{"id":56334,"date":"2024-08-12T15:42:22","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T15:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=56334"},"modified":"2024-08-12T15:50:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T15:50:03","slug":"a-servants-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/a-servants-plea\/","title":{"rendered":"A Servant\u2019s Plea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span dir=\"RTL\">\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4 \u05d4&#8217; \u05d0-\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05dd<\/span><br \/>\nBe favorable, Hashem our G-d, toward Your people Israel and their prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We now address the last group of\u00a0<em>brachos<\/em>\u00a0in\u00a0<em>Shemoneh Esrei<\/em>.\u00a0 In the Gemara in\u00a0<em>B\u2019rachos<\/em>\u00a0(34a), Rav Yehudah says that one should not make requests in the first three\u00a0<em>brachos<\/em>\u00a0or in the last three\u00a0<em>brachos<\/em>\u00a0of\u00a0<em>Shemoneh Esrei<\/em>.\u00a0 These are reserved for praising Hashem (the first three) and thanking Him (the last three).<\/p>\n<p>However, when we look at the\u00a0<em>brachos<\/em>\u00a0of \u201c<span dir=\"RTL\">\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4<\/span>\u2013<em>R\u2019tzei<\/em>\u201d and \u201c<span dir=\"RTL\">\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd<\/span>\u2013<em>Sim shalom,<\/em>\u201d they seem to be full of requests.\u00a0\u00a0<em>Tosafos<\/em>\u00a0explains that Rav Yehudah\u2019s statement and limitation only pertained to requests on behalf of an individual.\u00a0 These\u00a0<em>brachos<\/em>, however, contain requests for the entire\u00a0<em>klal Yisrael<\/em>.\u00a0 The Avudraham (quoted in\u00a0<em>sefer Tal\u2019lei Oros<\/em>) explains that the requests contained in these last three\u00a0<em>brachos<\/em>\u00a0are actually requests for\u00a0<em>kavod<\/em>\u00a0to Hashem, because they relate to our\u00a0<em>avodah<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>shalom<\/em>, which are \u201c<em>k\u2019vod HaKadosh Baruch Hu<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As we turn to the\u00a0<em>brachah<\/em>\u00a0of\u00a0<em>R\u2019tzei<\/em>, we are struck with a powerful question addressed by HaRav Avigdor Miller\u00a0<em>zt\u201dl<\/em>\u00a0(in\u00a0<em>sefer Tefilas Avigdor<\/em>).\u00a0 He asks: We just completed the\u00a0<em>brachah<\/em>\u00a0of\u00a0<em>Shomei\u2019a Tefilah<\/em>, where we asked Hashem to hear and accept our\u00a0<em>tefilos<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<em>R\u2019tzei<\/em>, at first glance, seems to be exactly the same request?<\/p>\n<p>HaRav Miller explains that the\u00a0<em>brachah<\/em>\u00a0of\u00a0<em>R\u2019tzei<\/em>\u00a0is not asking Hashem to accept our\u00a0<em>tefilos<\/em>, for we just, in fact, completed that request in \u201c<em>Shomei\u2019a Tefilah.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Rather, we are now asking Hashem to accept our\u00a0<em><u>avodah<\/u><\/em>\u00a0of\u00a0<em>tefilah<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The key word in this\u00a0<em>brachah<\/em>\u00a0is the word \u201c<em>ratzon.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Rabbeinu Yonah (in\u00a0<em>shaar<\/em>\u00a01:42) explains that it is possible that Hashem forgives us for our sins and frees us of pains and decrees as a result, but He may still not desire us.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine that someone wronged us.\u00a0 He asked our forgiveness so we forgave him, but since he hasn\u2019t really tried to repair the relationship in a meaningful way, we don\u2019t feel as close to him as we once did.\u00a0 We certainly won\u2019t be inviting him to our home for a Shabbos meal.<\/p>\n<p>Here, too, it is our \u201c<em>ratzon<\/em>\u201d to repair the relationship between us and Hashem to such an extent that we resume or even enhance our original relationship of warmth and closeness.<\/p>\n<p>This\u00a0<em>brachah<\/em>\u00a0is all about expressing our intense desire for the close relationship between us and Hashem.\u00a0 The level of closeness will be determined by the intensity of our love and desire for that closeness.<\/p>\n<p>Rav Miller points out that we mention the word \u201c<em>ratzon<\/em>\u201d three times in this\u00a0<em>brachah<\/em>.\u00a0 This\u00a0<em>brachah<\/em>\u00a0was originally composed at the time of the second\u00a0<em>Beis HaMikdash<\/em>\u00a0(the words \u201c<span dir=\"RTL\">\u05d5\u05d4\u05e9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4<\/span>\u2013<em>v\u2019hasheiv es ha\u2019avodah<\/em>\u201d were added later on).\u00a0 The original intent, therefore, was for the acceptance of our\u00a0<em>avodah<\/em>\u00a0in the\u00a0<em>Beis HaMikdash<\/em>.\u00a0 When we conclude the\u00a0<em>brachah<\/em>\u00a0with \u201c<span dir=\"RTL\">\u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05d6\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05ea\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df<\/span>\u2013<em>Ha\u2019machazir Sh\u2019chinaso l\u2019Tziyon<\/em>,\u201d that refers to the level of the\u00a0<em>Sh\u2019chinah<\/em>\u00a0(meaning the closeness between Hashem and\u00a0<em>klal Yisrael<\/em>) that was present in the first\u00a0<em>Beis HaMikdash<\/em>\u00a0but not in the second.<\/p>\n<p>Next week,\u00a0<em>b\u2019ezras Hashem<\/em>, we will see how each phrase in this\u00a0<em>brachah<\/em>\u00a0asks Hashem to accept us and our\u00a0<em>avodah<\/em>\u00a0with \u201c<span dir=\"RTL\">\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df<\/span>\u2013<em>ratzon<\/em>\u201d (favor), because\u00a0<u>our<\/u>\u00a0<em>ratzon<\/em>\u00a0(desire)\u00a0and greatest joy is to serve Hashem with\u00a0<em>sh\u2019leimus<\/em>\u00a0(perfection) and\u00a0<em>ahavah<\/em>\u00a0(love).\u00a0 We ask Hashem to grant us the ultimate pinnacle of closeness to Him in the place where Hashem\u2019s presence and closeness can be felt to the greatest extent.\u00a0 May it occur hastily in our days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4 \u05d4&#8217; \u05d0-\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05dd Be favorable, Hashem our G-d, toward Your people Israel and their prayer We now address the last group of\u00a0brachos\u00a0in\u00a0Shemoneh Esrei.\u00a0 In the Gemara in\u00a0B\u2019rachos\u00a0(34a), Rav Yehudah says that one should not make requests in the first three\u00a0brachos\u00a0or in the last three\u00a0brachos\u00a0of\u00a0Shemoneh Esrei.\u00a0 These are reserved for praising Hashem (the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133662,"featured_media":56348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[359],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-three-weeks"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Servant\u2019s Plea - Jewish 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