Parshas Pinchas - The Preciousness of Daily Davening

00:00 There was a well-known chossid of the Alter Rebbe named Reb Binyamin Kletzker. Reb Binyamin was among the greatest of the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim. He belonged to one of the Alter Rebbe’s “rooms,” and was known to be from the western room—that is, among the most devoted chassidim. He had a gift for deep contemplation: he could immerse himself in a subject in Chassidus for hours without a break. They tell of how Reb Binyamin Kletzker, who was a merchant, once went to the market after davening, carrying his tallis and tefillin. It was market day. He arrived at [unclear], put his tallis and tefillin on a wagon there, stood off to the side, and began thinking about Chassidus. He became absorbed in a subject in Chassidus and stood there thinking, hour after hour, until market hours were over. He was standing beside the wagon’s steps with one foot on a step and the other on the ground, completely absorbed in the subject. Meanwhile, market day ended, and the wagon’s owner took the wagon away.

01:37 Reb Binyamin remained standing there. At first, he did not even notice that the wagon’s owner had driven off with his tallis and tefillin. He stayed where he was. At first his foot remained in the air; then he lowered it to the ground and went on standing and thinking, until it was time for Minchah. When Minchah time came, he suddenly caught himself: “Oh, I have to daven Minchah!” Only afterward were his tallis and tefillin returned to him. The wagon had driven away because [unclear] also sold refreshments or other things there. A Jew passing by saw the wagon standing there with the tallis and tefillin on it. He found them, took them, and later found Reb Binyamin standing alone in the market and returned the tefillin to him. The Frierdiker Rebbe told this story in this version to the Rebbe in 5693, and it appears in the Reshimos. The Reshimos are a journal that, as is well known, the Rebbe wrote in earlier years—a journal of stories he heard from his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe. This is one of those stories. When the Frierdiker Rebbe told the Rebbe this story, he said: “Come and see how powerful the fear of Heaven is.” See how great the chassidim’s fear of Heaven was. He had been absorbed in Chassidus for an entire day, utterly unaware of where he was, and had forgotten

03:05 about the market, forgotten everything. But when it was time for Minchah, he roused himself to daven Minchah. This is very interesting, because when others tell the story—and it appears in other versions as well—the emphasis is on the depth of Reb Binyamin’s thought: his gift for deep contemplation, his ability to think about Chassidus, delve into Chassidus, and stand there for hours, forgetting the whole world. But here the Frierdiker Rebbe emphasized precisely the other side: his fear of Heaven. For all his deep contemplation and study of Chassidus, when the time for Minchah arrived, that very fact roused him, drew him out of his absorption in thought, and he stood up to daven Minchah. In today’s portion of Parshas Pinchas, we find the section about the offerings. In the second half of Parshas Pinchas, the Torah says: “Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Command the Children of Israel concerning My offering, My bread for My fire.” The Torah speaks about the daily offerings: the morning daily offering, the afternoon daily offering, the daily offerings and the additional offerings—all the regular offerings. And all these additional offerings, all the laws of the daily and additional offerings, [unclear]. Whoever wishes to [unclear], Divine Providence has it that Parshas Pinchas generally falls during the Three Weeks. [unclear] Bein Hametzarim, and it is precisely then that we study all these sections [unclear], and this is [unclear] out of the darkness. At any rate, in today’s portion we find the section of the daily offerings.

04:41 The significance of the morning and afternoon daily offerings is, as the Gemara says in Berachos, “The prayers were instituted to correspond to the daily offerings.” Shacharis corresponds to the morning daily offering, and the afternoon daily offering corresponds to Minchah. This section tells us how things were in the Beis Hamikdash, when the offerings were brought literally: the morning daily offering, the afternoon daily offering, the daily offerings. Since the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, “we will offer the words of our lips in place of bulls”—this is the role of Shacharis and Minchah. Then there is also Maariv, which, as the Gemara says there, corresponds to the limbs and fats that burned through the night. There is something interesting in Rashi: Rashi pauses over this section and brings—seemingly, what is the point of this section, and what is the connection between the sections? What does the preceding section say? It speaks about Moshe Rabbeinu asking Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “May Hashem, G-d of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation.” Moshe Rabbeinu is at the end of his life. Hakadosh Boruch Hu has told him, “Ascend Mount Avarim”—his end is approaching; the time has come for his mission in this world to conclude. He has already heard “Ascend Mount Avarim,” and Hakadosh Boruch Hu is telling him that his mission is ending. What does Moshe Rabbeinu ask for? Rashi says earlier that he is not thinking about himself: “They set aside their own needs and attend to the needs of the community.” He puts aside his own concerns, his own requests, even his own needs, and devotes himself to the needs of the Jewish people, to make sure they will have a leader: “May Hashem, G-d of the spirits”

06:25 “of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation.” They should have a leader, a Rebbe, to guide them after Moshe is no longer here. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him Yehoshua bin Nun. Then comes the section of the daily offerings, the section about the offerings. Rashi asks: What is the connection between the two subjects? Rashi explains that there was an exchange here between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu comes to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and says, “May Hashem, G-d of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells him: “Before you instruct Me concerning My children, instruct My children concerning Me.” You ask Me to think about My children, about what will become of the Jewish people. Instead, tell them what they should do toward Me. Tell the Jewish people, tell My children, how they should conduct themselves toward Me: they should bring offerings. This raises a major question. Moshe Rabbeinu is asking about something of the broadest importance. He is at the end of his life, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells him that the time will come for him to be gathered to his people. Moshe Rabbeinu knows that tomorrow he will no longer be here physically; the Jewish people must have a leader. This is a matter affecting everyone, a matter of vital concern, a fundamental matter that affects the entire Jewish people for all generations—something of the utmost importance. And what is he told? The morning daily offering, the afternoon daily offering, offerings—a particular mitzvah. Seemingly, what connection is there at all between Moshe Rabbeinu’s request and what he is told about the morning and afternoon daily offerings? What is the point of this exchange? The Rebbe once addressed this in a wonderful sicha: when you look closely at Rashi, the fact that—

08:13 Rashi brings the parable he brings here helps us understand the whole matter. Rashi gives a parable of a king’s daughter who was passing away. She told her husband how he should treat the children. He said to her: “Before you instruct me concerning my children, instruct my children concerning me.” He was saying: Why are you telling me how to treat my children? Tell my children how they should treat me. It seems to be a nice parable, one that appears in the Midrash, but what does the parable contribute here? The Midrash says the same thing. What is Rashi getting at? Seemingly, we could understand the whole matter without the parable. What does it add? Without the parable, the straightforward meaning is that Moshe Rabbeinu asks for “a man over the congregation” who will care for the Jewish people as a whole. Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells him: If you are concerned about the Jews, tell the Jews to be concerned about Me, to bring offerings. What does the parable add? The Rebbe said that when we examine the content of the parable, we can understand the whole matter. The wording of the parable that Rashi brings is also very interesting: the king’s daughter is Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu is the king’s daughter. “She was instructing her husband”—the king’s daughter is speaking to her husband, to her man. And who is her husband? Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But it does not say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the king. It only says “her husband”—her husband. Why does it not say “her husband, the king”? Just her husband: she speaks to her husband, to her man, though seemingly the man is the king. This wording is precise. The point is

10:16 The wording here is precise, because Hashem does not view the whole matter of the korbanos as a king would. A king has an entire country. He has ministers, servants and attendants. If his children behave as they should, that is wonderful. But if they are not there—perhaps they have traveled to another country—he still has his ministers, servants and others. The king lacks nothing. A father who is not a king, however, has no ministers, attendants or servants. He has only his children. What Rashi wants to emphasize, and what Hashem is telling Moshe Rabbeinu, is that on this level, the bond between the Jewish people and Hashem is a matter between them and Hashem alone. After all, Hashem, the King of kings, has a whole world: He has children, angels, seraphim, ofanim, chayos hakodesh and every good thing. Hashem has all of these. Moshe Rabbeinu, too, was a king. As king, he had full authority. Moshe Rabbeinu was the leader of all Israel. Yet he comes and says that there must be “a man over the congregation”—there must be a leader. That is what Moshe Rabbeinu says. But Hashem, as He appears here, is not standing here as a king. This level is G-dliness.

12:05 This is the bond between the Jewish people and Hashem when Hashem is here as a father with his children. A father with his children: the only thing I have is my children. So one cannot turn to the angels, the seraphim and the ofanim. One cannot turn to anyone else. Here there are only Me and My children. When they bring a korban, when they stand to pray—“prayers take the place of korbanos”—their korbanos are to Hashem like the offerings of children to a father who has no one but them. He needs their korbanos. He needs their prayers. This is the expression used regarding prayer: Hashem longs for the prayers of the Jewish people. Hashem has a longing. And this is what the parsha tells us: “Hashem spoke to Moshe: Command the Children of Israel concerning My offering, My bread for My fire.” It is My bread. Bread, bread. What is bread? Bread is something a person must have for sustenance, for life and for health. Without bread—“bread sustains the heart of man.” Bread is the foundation of life. Without bread there is no life. Hashem says: The korbanos, the daily offering of the morning and the daily offering of the afternoon, which the Jewish people bring in the Beis Hamikdash every morning and every afternoon—this is bread for Me. Just as without bread a person is not a person and life is not life. Bread connects the soul to the body. Without it, no one

13:36 exists. So to speak, Hashem is the soul of the world, and the world as a whole is, so to speak, its body. As the Gemara says in Berachos: “Just as Hashem fills the entire world, so the soul fills the entire body.” Subtitles in collaboration with the Higher Institute of Torah at Bar-Ilan. Subtitles in collaboration with the Higher Institute of Torah at Bar-Ilan. If we want the world, in all its vastness, to be united, to have that unity, for the world to be connected, for G-dliness and the world to be one as soul and body are one—we need bread. And what is the bread? The bread is the korbanos: the daily offering of the morning and the daily offering of the afternoon. And there Hashem says: I have nothing besides them; I am not a king. So, “Before you command Me concerning My children, command My children concerning Me.” Yes, prayer—Shacharis, Minchah and Maariv, which Jewish people pray—is the equivalent of the korbanos. And likewise, in the Beis Hamikdash, there was the daily offering of the morning and the daily offering of the afternoon. The korbanos are so important to Hashem that without them nothing can function. And in the parsha He says, “Before you command Me concerning My children.” Just as you understand how vital it is to have someone at the head of the Jewish people, a Rebbe, someone to lead us, “who will lead them out and bring them in,” in every matter—and of course that is a fundamental necessity—know that when a Jew prays a simple Shacharis, when a Jew prays a simple Minchah, it touches Hashem, so to speak, at the very core of His life.

15:01 Literally: “My offering, My bread for My fire.” And this is the [unclear], as the Rebbe once [unclear]: how we draw from this parsha the preciousness of a simple Shacharis and a simple Minchah. Sometimes a person thinks there are great things in serving Hashem—things that transform the world, bring about revolutions, accomplish great and lofty things, and even take us to the ends of the earth. He is told: Know that Shacharis, the daily offering of the morning, the daily offering of the afternoon, a simple prayer—this is precious to Hashem. It matters so much that “Before you command Me concerning My children, command My children concerning Me.” For Hashem, it is something essential, something He simply cannot do without. And this is what the order of the parsha wants to teach us: how much we must treasure the daily offering. “Daily” means the things we do regularly. In serving Hashem, there are daily offerings and there are additional offerings. The parsha goes on to discuss the additional offerings, the musaf korbanos. Likewise, in serving Hashem there are additional occasions: a Yom Tov arrives, a special day arrives, something out of the ordinary comes along. Some people come fully alive when something new, something refreshing, appears. A Yom Tov arrives; they rejoice, dance and become enthusiastic. Yes, it becomes an occasion of joy and celebration. But the day-to-day service of Hashem, the dry service of Hashem, a simple Minchah, a simple Shacharis—well, what about that?

16:39 It is not [unclear], not something they treasure. These are simple things, not things considered important. There are important matters, greater matters, lofty matters. And here the order of the parsha comes and tells us that precisely these simple things are “My offering, My bread for My fire.” They are the bread of Hashem, so to speak—of Hashem Himself—and He waits for a Jew to come and pray Shacharis and Minchah. This fits beautifully with the well-known teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. As is known, the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching concerns the Gemara’s words about the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash—we spoke about this once before. The Gemara says, “The humility of Zechariah ben Avkulas destroyed our House.” The Gemara recounts the whole story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. Then Zechariah ben Avkulas came and said not to bring the korban onto the altar. There the Gemara says that his “humility” destroyed the Beis Hamikdash. How is it possible, asks the Baal Shem Tov, for humility to destroy the Beis Hamikdash? Humility is a good trait. The Baal Shem Tov says that it means the kind of humility that makes a person think his prayer does not matter, that his prayer cannot accomplish much: What can I really accomplish? Here the Baal Shem Tov cites the verse in Tehillim, “If you lie between the sheepfolds.” A verse in Tehillim.

18:01 “If you lie between the sheepfolds.” The Baal Shem Tov says that the verse speaks about the holy Shechinah. The Shechinah, the exalted and sublime G-dliness, lies “between the sheepfolds.” The word for “sheepfolds” can also be read as “lips”—the lips of the mouth. Between the lips of every Jew is the holy Shechinah, waiting for the Jew to say a word of prayer. When a Jew prays a simple Shacharis, a simple Minchah and a simple Maariv, when he prays and says the verses and blessings in the prayers, this is “If you lie between the sheepfolds.” All the angels, the seraphim, the ofanim, the chayos and the supernal sefiros, together with the holy Shechinah, are all waiting for these words—for the words of Torah and prayer that emerge from a Jew’s mouth. They know that all the vitality of Hashem and the worlds depends on this prayer. If a person knew how much his prayer matters—his simple prayer—how precious it is Above, that Hashem waits for it, and that the Holy One, the exalted and sublime G-d, [unclear] the words of Torah and prayer, in the Baal Shem Tov’s words—he would treasure every word of prayer in an entirely different way. When a person thinks to himself, Who am I, and what am I? What can my prayer possibly accomplish? There have been tzaddikim, great Jews, holy people—but what can my prayer accomplish? That thought causes the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. This is the “humility” of which the Gemara says, “It destroyed our House and burned our Sanctuary”: a person is humble in such a way that he thinks his service accomplishes nothing.

19:32 That this destroys the holiness and the presence of the Shechinah that he is destined to bring into the world. Right now we are in the Three Weeks, at the time of Parshas Pinchas, and throughout this period we awaken in every Jew the idea that “these days will be transformed into joy and gladness.” This is a time for action: to draw down the spiritual Beis Hamikdash that exists deep within each person’s soul, and the service of offerings that exists deep within each person’s soul—the daily morning offering and the daily afternoon offering, Shacharis, Minchah, and Maariv. The service of prayer, the service of the daily offerings. Specifically, the daily offerings in their proper order. And that daily offering, as the Gemara and the Midrash tell us, is the very thing through which [unclear] the Beis Hamikdash can endure. This is the whole significance of 17 Tammuz: when the destruction came, when they entered, when the walls of Jerusalem were breached, the daily offering ceased on 17 Tammuz. As long as the daily offering continued, it represented permanence; it sustained the worlds and drew G-dliness into them. Especially in the time of exile, as the Midrash relates, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was walking with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya. They came to the site of the Beis Hamikdash. They were Tannaim of the first generation after the destruction; they had lived while the Beis Hamikdash stood and lived through its destruction. It says that some days or months

21:09 later, they passed that place, and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya said to Rabbi Yochanan, “Woe to us, for the Beis Hamikdash has been destroyed,” and so on. Rabbi Yochanan said that we have something else in its place. Although the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, there is still something through which we can, as it were, have a Beis Hamikdash even in exile; we have something akin to the offerings. Although we cannot bring offerings, there is still something akin to them. The Midrash says that Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai told him what it was: acts of kindness. Acts of kindness take the place of offerings. The Tzemach Tzedek explains that “acts of kindness” does not mean only acts of kindness in the plain sense. Rather, as Rashi says in Tractate Shabbos, [unclear], it refers to prayer. Prayer is “A kind man benefits his own soul.” The Tzemach Tzedek says that acts of kindness [unclear] existed in the time of the First Beis Hamikdash. So what is new here? After all, prayer developed primarily after the destruction, did it not? As the Rambam says, the main institution of prayer, with all its details, was added specifically after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. So when we say, “Acts of kindness take its place,” we mean “A kind man benefits his own soul”: through Shacharis, through the afternoon prayer, through the prayer a Jew says every day. In doing so, he does a kindness for his soul, draws down kindness, blessing, and a revelation of G-dliness into the world, and brings

22:47 Hakadosh Boruch Hu into this world, [unclear]. And through prayer, which takes the place of the daily offering, and [unclear] the daily offering—so that it becomes the constant service of every day, [unclear]—we will be able to receive what we ask for in prayer. One of the principal requests in prayer is: “May You speedily cause the scion of David, Your servant, to flourish,” “For we hope for Your salvation all day long,” “May our eyes behold Your merciful return to Zion.” May we merit the complete Geulah and the Third Beis Hamikdash speedily in our days, amen.