound and, and just transforming insight if we, if we take it to heart. The Gemara says at the beginning of the fifth perek in Masechet Brachos that we're supposed to be עומד להתפלל מתוך שמחה של מצוה. That the, seems to be that what the Gemara is describing is what frame of mind, what mindset should a person be in when he gets up to daven so he shouldn't, his mind shouldn't be tarud, shouldn't be distracted by some problems or he shouldn't he shouldn't have... but the, the mindset, the frame of mind is simcha shel mitzvah. Rashi gives examples of of what constitutes a simcha shel mitzvah and one of the examples Rashi gives is semichas geula l'tefilla by recounting the kindnesses of Hakadosh Baruch Hu throughout our history, specifically relating to Geulas Mitzrayim to the Exodus, so that's a fulfillment of simcha shel mitzvah. So says Rav Pincus, he says if you recall to mind that Rashi earlier on daf daled in discussing semichas geula l'tefilla quotes from the Yerushalmi the following mashal. That semichas geula l'tefilla is the equivalent of ohavo shel melech who comes to the palace... bringing Hakadosh Baruch Hu close to us by saying the bracha of geulah of Gaal Yisrael. So then, when the king hears the knock and the king comes to answer the knock, now's the time to go ahead and daven. Now's the time to go ahead and address him 'cause he's there. So he says, when you put these two things together, so what Chazal are telling us, again, as amplified by Rashi, is that the reason that the hachana is indispensable is that, as it were, that omed lifnei HaShechina is induced by one's hachana la'tefillah. By taking a few moments, whether it's a few moments or whether like the Chasidim Harishonim it's as much as an hour, however much time it is, by a person readying himself and thinking that he's about to talk to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that's what induces, again, the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Why is it, again, why is it that it's so difficult, that it's so difficult in tefillah? Because, again, if there's no physical focal point and we're not feeling and we're not sensing anything, so it's very difficult to stay focused. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence has been induced, so then there's something which holds our attention. Then, then the conversation can happen. But if I start talking and the takka there's no one there, there's no one there because I didn't induce that presence of the Shechina before getting up to daven, so then takka it's going to be an impossible feat to be able to muster the proper kavanah. And that's what he says is that the hachana la'tefillah, again, the reason it's not just a hachana as it is by every mitzvah, but it's part of the actual din, part of the actual requirement is because it's the hachana la'tefillah which makes tefillah possible. In order to be omed lifnei HaShechina, we have to bring the Shechina there. We have to make the Shechina, again, something that will hold our attention, that we'll be able to focus on, and it's the hachana la'tefillah which accomplishes that. So he goes on to discuss, but at this point, at this point we can figure it out for ourselves that if the minyan is seven o'clock, running in at seven-o-eight and being out of breath because we're huffing and puffing to even get there by seven-o-eight, that when we daven, that there's something empty and hollow about the experience shouldn't come as any surprise because without the hachana, so then a person isn't going to feel, isn't going to be able to feel that he's standing with Hakadosh Baruch Hu because Hakadosh Baruch Hu isn't going to make his presence, again, felt to the person. And it's only again when the person makes the proper hachana, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes his presence felt to the person and then the person takka can successfully engage Hakadosh Baruch Hu in tefillah. So it's just about impossible to exaggerate, again, the importance and the indispensability of again, if we're going to daven successfully and tefillah is going to be what it's intended to be, again, a way of personally interacting with Hakadosh Baruch Hu as a major, major component again of the religious challenge of having a personal relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that there should be a presence in our lives, so it begins with the hachana la'tefillah. Some of us, I don't mean to project this onto others necessarily or insinuate it to others, some of us have a big yetzer hara to be late, to come late. Just so you wouldn't think that was false humility, I came a few minutes late tonight, so just so. sometimes so we I guess it's sort of a game or we think of it as a game that we play with ourselves. We set our watches five minutes ahead or ten minutes ahead. But then, sort of as you get older, you figure no, that's a child's game. I'm not going to do that. If I know I have to be somewhere at seven o'clock, so I just tell myself to be there at seven o'clock. So maybe it's not such a child's game. Maybe maybe the the equivalent of setting one's watch ahead ten minutes, or if the zman tfillah in shul is seven o'clock, so telling myself that the zman tfillah in shul is really 6:45, maybe that's no different than a syag. What's what's a syag? When Chazal say Asu syag l'Torah, it means: Don't don't walk on the edge, don't walk on the precipice. It means: Stay stay away. So the same thing. So if tfillah is seven o'clock, so my syag to to make sure I'm there is tfillah at 6:45. That way, even if I'm running five minutes late, I'm going to be there, I'm going to be there at 6:50. But the need, again, to to be there for some minimal hachana is just so so vital and and so pivotal for mitzvas tfillah and for our our religious lives. Maybe one or two other eitzos in terms of how to have kavana when we daven, and again, if we're able to daven successfully, so then we we feel that personal relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The Nefesh HaChaim quotes from the Beis Yosef: העצה היעוצה על זה the the advice, the recommendation to be able to maintain kavana: כמו שאמר המגיד לבית יוסף the Magid who used to come to the Beis Yosef told him as follows:

להזהר מלחשוב בשעת התפילה משום בשום מחשבה אפילו של תורה ומצוות כי אם בתיבות התפילה עצמן

a person is supposed to be thinking about the words of tfillah, which the Nefesh HaChaim explains means that a person בעת שהאדם מוציא מפיו כל תיבה מהתפילה when a person articulates each word of davening יצייר לו אז במחשבתו אותה התיבה באותיותיה כצורתה that a person should see, say, if if a person davens with his eyes closed, so a person should see the words when he's saying אתה חונן אדם דעת a person sees the alef with the pasach, he sees the taf with the kamatz, he sees the hei. He has a mental image of it in front of his eyes. And the Chaim Volozhiner tells us: היא סגולה נפלאה בדוק ומנוסה למרגילים עצמם בזה that if a person trains himself in this, it's a wondrous and and wonderful special quality which has been tried and true that that it helps a person maintain kavana ולבטל ולהסיר מעליו בזה כל מחשבות הבלים הטורדות that that he's able to to keep away all all thoughts which would distract him and and to keep focused on tfillah. Another recommendation. One last recommendation in in this area in terms of kavana in tfillah, so just maybe maybe with a mashal. I remember when I was a a little kid, so when my my mother would take me to the the library to get get some books, so she would remind me as we were approaching the library I'm so old, I remember when you were supposed to be quiet in the library, so that I guess that makes me at least eighty years old, that you you had to be you had to be quiet when you went into into into a library. So she would remind me as we approached the library: You know, there's no talking, and if you have to say something, so then then you whisper it. And after a while, so then she didn't have to tell me anymore, because she had told me enough times that as we would walk up the steps towards the library, so my immediate association with the library was: Okay, gotta be quiet now, it's a quiet zone. So there are certain associations that we have. If it were true that the only thing we ever did in shul was daven, or maybe it's a beis medrash, so daven and or learn, so that would mean that as we were walking in the doors to go into the shul, so it means right away one's mindset would be tefillah. But if in shul we conduct, even if it's not during tefillah, and that's a compounded offense, even if it's before or after davenning, but if we conduct all kinds of other conversations, so then we don't have that, we don't have that mindset in shul. In shul is not davka, what do I have to think about davenning when I walk into shul? I can think about politics, all different types of politics, and I can think about current events and sports and all those associations with shul. But if the only thing that happened in shul was tefillah, the way the velt taitches מייחדים בתי כנסיות לתפילה, that a shul is used exclusively for tefillah, so that would mean again that the same way when I was a little boy because my mother trained me so I slipped into a quiet mode as we walked into the library, so that means whenever we would walk into shul, we would shift into that kind of mindset to be focused on davenning, and that also would contribute to our our being able to maintain kavana during tefillah. Maybe just to add one or two final comments. There is a din that a person is supposed to be מסדר תפילתו ואחר כך יתפלל. So one thing that means is that if a person is going to be davenning by heart and hasn't said the tefillah in the past 30 days, so he should first review the tefillah so that way he'll be fluent when he says the tefillah. Okay, so the daily Shemoneh Esrei, 30 days never elapse without our saying it, so in that on that level this halacha isn't often relevant to our daily tefillah. The point of it is that a person should be able to daven fluently. A person shouldn't be hemming and hawing and trying to figure out what the next word is, should be able to daven fluently. It's certainly consistent with this that we should know what it is we're saying. It's also hard to daven fluently if we're davenning in Japanese. So too often too much of the tefillos, even in Lashon Hakodesh, are Japanese to us. And that also creates a major stumbling block to maintaining and sustaining kavana when we're saying things that we simply don't understand. So both in terms of the time of year of Selichos as well as Yamim Noraim, so there's lots of the references and allusions and words in the tefillah which aren't so familiar to us. If we prepare for davenning a little bit ourselves with our children, so then again if we can understand what we're saying, so then we're obviously in a much better position to try to have and maintain kavana. Okay, there's much more to talk about, but we'll stop here. A gut yohr, gmar chasima tova.