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Friday, May 11, 2012

emor

The posuk says ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל , and I will be sanctified amidst the בני ישראל. The gemara learns from here that when we say a דבר שבקדושה like ברכו , אמן יהא שמיה רבה and קדושה they can't be done with less than ten men. The חפץ חיים says that according to the זוהר, one who davens with a minyan & says קדיש and קדושה fulfills the positive commandment of ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל. He further elaborates with the gemara that tells us that when the Jewish people go into their shuls and answer  אמן יהא שמיה רבה, Hashem so to speak, shakes his head and says, "Praised is the king who's exalted in His house, the בית המקדש. Woe to the father that exiled his children & woe to the children that were exiled from their father's table". The רוקח says that 'ה continued saying, "when am I going to return to my sanctuary, when am I going to gather up all the people that are scattered among the nations? when they exalt the holiness of My great name." All this happens in heaven at the time there are ten men saying אמן יהא שמיה רבה. Hashem's love for כלל ישראל is aroused & he recalls our exile & will hasten our redemption. Also, says ר יהושע בן לוי, anyone who says אמן יהא שמיה רבה with full concentration will annul any harsh decrees against him. This is great for the men who go to shul every day and daven with a minyan, but what about women? How can they connect to 'ה? The sefer נחלת אבות relates an amazing story. There was a man named יוחאי who was married to a woman named שרה. They were married for many years. Unfortunately they had no children, & after a long time יוחאי was thinking about divorcing שרה. When she realized what he was thinking, she would fast & pray. With tears & a broken heart she cried out to 'ה that He should grant her a child. It was the night of Rosh Hashana and יוחאי had a dream. In it he was standing in a forest with thousands of trees. Some of them gave fruit & some of them were dried out. He was on one of the dried out ones, when suddenly he saw a man with a majestic appearance come into the forest with a pitcher in his hand. He would water some of the dried out trees & skip over others. When he got to the tree that יוחאי was on, he stopped, put down the pitcher & took out of his pocket a small flask & watered only that tree with the little bit of water from the flask. That little bit of water covered the entire tree & immediately that tree grew the most magnificent fruit. When he awoke he told his wife about the dream he had. He told her the interpretation is simple. The forest is this world & the trees are the women. Some give offspring & some are barren. On Rosh Hashana they're all remembered, & some will be given children & some will remain barren. You my wife were the tree that I was on, & you were remembered to have children that would enlighten the world with their Torah. Only one question remains. Why were all the other trees watered from the pitcher & my tree was watered from a little flask? After Rosh Hashana they went to רבי עקיבא and told him the dream, which he interpreted the same way, only adding that in truth, יוחאי's wife was supposed to remain barren, however, the flask that he saw watering the tree were her tears. The same tears she shed crying out to 'ה to grant her a child. Those tears washed away the judgment against her and she would have a son who will illuminate the entire world with his wisdom. That son was  רבי שמעון בר יוחאי. We see from here how powerful prayer can be, whether it's the men in shul answering אמן יהא שמיה רבה with full concentration, or the women at home davening with tears. Prayer has the power to annul harsh decrees & to bring us back to ירושלים where we'll be zoche to the rebuilding of the בית המקדש speedily in our day!

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