Weekly Tefilah Focus

Part 4: Midos 11-13

MIDAH 11: VaFesha (and Willful Sin)* / Chesed L’Avraham (kindness to Avraham)**

The sefer Tomer Devorah uses the 13 midos mentioned in Michah 7:18 rather than the ones we recite from Sh’mos 34:6. We will note both versions for each midah. Our purpose in these segments is twofold:

We continue aligning the 13 Midos from Michah, which the sefer Tomer Devorah is based upon, with the 13 Midos in the Torah that Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to teach us as a merit for forgiveness. We are working on a dual objective:

How important is it to refine our character and work on our midos? The Vilna Gaon (1720-1797), in Even Sh’leimah, writes that if we are not actively working to refine and perfect our midos, what is the purpose of our living?

Before we continue with the 13 Midos in practice, let us briefly examine the power inherent in our repeatedly reciting the 13 Midos throughout S’lichos, culminating with the many repetitions in N’ilah on Yom Kippur.

The month of Elul is a great gift of love from Hashem. The four Hebrew letters of the month of Elul are used to provide us with an understanding of what this great month of opportunity is all about. Perhaps the most well-known one is “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li (I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine).” The first letter of each of the four words together spell the letters in the Hebrew form of the word Elul.