Milah 5 – Drawing Waters of Torah through Tefilah – Bitul in Prayer – Seder of Shemoneh Esrei – Speaker: Rabbi Nasan Maimon.
Hilkhos Milah 5 is based on Likutey Moharan 65.
00:00 – PARAGRAPH 4b. Spiritual thirst is quenched by drawing waters of Torah through Tefilah.
*05:00 – Unifying Tefilos is like gathering flowers into a single bouquet. This is because the person’s intent is to connect all his various Tefilos to the unity of the Future World.
08:00 – Toras Emes – as opposed to Torah that is not Emes.
12:00 – Q&R about the practical application of this teaching. The three steps back before Shemoneh Esrei is leaving the physical world and the three steps forward enter the Throne Room of Hashem. Hisbodedus – prayer in seclusion – is an aspect of Bitul from the physical world. By binding ourselves to a Tzaddik, we connect with the Tefilos of a man who is achieving this Bitul in a more complete way than we are.
17:00 – Q&R about Tefilah and Torah. Tefilah is humility.
*19:00 – Ve Al Keyn – it’s impossible to reach the highest level of Tefilah except through the true Tzaddik.
26:00 – Q&R about Shemoneh Esrei and Tefilah in general.
27:00 Q&R about how a Kohen can connect with Tzaddikim because he can’t go to their graves.
21:00 – Shlomo HaMelech asked that the Tefilos of Am Yisrael should be fulfilled l’Tovah – that having our Tefilos fulfilled should only bring us closer to Hashem.
PARAGRAPH 5. Through Tefilah a person creates vessels which enable him receive blessings l’Tovah – without being harmed by them.
32:00 – A person should not be stubborn when praying for something in the physical world. It is dangerous to “force Hashem’s Hand” so to speak. Reference to Likutey Moharan 20.
*43:00 – Story of the young man who asked to marry the king’s daughter. This is like asking Hashem to be close to Him.
50:00 – The importance of following the Seder of the blessing in Shemoneh Esrei: praise, requests, gratitude.
57:00 – Q&R about how Tefilah creates vessels.
58:00 – Q&R about balancing Hishtadlus – effort/practical initiative – with Emunah – faith. Reference to Kitzur Likutey Moharan 60 about this issue.
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