{"id":51698,"date":"2021-08-23T15:41:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T15:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=51698"},"modified":"2021-08-23T15:42:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T15:42:10","slug":"weekly-tefilah-focus-special-elul-series-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/weekly-tefilah-focus-special-elul-series-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Tefilah Focus Special Elul Series \u2013 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Special Elul Series 5782 \u2013 Part 2 \u2013 13 Midos 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How important is it to refine our character and work on our\u00a0<em>midos<\/em>? \u00a0The Vilna Gaon (1720-1797), in\u00a0<em>Even Sh\u2019leimah<\/em>, writes that if we are not actively working to refine and perfect our\u00a0<em>midos<\/em>, what is the purpose of our living?<\/p>\n<p>How much effort should we put into refining our\u00a0<em>midos<\/em>? \u00a0HaRav Yisrael Salanter (1809-1883) said that it is more difficult to change one character trait than it is to finish all of\u00a0<em>Shas<\/em>.\u00a0 We know how much effort is put forth by those who have merited to complete\u00a0<em>Shas<\/em>.\u00a0 Are we matching that effort to refine and perfect our character?<\/p>\n<p>HaRav Matisyahu Salomon (<em>Mashgiach Ruchani<\/em>\u00a0of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood) wrote a\u00a0<em>sefer<\/em>\u00a0titled\u00a0<em>Matnas Chaim<\/em>, a compilation of\u00a0<em>musar<\/em>\u00a0insights he gleaned from the\u00a0<em>sefer Tomer Devorah<\/em>.\u00a0 In his introduction, HaRav Salomon writes that the Alter of Kelm would say that the\u00a0<em>sefer Tomer Devorah<\/em>, written by HaRav Moshe Cordovero (1522-1570) is the\u00a0<em>\u201cshulchan aruch\u201d<\/em>\u00a0on the\u00a0<em>halachos<\/em>\u00a0of\u00a0<em>midos<\/em>.\u00a0 The Arizal (1534-1572) is known to have stated that he considered HaRav Moshe Cordovero as his\u00a0<em>rebbe<\/em>.\u00a0 HaRav Salomon also writes that the\u00a0<em>sefer Tomer Devorah<\/em>\u00a0is a\u00a0<em>\u201csefer kadosh<\/em>\u00a0written by an\u00a0<em>ish kadosh\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and suggests that Elul is an especially fitting time to learn\u00a0<em>Tomer Devorah<\/em>\u00a0as a preparation for Yom Kippur.\u00a0 We will be using the\u00a0<em>sefer Matnas Chaim<\/em>\u00a0on\u00a0<em>Tomer Devorah<\/em>\u00a0as the primary source for our segments on the 13\u00a0<em>Midos<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The Gemara in\u00a0<em>Rosh HaShanah<\/em>\u00a0<span dir=\"RTL\">)<\/span>17b<span dir=\"RTL\">(<\/span>\u00a0states<span dir=\"RTL\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"RTL\">\u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d4&#8217; \u05e2\u05dc \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 [\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc&#8221;\u05d3:\u05d5&#8217;] \u2013 \u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d5\u05d7\u05e0\u05df: \u05d0\u05dc\u05de\u05dc\u05d0 \u05de\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 \u05db\u05ea\u05d5\u05d1, \u05d0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05e4\u05e9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d5. \u05de\u05dc\u05de\u05d3 \u05e9\u05e0\u05ea\u05e2\u05d8\u05e3 \u05d4\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05db\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05d7 \u05e6\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d4\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5 \u05dc\u05de\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e1\u05d3\u05e8 \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4. \u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d5: \u05db\u05dc \u05d6\u05de\u05df \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d7\u05d5\u05d8\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d9\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05db\u05e1\u05d3\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d6\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05d7\u05dc \u05dc\u05d4\u05dd.<\/span><br \/>\n\u201cAnd Hashem passed before him [Moshe] and proclaimed\u2026\u201d \u2013 Rabbi Yochanan said, \u201cWere a\u00a0<em>pasuk<\/em>\u00a0not written, it would be impossible to say it.\u00a0 This teaches that Hashem wrapped himself [in a\u00a0<em>talis<\/em>] like a\u00a0<em>shliach tzibur<\/em>\u00a0and demonstrated to Moshe the order of prayer.\u00a0 He said to him: Any time that Yisrael sins, let them perform before Me this procedure and I shall forgive them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This Gemara teaches us what we need to do to obtain guaranteed forgiveness from Hashem.\u00a0 If we do as the Gemara states, Hashem says that He will forgive us.\u00a0 The question is what exactly do we need to do?<\/p>\n<p>Recitation of the 13\u00a0<em>Midos<\/em>\u00a0is absolutely the most important part of our\u00a0<em>S\u2019lichos<\/em>.\u00a0 In fact, if one is not able to keep pace with a\u00a0<em>minyan<\/em>\u00a0when reciting\u00a0<em>S\u2019lichos<\/em>, one should skip whatever he needs to, in order to always recite the 13\u00a0<em>Midos<\/em>\u00a0with the\u00a0<em>minyan<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Although the recitation alone is clearly crucial, the\u00a0<em>sefer Reishis Chochmah<\/em>\u00a0(a student of HaRav Moshe Cordovero) writes that he heard in the name of the\u00a0<em>Geonim<\/em>\u00a0(who preceded the\u00a0<em>Rishonim<\/em>) that the intent of this Gemara is that we need to\u00a0<em>implement<\/em>\u00a0the 13\u00a0<em>Midos<\/em>\u00a0in our lives and not merely recite them.\u00a0 This means that we need to work on refining our character until we actually\u00a0<em>become<\/em>\u00a0compassionate, gracious, kind, and patient people.\u00a0 The\u00a0<em>Rambam<\/em>\u00a0writes that the way to fulfill the\u00a0<em>mitzvah<\/em>\u00a0of following in the path of Hashem\u2019s ways is to frequently perform acts of compassion, grace, kindness, and patience so that we eventually will\u00a0<em>become<\/em>\u00a0compassionate, gracious, kind, and patient.\u00a0 Compassion, grace, kindness, and patience are only four of the 13.<\/p>\n<p>Our segments will focus on understanding the 13\u00a0<em>Midos<\/em>\u00a0in a way that can be applied and integrated into our lives and ultimately into our very essence.\u00a0 We will also present a better understanding of what we are saying when we recite the 13\u00a0<em>Midos<\/em>, which we will,\u00a0<em>b\u2019ezras Hashem<\/em>, do so many times in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Special Elul Series 5782 \u2013 Part 2 \u2013 13 Midos 1 How important is it to refine our character and work on our\u00a0midos? \u00a0The Vilna Gaon (1720-1797), in\u00a0Even Sh\u2019leimah, writes that if we are not actively working to refine and perfect our\u00a0midos, what is the purpose of our living? How much effort should we put [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133662,"featured_media":51703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elul"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Weekly Tefilah Focus Special Elul Series \u2013 Part 2 - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/weekly-tefilah-focus-special-elul-series-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Weekly Tefilah Focus Special Elul Series \u2013 Part 2 - Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Special Elul Series 5782 \u2013 Part 2 \u2013 13 Midos 1 How important is it to refine our character and work on our\u00a0midos? \u00a0The Vilna Gaon (1720-1797), in\u00a0Even Sh\u2019leimah, writes that if we are not actively working to refine and perfect our\u00a0midos, what is the purpose of our living? 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