Parshat Yisro
By: Moshe Goodman, Kollel Or Shlomo, Hebron
בס״ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Seeking the Shechina in Our Holy Land
"כבד את אביך ואת אמך למען יאריכון ימיך על האדמה אשר ה' א-היך נותן לך"
What is the connection between honoring parents and a lengthy life in the Holy Land? To answer this question we need to study what is the deeper meaning of parents and the deeper meaning of honor.
To begin, there is honoring one's personal parents and there is honoring our national parents, our holy Patriarchs and Matriarchs, who in their merit HaShem promised us the Holy Land. There is also the concept of giving honor to the Shechina, as the Zohar 2, 90a states that the word "et" comes to include the Shechina.
Indeed the Talmud in Kidushin 30b states that there are three partners in forming man, his father, mother, and HaShem (referring to the Shechina which gives him his soul). Furthermore, our sages teach us that honoring one's parents is similar to honoring God (ibid). Simply put, we may say that by honoring our parents we connect to our roots ultimately stemming from our Patriarchs and Matriarchs, thus connecting to the Divine promise of the Land. We also connect to the Shechina, which is so connected to the Land.
To study this matter more deeply let us take a look at one of the halachos regarding the special honor we give to our Patriarchs and the Land of Israel. It is well known in halacha that when praying the Amida one is to position one's body in the direction of the Land of Israel, and more specifically in the direction of Jerusalem. It is also known that one must have intent to what one says in the Amida specifically in the bracha of Avot, which focuses on our connection to HaShem via our Forefathers. Without this intent specifically in this bracha the whole Amida is rendered invalid, unlike all other brachot of the Shemoneh Esreh (Orah Haim 101, 1 - Mehaber says that one is to begin amida again, while Rama says that one shouldn't repeat only because chances are that he won't have intent the second time; according to some opinions Modim is also an exception).
As to the dominance of our Patriarchs in regard to prayer we have more sources. Many sources state that if one wants to achieve merit before God one should mention the merit of the Patriarchs as Moshe Rabeinu did in his plea after the Sin of the Calf, while another source states that all prayers ascend via Maarat Hamachpela (Rama Mipano in "Kanfei Yona").
This last source is quite perplexing considering that we have sources saying that prayers ascend via Jerusalem (see Shlomo's prayer in Kings 1, 8) in addition to the fact that halacha requires one to face Jerusalem in prayer as we mentioned. A solution to this seeming contradiction may be that ultimately our prayers ascend via Jerusalem, but they pass on the way via Maarat Hamachpela to receive the merit of our Patriarchs.
Now the crucial place of the Patriarchs in prayer is more understandable. Our very connection to God in general, and in prayer specifically, stems from our Forefathers and their, and ultimately our, personal experience of God's Presence, as the Jew tells the King of the Kuzars in the beginning of the Kuzari ( by R. Y. Halevi). One of the names for God denoting a specific type of connection to God is "The Ancient of Days" (Daniel 7, 11). It is when we honor our parents, also connecting to our ancient ancestors, that we connect to HaShem as "Ancient of Days", connected to the concepts of "antiquity" and "eternity", thus achieving a lengthening of days.
It is by giving honor to our parents that we connect to the "Honor of HaShem", a term used many times in Tanach to refer to the revelation of the Shechina (example - Num. 14, 10), which is so closely connected to the Land of Israel as we have shown in previous weeks. Now we may understand why by honoring parents one merits specifically a long life specifically in the Land of Israel. May HaShem, "the Ancient of Days", lengthen our days in the Land of Israel in peace and prosperity.
Real-life Providence Story #3: One person recounts: "I once sent my tefilin with a specific Rabbi to be bound in a factory after they had been checked. After several days, when I received the tefilin in return, I had to sleep overnight in a different city than my home-town. That night I had difficulty putting the straps in the hand-tefilin as halacha requires, so in the morning I asked a random person if he could help me pull the straps through the tefilin. The person who I asked recognized the tefilin and the sticker on them which marked the name of the Rabbi that I had sent my tefilin with. He wrote on paper (since he couldn't talk while praying): I am the same person who put your parchments in the boxes the other day..."
What is the connection between honoring parents and a lengthy life in the Holy Land? To answer this question we need to study what is the deeper meaning of parents and the deeper meaning of honor.
To begin, there is honoring one's personal parents and there is honoring our national parents, our holy Patriarchs and Matriarchs, who in their merit HaShem promised us the Holy Land. There is also the concept of giving honor to the Shechina, as the Zohar 2, 90a states that the word "et" comes to include the Shechina.
Indeed the Talmud in Kidushin 30b states that there are three partners in forming man, his father, mother, and HaShem (referring to the Shechina which gives him his soul). Furthermore, our sages teach us that honoring one's parents is similar to honoring God (ibid). Simply put, we may say that by honoring our parents we connect to our roots ultimately stemming from our Patriarchs and Matriarchs, thus connecting to the Divine promise of the Land. We also connect to the Shechina, which is so connected to the Land.
To study this matter more deeply let us take a look at one of the halachos regarding the special honor we give to our Patriarchs and the Land of Israel. It is well known in halacha that when praying the Amida one is to position one's body in the direction of the Land of Israel, and more specifically in the direction of Jerusalem. It is also known that one must have intent to what one says in the Amida specifically in the bracha of Avot, which focuses on our connection to HaShem via our Forefathers. Without this intent specifically in this bracha the whole Amida is rendered invalid, unlike all other brachot of the Shemoneh Esreh (Orah Haim 101, 1 - Mehaber says that one is to begin amida again, while Rama says that one shouldn't repeat only because chances are that he won't have intent the second time; according to some opinions Modim is also an exception).
As to the dominance of our Patriarchs in regard to prayer we have more sources. Many sources state that if one wants to achieve merit before God one should mention the merit of the Patriarchs as Moshe Rabeinu did in his plea after the Sin of the Calf, while another source states that all prayers ascend via Maarat Hamachpela (Rama Mipano in "Kanfei Yona").
This last source is quite perplexing considering that we have sources saying that prayers ascend via Jerusalem (see Shlomo's prayer in Kings 1, 8) in addition to the fact that halacha requires one to face Jerusalem in prayer as we mentioned. A solution to this seeming contradiction may be that ultimately our prayers ascend via Jerusalem, but they pass on the way via Maarat Hamachpela to receive the merit of our Patriarchs.
Now the crucial place of the Patriarchs in prayer is more understandable. Our very connection to God in general, and in prayer specifically, stems from our Forefathers and their, and ultimately our, personal experience of God's Presence, as the Jew tells the King of the Kuzars in the beginning of the Kuzari ( by R. Y. Halevi). One of the names for God denoting a specific type of connection to God is "The Ancient of Days" (Daniel 7, 11). It is when we honor our parents, also connecting to our ancient ancestors, that we connect to HaShem as "Ancient of Days", connected to the concepts of "antiquity" and "eternity", thus achieving a lengthening of days.
It is by giving honor to our parents that we connect to the "Honor of HaShem", a term used many times in Tanach to refer to the revelation of the Shechina (example - Num. 14, 10), which is so closely connected to the Land of Israel as we have shown in previous weeks. Now we may understand why by honoring parents one merits specifically a long life specifically in the Land of Israel. May HaShem, "the Ancient of Days", lengthen our days in the Land of Israel in peace and prosperity.
Real-life Providence Story #3: One person recounts: "I once sent my tefilin with a specific Rabbi to be bound in a factory after they had been checked. After several days, when I received the tefilin in return, I had to sleep overnight in a different city than my home-town. That night I had difficulty putting the straps in the hand-tefilin as halacha requires, so in the morning I asked a random person if he could help me pull the straps through the tefilin. The person who I asked recognized the tefilin and the sticker on them which marked the name of the Rabbi that I had sent my tefilin with. He wrote on paper (since he couldn't talk while praying): I am the same person who put your parchments in the boxes the other day..."
