Tefilla

August 14th, 2009

by Rabbi Royale Schonbrun

Shiurim on Prayer

Most people live their entire lives under the mistaken idea that they are in control. Over the past few years, however, the global economy has collapsed, and many people have lost both their jobs and their savings. The world, including the United States, has become blatantly anti-Israel, our enemies are arming themselves with weapons of mass destruction, and there are unfortunately much sickness and tragedies amongst Bnei Yisroel. It is now time to realize, if we haven’t already done so, that we have no one to rely on except God.

Unfortunately, we are living in a time where even though the level of Torah learning and Shemiras Hamitzvos is incredibly high, most people feel a disconnect between their every day lives and God.

The question then becomes, how can we reconnect to God?

There are many things that must be done to build a proper relationship with God, but the most basic step in the process of rebuilding the connection is through prayer. Unfortunately, prayer for most of us is something we do every day because we have to and it does not become the relationship – building experience it should be. One of the reasons for this is the lack of understanding of what we are saying.

The vast majority of our prayers were either devised by the Anshei Kneses Hagadolah (men of the great assembly), who were the last of the prophets, or are Pesukim from the Torah, Tehillim, or the early prophets that were arranged in a specific order by the Anshei Kneses Hagdolah. Rav Shlomo Volbe wrote that we have a requirement to delve into the depths of the words of prayer just as we would the Mishna or the Gemara, as the Siddur was the first sefer of the Oral Torah, preceeding the Mishna by 700 years.

The shiurim on this web site are set out like a Gemara shiur, analyzing each Pasuk to understand the meaning of the prayer as an entity.

There are two reasons for doing it this way. The first as we mentioned above is based on Rav Volbe’s assertion that there is a responsibility to understand Tefillah as you would any other aspect of Torah.

The second reason is based on a concept I heard from my Rebbe, Harav Henoch Leibowitz, Zt’l, in which he explained that when something is learned in depth it has a greater impact on the person’s subconscious, thereby facillitating his ability to relate to the topic. For example, my Rosh Yeshiva always encouraged us to learn sefer Chofetz Chaim with the commentary of the Be’er Mayim Chaim. He felt that learning the laws of lashon hara in depth would heighten in us the awareness of the issur of speaking lashon hara.

The same applies to Tefillah. The more a person studies Tefillah in depth the more it increases its importance and sensitivity to him.

The explanations of Tefillah given on this web site are surely not the only possible ones; however, I have tried to emphasize ideas that I felt would also help people grow in their relationships with God.

The recorded shiurim were given in “give and take,” not “lecture” format. There will be instances when the shiurim will go off topic because of questions from the students in the shiur. New shiurim will be added weekly. If you have comments or questions on a shiur, please write them in the Comments section at the bottom of the page to enable everyone to benefit from your ideas. Questions will usually be answered and posted within 24-48 hours.

For information on having Rabbi Schonbrun speak to your shul or group, please contact Rabbi Schonbrun.

introduction

modeh ani part 1
modeh ani part 2

ma tovu

adon alom part 1
adon olam part 2
adon alom part 3

yigdal

baruch part 1
baruch part 2

al natilas yadayim

asher yatzar part 1
asher yatzar part 2

elokay neshama part 1
elokay neshama part 2
elokay neshama part 3

birchas hatorah part 1
birchas hatorah part 2

birchas hashachar part 1
birchas hashachar part 2
birchas hashachar part 3
birchas hashachar part 4