B’chasdei Hashem, for over a year and a half, we have been experiencing an abundance of miracles in Eretz Yisrael, and we are of course extremely grateful to Hashem for His continuous chesed. At the same time, we feel the tzaar of our brothers and sisters who are going through extremely difficult and painful times.

Unfortunately, the media and most of the world tend to focus on the how instead of the source. The brilliant intelligence, skilled pilots, sophisticated weapons…or various other details of the “how” is their focus. We who know The Source of it all must continue to remind ourselves constantly and speak to others to remind them of the reality.

Hashem Yisbarach has provided multiple opportunities daily in our tefilos and brachos of such reminders, and we are even directly instructed in Aleinu to review again and again to internalize into our hearts and minds that “Hashem Hu HaElokim…Ein Od!”

We will list some of these opportunities in this segment and expand on each in future segments. We should also explore our own parts of Tefilah that we feel remind us of “Ein Od Milvado.”

A “starter” list of possibilities is the following:

Every “Y’hei Sh’mei Rabba…Yisbarach”

“V’al kulam Yisbarach…” in Modim and the end of Modim, where we conclude with “u’l’cha na’eh l’hodos.”

Every “Baruch Atah Hashem”

Every “Barchu” and “Baruch Hashem HaM’vorach…”

“Baruch Hashem l’olam amein v’amein”

“Eilah va’rechev…” – after the second Ashrei – in “LaM’natzei’ach”

Many of the “Ani Maamin” list, which many recite daily – especially the first one

In Birkas HaMazon – in the second brachah – “V’al hakol…yisbarach shimcha…”

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The first tefilah in our list is one that is known well to us, and which much has been written about. The Gemara in Maseches Shabbos (119b) states:

“Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that anyone who answers: ‘Amein, may His great Name be blessed,’ wholeheartedly, with all his might, they tear up his sentence.”

Here is how Rabbi Mayer Birnbaum in his Pathway to Prayer Siddur explains this phrase:

“May His great Name be praised by all people (that they should recognize that He is the source of all blessing) forever and for all eternity (which refers to this world, the days of Mashiach, and the World to Come); (We ask concerning His Name) that everyone should recognize it as the source of all blessing.”

The Sefer HaChinuch explains the word “Yisbarach” as follows:

“May it be the will of Hashem that all the people of the world will relate this brachah to You, and accept the understanding that You are the source of everything, and with everyone’s understanding of this, Hashem’s blessing will settle throughout the world.”

We see from the Sefer HaChinuch (as well as other sources) that our tefilos can actually impact how others think! Every time we say the word “Yisbarach,” we are asking Hashem that all should recognize that His Name (His conduct in the world) is the source of all blessings.

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The second tefilah we listed: “v’al kulam yisbarach…” – is one that we say in every Shemoneh Esrei all year round. We say this phrase in Modim over 1,000 times a year. What are we saying?

This is likely one of the most underrated and unnoticed powerful reminders of Ein Od Milvado. It is also one of the most underrated and unnoticed tefilos that all should recognize and tell others (nodeh l’cha u’n’sapeir) that HIS NAME is THE SOURCE of the constant miracles, wonders, and goodness we receive at all times: night, morning, and afternoon:

v’al nisecha she’b’chol yom imanu…

This is exactly what we need now. Hashem is performing open and hidden miracles for us daily and yet most of the world is oblivious. Even among us, there can be a weakening of bitachon when we get sidetracked as a result of the media describing successful operations and focusing on the “how.” Certainly we want to know what is happening in Eretz Yisrael for many reasons. However, that does not mean we need to get lost in the minutiae of the “how.” Perhaps we can work on focusing more on thanking Hashem profusely, more Torah, Tehillim, tefilos, and chesed, for the protection of the soldiers, return of the captives, and protection of all in Eretz Yisrael. Let us focus our reading on what actually happened and kiddush sheim Shamayim, such as how the Israeli Prime Minister and the US President both thanked Hashem!

Our courageous chayalim are performing their role with great m’siras nefesh and total and absolute focus on their mission. Shouldn’t we be doing the same thing? Our mission is to strengthen bitachon, recognition, thanks, and praise, tefilah, Torah, chesed, midos, share in the pain of those suffering, and other ways of generating z’chuyos for the chayalim and all of klal Yisrael, especially in Eretz Yisrael. Shouldn’t we be totally focused and not distracted, the way chayalim must be?

May we be zocheh to continue to receive, recognize, acknowledge, and share with others Hashem’s miraculous chasadim. May we also be zocheh to feel deeply His great love and kindness.

 

To access print versions of previous Tefilah segments, please visit OU Torah’s Search portal, select the Topic of “Tefillah,” and then select “Weekly Tefilah Focus” from the Series list.

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For Rabbi Mordechai Finkelman’s video and audio shiurim, which are based on our Tefilah Focus segments but also include his insightful and inspiring additions, please visit TorahAnytime.com or simply search for “TorahAnytime Rabbi Finkelman.”

You can direct any questions or comments to Eliezer Szrolovits at 917-551-0150.