Weekly Tefilah Focus

At the end of the first segment on Birchos HaTorah, we pointed out the huge, not-to-be-missed opportunity to pour our hearts out for our offspring and ourselves. The Chafetz Chaim writes that Birchos HaTorah is one of the most powerful opportunities to daven for our children and our grandchildren.

Now that we have provided the outline of this powerful tefilah, with which we begin and end our day, we present the line-by-line translation and explanation of Adon Olam from the Pathway to Prayer Siddur by HaRav Mayer Birnbaum shlita. We have previously noted the uniqueness of this great siddur and how it provides so much more than basic translations. Additionally, it is very easy on the eye to glance, line by line, at the brief but clear explanations. This siddur sold out, but I am told that there are more on the way from a new printing.

Since we have already written about the basic words of a brachah, this segment will focus on the end of the first brachah of the Birchos HaTorah, as said by Ashkenazim. Regardless of our specific custom, the lessons apply equally to all.

What are the three most frequent and arguably the most powerful words (outside of words of Torah) that we say every single day of our lives? Many of us will recite these words, b’ezras Hashem, close to or over three million times over the course of our lives.

The first halachah in the Shulchan Aruch dealing with Birkas HaTorah (siman 47) is: “One must be extremely careful with Birkas HaTorah.” What is the reason for this immediate warning at the very opening of the halachos of Birkas HaTorah?

We ended the last segment with the following questions: