Not, it could be just a topic that everyone knows about, so therefore I didn't want to say anything. Didn't think of it myself till the end. But anyway, the topic tonight is the importance of the three תפילות, שחרית, מנחה, מעריב. Now, this is not going to be a discussion about the meaning of דאווענען, the meaning of תפילה. That we had a class separately to this to to explain what is תפילה, and what is the meaning of תפילה, and the the the מצוה of תפילה, and all the different details concerning תפילה. This is going to be specifically about the significance of the three תפילות of שחרית, מנחה, מעריב, one versus the other, and the importance of one over the other. And therefore we're not going to discuss the importance of דאווענען with a מנין, שחרית, מנחה, מעריב, that's a separate issue, and that has to do with the general idea of תפילה. We're not going to discuss whether women are obligated to דאווען or not דאווענען, that's a different story that has to do with תפילה. We're going to discuss just the concept of שחרית, מנחה, מעריב, the origin of שחרית, מנחה, מעריב, and the significance of שחרית, and versus מנחה, and which one is more important, or are they all important, etc., etc. First of all, we all know that there are these three תפילות, there is שחרית, מנחה, מעריב. And they are hinted in different פסוקים. One hint we find in a פסוק in דניאל. Says דניאל in the prophet דניאל it says, and it's written in Aramaic, so it's written not in Hebrew, it says, דניאל, תלתא זימנין ביומא, three times a day, it says צלותא he used to דאווען. Then it says another פסוק later, three times a day, תלתא זימנין ביומא, בעי בעו, he would pray, he would beg ה׳, so we see from there the concept of דאווענען three times a day. The גמרא also says that there is a פסוק in תהלים that says, ערב ובקר וצהרים אשיחה, evenings, mornings, and afternoons I will talk to ה׳ and I will communicate with ה׳. So we know from there that you have to דאווען three times a day. But the truth is that this is not from the תורה. This is only מדרבנן, it's the דרבנן are the ones that that established that we should דאווען three times a day. From the תורה, there is no מצוה of דאווענען three times a day. The רמב״ם says that the מצוה of the תורה is that a person should דאווען every day, which means you have to דאווען at least once a day, מדאורייתא. And there is no set נוסח, no set words that you have to use. From the תורה, you could use your own words and anything you want to say, at least one time, once a day. Beside that, there is a מצוה that anytime a person is in need, he have to דאווען to ה׳. If he feels that he needs something, he has to דאווען to ה׳. That's called בקשת צרכיו, you have to ask for your needs from ה׳. That's from the תורה. But there is no such thing from the תורה that you have to דאווען certain times of the day. It's the דרבנן that established that you have to דאווען three times a day, that's the morning, and the afternoon, and at night. Where did this concept of דאווענען three times a day come from? Well, we have a hint in the פסוקים, as I said before, but what is the source? So in the גמרא we find two opinions. One opinion is תפילות אבות תקנום. They started, they originated, all the way by the אבות, אברהם, יצחק, and יעקב. אברהם תיקן תפילת שחרית, אברהם established that we have to דאווען in the morning. יצחק תיקן תפילת מנחה, יצחק established מנחה, and יעקב תיקן תפילת מעריב, ערבית, יעקב established that we have to דאווען מעריב at night. Obviously, when they established it, there was no set נוסח, but the concept that you have to דאווען in the morning and afternoon and evening were established by the three אבות. Then there's another opinion in the גמרא, and the truth is they're both true. The second opinion in the גמרא is that the three תפילות came because we have no more קרבנות, we have no more sacrifices, we have no בית המקדש. So the חכמים established three times to דאווען in place of those three times that we used to bring the קרבנות. We know that every morning in the בית המקדש, they would bring a קרבן ציבור, a קרבן תמיד it was called. Every morning, there was a certain sacrifice that was brought as a community sacrifice called a קרבן ציבור, a community קרבן, and it was known as the קרבן תמיד. The word תמיד means constant because this was done every day. There are certain sacrifices that they brought certain times of the year, on יום טוב, on שבת, certain things, times, certain different things changed, but the קרבן תמיד is brought every single day of the year. And it was brought in the morning once, and then in the afternoon there was another קרבן תמיד, there were two קרבנות. And then in the evening, at night, if there was any part of the קרבן that didn't get a chance to be burnt on the מזבח they would finish it off at night. And that's where we get the three times of דאווענען. Since תפילה comes in place of קרבנות, so they made you to דאווען in the morning, חכמים said, because that's in the place of the קרבן תמיד of the morning. Then you have the קרבן תמיד of the afternoon, that's why we דאווען מנחה. And the קרבן the the leftovers of the קרבן that would sometimes be left over for the night, so because of they used to do that, so we have a קרבן a תפילה which is at night. Because of that, the גמרא says that the תפילה of the night originally when the חכמים established the three תפילות, it was only רשות. It wasn't a חובה, it wasn't an obligation. They weren't obligated to do it. שחרית and מנחה the חכמים obligated the people to do, but מעריב, they were not obligated. It was only רשות. If you wanted, you could דאווען, but you didn't have to. And the reason for it was because the קרבן תמיד every day they had to bring a קרבן תמיד in the morning and a קרבן תמיד in the afternoon. And therefore the תפילות that were because of these קרבנות had to be, every day in the morning you'd have to דאווען and every day in the afternoon. But the מעריב, which came because of the leftovers of the קרבן to the night, not always was it there. So not always did they bring those parts of the on the מזבח. Therefore the חכמים said that מעריב is only a רשות. It's up to you to decide if you want to דאווען, yes, if you don't want, then you don't דאווען. The truth is that because of that, some people might think that מעריב is not that important. שחרית is very important, מנחה is important, but מעריב, since it was originally a רשות, it's not so important. It's not true, because we know that it says that afterwards, קיבלו עליהם בחובה, the יידן accepted upon themselves to דאווען מעריב as an obligation. So from a certain point in history, it became an obligation because the Jews accepted it as an obligation. And some say because of that, it's a bigger obligation than שחרית and מנחה. Because since they accepted it as an obligation, it's like a נדר, like a vow. When you make a נדר, you must keep it not as a מצוה מדרבנן, but that's a מצוה from the תורה. So it comes out like this: to דאווען שחרית is מדרבנן, they were the ones that said it. To דאווען מנחה is מדרבנן, but to דאווען מעריב, the רבנן didn't really say you have to, it's we made the נדר to do it. And therefore we are obligated to do it, to a certain degree, even more than שחרית and מנחה. But in no way can a person feel that it's not so important, therefore not דאווען מעריב because it was originally only a רשות. But the truth is according to חסידות, דאווענינג מעריב is more important than דאווענינג שחרית and מנחה. What I'm going to do now is really explain the importance of every one of these תפילות and show how מעריב is more important than שחרית and מנחה, to show how מנחה is more important than שחרית and מעריב, and to show how שחרית is more important than מנחה and מעריב. How is that possible? Each one has an importance that the other one doesn't have. So when you do each one of these, you do something that the other two don't have, so therefore each one has its own חשיבות, its own importance. Just like we always do when we talk about different ימים טובים, so when it's פסח, we always explain how פסח is the greatest יום טוב, more important than שבועות and סוכות and everything. Comes שבועות, always learn שבועות, oh such a יום טוב, forget about פסח and סוכות or any other יום טוב. The same thing סוכות, every יום טוב. How is that possible? Which one is the most important? The answer is: they're all the most important. Yeah, exactly, each one has its מעלה. Yeah, each one has a מעלה and therefore when you talk about this this שאלה or you talk about this יום טוב, there is something that this יום טוב has that the other ones don't have. You talk about the other one, the other one is more important because in that aspect, that's more important than the rest, and the same thing with all. So what we're going to try to bring out is to show how מעריב is the most important תפילה and what it means, and then to see how מנחה is the most important תפילה, and then to see how שחרית is the most important תפילה, which basically means that they're all the most important תפילות, and you have to do them all.

Why is מעריב the most important תפילה? Now חסידות says, based on what I mentioned before that the גמרא says that originally מעריב was only a רשות, only something that you wanted, you could do, and some people think that because of that, it's not that important, חסידות says just the opposite: that brings out the importance of מעריב more than the other תפילות, because this that it's a רשות shows something special. Now I'll explain what חסידות says. The concept of תפילה is to connect to השם. As we all know that the word תפילה, beside meaning prayer, also has the meaning of connection. In Hebrew the word טפל means to connect. In גמרא there's an expression הטופל כלי חרס. It talks about if a vessel broke and you want to connect it together again, so the the word is הטופל, if you connect the כלי. So the word תפילה means connection. And that is really what תפילה is: when we דאווען, we connect with השם, we communicate with השם. It shows how we, as human beings down here, as people, as Jews, connect ourselves to השם. Says in the זוהר that when יעקב אבינו had the dream, the ladder, that represents תפילה. Just like a ladder starts from the bottom and you connect yourself you go higher and higher, we also, through דאווענען, step on a ladder and we go and we connect to השם. Now when we talk about us connecting to השם, connection, if it's done by force, it's not a real connection. If you're forced to connect to something to somebody, superficially you've connected. If you're forced to raise your hand and give something to somebody, you have done it, but it's only superficial. The real you didn't do it, because you didn't want to do it, so you weren't involved. So the superficial part your physical body was involved, but you really the real you which is your heart and your mind and your feeling was not involved because you don't want it. It's only if it comes from within you that's when the connection is very strong. That's when really you connect. Not only is it when we're forced to it, but even if we're not forced to it, but the reason you do the connection is because someone else told you to do it and then you agree with it and you understand why you should do it, but because it started off with the other one, it didn't start with you, so obviously it's not the real real part of you that's connecting. If a person, on his own, decides that I want to connect to that person, I want to connect to this thing, and in our case we're talking about I want to connect to השם, then it's the real me because it started all with me. I'm doing it. When we are told to do a מצוה, a מצוה is also connection. Not only דאווענען. The word מצוה means commandment, the word מצוה also means connection. צוותא וחיבור, connection. When we do a מצוה, we connect with השם, but we do it because we are told by השם to do it. So as much as we're involved, because after all, we're doing it, but let's say a person doesn't really want to do it and he's forced to do it, he also connects to השם by doing the מצוה, but not not real the real part of him is not connected because inside he doesn't want to. When he does want and does agree, it's more of him that's doing it because he wants, but still after everything is said and done, the reason you're doing it because that השם told you to do it. So you're not forced to do it, but because he told you and you're listening to what he said, so basically the connection comes more from his side than from my side. But if a person would do something for the sake of השם without being told, then it shows that the person really really cares about השם and really wants to do it. Just like it says in חסידות as a משל, the the difference between two people who do something for somebody else, and it calls one a בן and one an עבד, a child or a servant, or better said, a slave. They both do things for their master, the child for his father and the slave for his master. The difference is the slave does it not because he wants, so he does it, but he's forced to do it. The child does it because he wants to do it. But when does the child really express his connection to his parents? When he's told to do something and he does it willingly, certainly it's more than the עבד does it for his master. But when the child does something on his own that he wasn't told, but he knows that my father will like it, my mother will like it, and does it, that's when he expresses his connection to the parents much more than when he listens to his parents and does what they want. An עבד will never do it. A normal עבד. It says there is sometimes a person who is called עבד שהוא בן, a very faithful servant might do that too, but an average servant, certainly an average slave, the גמרא says עבדא בהפקירא ניחא ליה, a slave really would be הפקר, doesn't want to do anything. He's just afraid, so בלית ברירה he has to do it. He won't go out of his way to do something extra. But a בן, a child, would do something on his own. And if you look from the side and you want to evaluate, when will you really see that he really really cares for his parents? When he follows orders of his parents exactly what they tell him to do, or when he does more than he's told what to do? When he does more. That's when you really see that he cares about them and he really feels close to them and he wants to express his closeness. So by מצות too, it says that as much as we connect to השם through a מצוה, but when we do something beyond the call of law, the call the duty that we have, which is called לפנים משורת הדין, the connection is much stronger. The גמרא says who is a חסיד? Who does לפנים משורת הדין. The גמרא says a חסיד is somebody who does beyond the call of duty. And what's a real חסיד? The real חסיד is somebody who connects to השם. That's what it says in תניא: איזהו חסיד? המתחסד עם קונו. A חסיד is somebody who does חסד with his master, which means a person who connects very close to השם is a חסיד. So the גמרא says, when is he a real חסיד? When he does לפנים משורת הדין, more than the דין calls for. Why? Because when you do as the דין calls, then you're not really connected with השם, you're doing what השם wants. You believe in השם and you believe that when He told you to do something you have to do it. Sometimes it could be even a burden and you'd rather not do it, but since I know השם told me to do it and I believe in Him, I do it. But it doesn't really show that you, who you really are, are connected to Him. But if someone that does לפנים משורת הדין, that person really is a חסיד, he connects to השם. That's why the גמרא says, גמרא asks in one place, why was the בית המקדש destroyed? And the גמרא answers because the people did not do לפנים משורת הדין, they didn't do anything beyond the call of the law. And the גמרא says that that's a good enough reason why the בית המקדש was destroyed. And the מפרשים explain, if they did everything correctly, they just didn't do anything more, so וואס איז אזוי געפערלעך? Why is that געפערלעך? The answer is if you don't do anything more than you have to, that shows that you really don't care about השם. When do you really show? If you do more. And that's concerning מצות. The same is concerning תפילה. Those תפילות that a ייד is obligated to דאווען, because they were established by the חכמים, and therefore we are obligated, we must listen to the חכמים and do those, and דאווען those תפילות. As much as those תפילות show that we connect to השם, and that's what תפילה is, תפילה is התופל connection, but the connection comes because השם, or the חכמים in this case, who have the authority through השם, told us to do it. So, just like a person does what he's supposed to, and it is definitely a connection, you do a מצוה you connect to השם, but it's not the real connection, because it's not the real you that's doing it, you're doing it because you were told to do it. תפילת ערבית, מעריב, which is a רשות, which originally was not an obligation by the חכמים, and nevertheless the יידן דאווען because they know it's the right thing to do and they know that השם wants it, then it's they who connect to השם. Now, this is, by the way, not a contradiction to that opposite statement of the חכמים. I said concerning מצות that when do you really show your connection to השם? When you do a מצוה that you were not told to do, you do something that you know השם wants you to do without being told. We have an opposite statement. The גמרא says גדול המצווה ועושה משאינו מצווה ועושה. A person who's commanded to do something, to do a מצוה, is greater than a person who is not commanded and does it. The גמרא actually tells a story that רב יוסף, who was blind, and he originally had heard that blind people are פטור from the מצות, so he made a big party thanking השם that even though he's פטור, he nevertheless is able to do מצות, so he thought that was very special, that now he's doing it in a special way without being obligated. But then later when he heard that the הלכה is not like that, that the הלכה is that a blind person is obligated to do מצות, and then he heard גדול המצווה ועושה יתר משאינו מצווה ועושה, that someone who is obligated is greater than someone who is not, he made a party again that ברוך השם, I'm obligated and I'm able to do the מצוה in the obligated form. So here it seems that if you do it when you're obligated, it's greater than if you do it if you're not obligated. Well, the אמת is that they're both true. What we're talking about before was as far as the הרגש, the feeling of the person. How much of the person is involved? How much of you is involved in this connection? So when you do it without being told, it's more you. I'm doing it out of my own free will. Not only I wasn't forced, I wasn't even asked, and I do it. That shows more of me. But when we're talking about how far-reaching the מצוה will be spiritually, that's more if you're commanded. If a person does something and he's not commanded to do, then it all is done from him. Who is he? He's a נברא, he's somebody who was created by השם. So as great as he is and as much as he'll get involved, he could never get out of the framework of a נברא, of a creature, because it's him that's doing it, and whatever he is, he is. He can't get out of himself. So therefore if you do a מצוה without being commanded, you will reach the highest level that a נברא, that a creature, a creation could reach, but you'll never go out beyond the framework of creation, because you're doing it on your own. If השם told you to do a מצוה, and השם is the Creator, so He is reaching out to you and He is able to pick you up and bring you up to a level that you connect to the level of the Creator, which is beyond the creation, which on your own you couldn't do. So it comes out we have two points here: to look at how far reaching you go spiritually, so if you're not commanded you could only go as far as you could go, you can't go any further. So that's why we say גדול המצווה ועושה, if you're commanded it's greater. But as far as how much of you is involved in the act that you do, so if you're commanded commanded, it's less of you. You're doing it because of being forced or being told, but when you do it on your own, then it's really you that's involved. So the connection might not be to a very high level, but it's much deeper from within inside, within the person. That's one of the reasons we find in חסידות and in ספרים that מנהגים, Jewish customs, play a very, very important role. In some people's eyes, Jewish customs are not so important. It's only a only a custom. That's the expression always, \"Ah, that's only a מנהג. This is a הלכה. This is a דאורייתא. This is דרבנן, but this is only a מנהג.\" And we know that it's not so. חסידות, especially, puts a great stress on מנהגי ישראל, on Jewish מנהגים. We see it in one thing very clearly: פסח nights, the whole סדר is based on מנהגים, most of the things are מנהגים. The מצוות actually are very few: to eat the מצה, to eat מרור, and so, but most of the other things that we do, כרפס and this and that, a lot of, most of, many are מנהגים. And in the four קשיות that the child should learn is taught to ask, what is the first question? According to our מנהג, the first question is מטבילין, why we dip the כרפס into זאלץ וואסער. That's only a מנהג. Then we ask why we eat מצה, then why we eat מרור. And the רבי explained that really the first question should be on the most important thing. The most important thing of the סדר is the מצה. Second to that is the מרור. That should be the beginning. How come we have the first, first question concerning מטבילין? מטבילין is a מנהג. Because we're talking with children, and we're teaching the children, it's very important to teach the children the מנהגים. The מנהגים play a very important role, the Jewish מנהגים. They put the יידישקייט into the home, more even than the הלכה. הלכות you have to keep, there's no question about it, but the מנהגים have this great significance. Beside that, as I'm saying, מנהגים are so special, they were not commanded. The whole concept of a מנהג is that it's only a מנהג, you're not commanded to do it. So you don't really have to do it. But obviously, since it's a מנהג ישראל, השם is happy if you do it. So if you do a מנהג, which is something that you really weren't obligated and you still do it, because you know השם is really going to want it, then you really connect to השם, more than you connect to השם, from that looking at it from that point of view, more than connecting to the מצוות. This is the famous thing it says in חסידות why we see an interesting thing on סוכות. We see like this, we have a whole, a whole week of סוכות, there's a מצוה of being happy because it's יום טוב, ושמחת בחגך, so you have to be פריילעך, have to be happy. Then we have שמחת בית השואבה, which makes it even happier. That's why סוכות, we're happier than פסח, we have more שמחה because שמחת בית השואבה. Then it comes to שמחת תורה, הקפות, that's the greatest שמחה. Now, if you look in הלכה, שמחת יום טוב, to fulfill the מצוה of being שמחה, having שמחה on יום טוב, is a מצוה מדאורייתא, from the תורה, which is the most important one, the ושמחת בחגך. שמחת בית השואבה, that's connected to the pouring of the water, which is only הלכה למשה מסיני, it's not actually written in the תורה. It was given down orally by משה רבינו, but since it's not written anywhere in the תורה, it has a lesser level of importance. הקפות, שמחת תורה, is only a מנהג, nothing more. And it's interesting that שמחת בית השואבה, which is less important than שמחת יום טוב, שמחת בית השואבה is a greater שמחה by יידן. הקפות, which is even less, it's only a מנהג, the שמחה is the greatest. Why? This all shows, because when it comes to something that you were not commanded to do, and you do it as an expression of your connection to השם, why do we dance שמחת תורה by הקפות? As an expression of our connection to the תורה and to השם. And you do it in a way that you were not commanded to do it and nevertheless you do it, that that shows that your connection to השם is much stronger. And the same is concerning the תפילות, that out of all three תפילות, מעריב, which originally was not the commandment, and it was left up to the person to decide if he wants to, and if a person davens מעריב, that shows that really he wants to do something for השם, even if he's not commanded, and that shows the connection greater. And therefore, it's very important to be careful, especially with the תפילה of מעריב. The אמת is, by מעריב we have both מעלות. Because when you daven מעריב, even if it was only a רשות, you fulfilled a מצוה that the רבנן established. They established it in the form of being a רשות, so you have both מעלות: it's a מצוה, but you didn't have to do it. So if you did it anyway, you connected yourself to a very high level because it's a מצוה, but at the same time, since you didn't have to do it, it shows more that this is the connection the person has. And that's why this תפילה of מעריב is done at night. Because since it's so important, it has extra power, spiritual power that the other תפילות don't have. And because it has extra spiritual כח, it's able to affect even the darkness. Similar to the way we learn always concerning חנוכה, it said that חנוכה, the candles are lit at night to show that the רוחניותדיקע כח, the רוחניותדיקע godly light that's there in the נרות of חנוכה is so strong that it could even light up the darkness. In the בית המקדש, they also lit the מנורה, but there it was lit during the day. Because as important and as holy the candles were, and they brought down a great godly light into the world, it wasn't strong enough to light up the darkness. When it wasn't so dark, that's when they were able to light. חנוכה has such a כח that, excuse me, even the darkness it could light up. And where do we see it? In the fact that you light חנוכה candles at night. The same thing is with מעריב. This תפילה that is a רשות is תפילת ערבית, is the night one. Because this תפילה, when you דאווען, affects you so much, and it brings out the connection that a איד has to השם. And not only his connection, automatically it affects others, and it affects the whole world, because everything a איד does affects the whole world, and it connects the whole world to השם. So it has such a כח to connect the world to השם that the other תפילות don't have. And that's why this is the only תפילה that's done at night. The other תפילות are done שחרית is done in the morning, מנחה in the afternoon, when we דאווען מוסף, it's still in the afternoon. Even יום כיפור, when we דאווען נעילה, and נעילה is the most, very important prayer, when is it done? Before it gets night. מעריב is done at night, because the תפילה of מעריב, being that it's a רשות and it expresses the איד's real will to be close to השם, the real איד, not because he's told to, but because he real he wants, that is in תפילת מעריב. So this is the specialty of the תפילה of מעריב. On the other hand, the גמרא says, לעולם יהא אדם זהיר בתפילת המנחה.

A person should always be careful with מנחה. מנחה is the most important תפילה, the גמרא says. The גמרא brings a proof, שהרי אליהו הנביא לא נענה אלא בתפילת המנחה. אליהו הנביא, when he was answered by השם for his prayers, it was מנחה time. The story with אליהו, when he had the contest, so to speak, the ויכוח with the נביאי הבעל, with the false prophets, the prophets of עבודה זרה, and they decided, because the אידן didn't know who was right, they decided that they're going to sacrifice a קרבן, and whoever is able to bring down a fire from heaven, this will show that his God is right. So he first gave them the chance, and they tried and they tried all day, couldn't accomplish. Then it says, אליהו's turn came, ויהי בעלות המנחה, it was time of מנחה. And אליהו went over and דאווענט and asked השם, \"Please help me and make it come down.\" And the fire came down, and that brought out that the אידן started screaming, \"השם הוא האלקים! השם הוא האלקים!\" They recognized the truth of השם. So the גמרא says, when did this take place? By מנחה time. So from here, we see that מנחה is very important and you have to be very careful with דאווענינג מנחה. Now, obviously, it's not just because by אליהו הנביא it happened at מנחה time, because it's just a coincidence. If it would turn out that it would happen by שחרית, who it probably would happen the same. Obviously, the גמרא means that this just turned out at the right time because מנחה is in any anyway an עת רצון. מנחה anyway is a special, auspicious time. And that's why the גמרא says you should be very, very careful with מנחה because מנחה is a special type of תפילה. Why is תפילה so important, מנחה so important? So חסידות explains what's the specialty of מנחה. It says when you דאווען שחרית, it's in the beginning of the day, before you start off your day, before you go out to work or whatever you're going to do. Before you start, you give of time for השם. מעריב, it's after you finish your day, finish your day's work, and that's when you דאווען מעריב. So it's after everything is over. When you finish, you דאווען מעריב. Especially in the time of the גמרא, in the time of the תנ״ך, people only worked during the day. People never worked at night, no matter how long the day was. If it was a short day, wintertime, they stopped working. פשוט they couldn't work. It's dark, you couldn't do anything. Even in the house, it was just candles, they could hardly see. So the real work of people working outside in the fields always worked till the evening. Came מעריב, came night, whatever time it was, they finished, they came home, and they could דאווען מעריב. So שחרית you דאווען before you start your day, מעריב you דאווען after you finish your day, מנחה you have to דאווען in the middle of the day. You interrupt your involvement in whatever you're doing in order to דאווען מנחה. And that's the specialty of תפילת המנחה. That מנחה is, even though you're involved in גשמיותדיקע things, and most people work, who work for a living, and you interrupt your involvement in גשמיות and you go, you give time to השם, to thank השם, to דאווען to השם, that is something special. That you don't have in שחרית, you don't have in מעריב. So that idea of giving yourself over to השם, giving up of your time, it's like basically stealing time from yourself or from your גשמיותדיקע needs and giving it away to השם. Just like it says that a person should steal time for learning. As a certain amount of time a person has, and if you want really to be to do the right thing, you steal away some of the time of your work and you learn. learn, say a קאפיטל תהלים, say a משניות, that more important than when you learn at a time that you have set, because that's your time. And here you're giving away from your own, and that's the מעלה of תפילת המנחה, that תפילת המנחה you're interrupting what you're doing. And that's one of the reasons why it's called מנחה. Why is it called מנחה? שחרית, we know why it's called שחרית. The word שחר means morning. מעריב or ערבית is ערב, is evening. But why is this called מנחה? One of the reasons is because the word מנחה means a present. מנחה שלוחה, the פסוק uses the term מנחה שלוחה, מנחה that was sent means a present that was sent. When do you give a present to השם? מנחה time. When you דאווען שחרית, certainly it's a very good thing and you start out your day and it's before you start, but you're not giving away from yourself, from your involvement in other things, you're not giving it away. But מעריב also not. מנחה, you give away. And we טאקע see people who are in their offices and all of a sudden in the middle in the middle of a meeting, and they have to stop, have to דאווען, and we hear a lot of times from people who are not פרום that what impresses them very much that in the middle of your work, in the middle of your involvement, time comes and you have to leave and you have to דאווען מנחה. Once someone told me he was in the middle of a meeting, and in the middle he says, \"Sorry, I have to go make a long distance call, and I have to go do it.\" They asked him, \"Where to? How far is the the distance?\" He said, \"All the way up to השם.\" And he walked out, and the people were impressed. People, non-פרום people or גוים, are impressed, because this shows the איבערגעגעבנקייט a איד has to השם. When you could be busy, and sometimes it could even cost you, you're losing some, person will client will leave, but ס'איז נישט קיין עצה, it's מנחה time, and that's it, you have to דאווען מנחה. So this is the מעלה of מנחה. On the other hand, שחרית is the most important תפילה, because שחרית is the beginning of the day. And we all know the famous expression, ווי מ'שטעלט זיך אוועק, אזוי גייט דאס, which means as you start off, that's how it's going to go. The foundation of the day is the most important part of the day, and therefore which תפילה שטעלט אוועק, starts off the person's day, that is the תפילה of שחרית. When you wake up in the morning, it says a person before he דאווענט in the morning, it says אשר נשמה באפו. Means his נשמה is still in his nose, which means the נשמה still didn't spread into the whole body. A person is just still asleep, doesn't know what's flying, he's in no way aware of השם and things like that, and you're just starting off. And when you start off, the way you're going to start off the day, that's how the whole day will go. That's how the other תפילות will go, and that's how the day will go in your work. Depends, it depends all how you start off your day. So if you start off your day with דאווענען to השם, then the whole day will be different. Because שחרית is the beginning. That's one of the reasons why you find in נוסח האר\"י, in our נוסח, before ברוך שאמר, which is actually the the real, real beginning of דאווענען is from ברוך שאמר and on, then we can't talk, so right before ברוך שאמר we say לשם יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה etc., etc., which means we're doing this for the sake of the union of the name of השם, a קבלהדיקע thing. If you look at other נוסחאות, נוסח ספרד, other חסידים, they say לשם יחוד before every מצוה, before every prayer, before they put on תפילין they say לשם יחוד, before you דאווען, every time they say לשם יחוד. There are some that hold you should never say לשם יחוד, that's the מתנגדישע approach, that's the נודע ביהודה says לשם יחוד, I have no idea, this is קבלה things, I don't know what's flying, I don't know about it, don't say it. And טאקע נוסח אשכנז doesn't say לשם יחוד. But other נוסחאות they say לשם יחוד, because we know before we do when we do a מצוה, every מצוה causes all kinds of יחודים and all kinds of things in higher worlds, so before they do a מצוה they say לשם יחוד. Our opinion is like the second opinion, that we every מצוה causes יחודים, and therefore there is a לשם יחוד before every מצוה. But why is it that we only say it once, we don't say it every time? Not because we don't believe like others in לשם יחוד, the contrary, we say it once in the beginning of the day, and that should last throughout the whole day. There was once this חסיד, I think it was a חסיד of the צמח צדק, and he was also a חסיד of the קאצקער, and later the חידושי הרי\"ם, first גערער רבי who was a student of the קאצקער took over, so he used to go and he used to travel a lot of times from the צמח צדק to the קאצקער and then to the חידושי הרי\"ם. And he used to even send messages from one to the other, so he told over that he once, I think his name was ברוך, was his last name, if I remember correctly, he once came to the חידושי הרי\"ם, and he saw the חידושי הרי\"ם walking back and forth the room, and he says and so he stood there, then the חידושי הרי\"ם turns around and says, \"You're a חסיד חב\"ד. Can you explain to me why in חב\"ד you only say לשם יחוד once in the morning?\" So he told him, \"Because we believe...\" That every מצוה is is for the sake לשם יחוד, but we do it once, because that once is supposed to last throughout the whole day. So he thought and says, \"You guys are right.\" He didn't change his מנהג, I don't think. The reason is because every moment is service of השם, not only when you do a מצוה. So we do it once for the whole day. But the bottom line I'm trying to bring out is that שחרית, being that it's the beginning, that's why we do it then. So שחרית has this importance, that the way we start off the day, that's how the day is going to be. That's why שחרית is the longest תפלה, because the way you're going to set up the day: you're going to דאוון in the morning for five minutes only, then you'll only have five minutes worth of קדושה, רוחניות for throughout the day. If you דאוון longer, you have more of it, you have all פסוקי דזמרה and קריאת שמע and everything else, then we have more of קדושה, and it'll spread out more throughout the day. And that's why they established שחרית to be the longer תפלה. So according to this, שחרית, which is the beginning, is the one that's the most important. So based on all this, which תפלה is the most important of the three? Well, as we started, מעריב is the most important because מעריב is רשות, you don't have to, and therefore it's stronger. Anyway by חסידות, now we have to because we were מקבל. מנחה is the most important because it shows that you're giving away from yourself a present to השם of yourself. And שחרית is the most important because that's how the whole day is going to be. So basically they're all important. I just want to add one more thing. That, I'm saying that the beginning is שחרית. But don't we know that by Jews the day starts from the night? So then מעריב should be the first. And we טאקע see שבת, מעריב is a שבת'דיגע מעריב, שחרית and מנחה. מעריב of מוצאי שבת is already for the next day. And we know that by us it always goes from the night. But when it comes to דאווענען, it's not so simple. Because if, I mentioned in the beginning the two opinions where we have the three תפלות. One, is that the אבות made it. And in which order was it? It doesn't say אברהם made מעריב and יצחק שחרית and יעקב מנחה; אברהם made שחרית and יצחק made מנחה and יעקב made מעריב. So obviously we're starting from the morning. The second one, which is for the קרבנות, also: it's the קרבנות of the morning, the קרבן of the afternoon, and then the leftovers of these two קרבנות are burnt at night. So it's all started from the morning. So we see that when it comes to דאווענען, we look at the order of the תפלות: שחרית, מנחה, מעריב. Sometimes we look at the order of the תפלות starting from the evening, because I quoted a פסוק in the beginning, the פסוק of תהלים from where we see the hint to. It says, ערב ובקר וצהרים אשיחה, evening, morning, and afternoon, I will דאוון. So here we see we start from ערב, we start from evening. So obviously, there are two orders, two ways of looking at the order of the תפלות. There is from one way of looking, one perspective, it starts from morning: שחרית, מנחה, מעריב; from another perspective it starts from מעריב, שחרית, and מנחה. And they are both true. So when I explained before that שחרית is the first, and that's why it's the most important, because that's the beginning, that is when we look at at it from the order of שחרית, מנחה, מעריב, it's the first. And as far as the feeling of a human being, it's definitely that way, because when you go to sleep, you wake up in the morning, you're a new person, now you're starting. We don't look at it that at night, now we're starting my day, now I'm starting my my my behavior, and it's going to go through and so מנחה tomorrow. That's not how it works. The feeling of a person is after you wake up in the morning, you're a בריאה חדשה, it says, you're a new person, you just woke up, you're starting new, and your whole day will depend on how you start in the morning, what you're going to do in the morning. So therefore from the הרגש of a person, from the feeling of a person, it starts from שחרית. But there is another order in the תפלות, which is ערבית, שחרית, and מנחה. And in קבלה we find explanations for both of these orders, which we're not going to get into now, whether one's for the גשמיות, one is for the רוחניות, whatever, which other way. But generally speaking, the order that's assumed always is שחרית, מנחה, מעריב. And שחרית is the most important, מנחה is the most important, and מעריב is the most important. And when we have these three, then we have the most important things. And we see that the תפלות, especially if you hold that מנחה, according to the idea מנחה is the most important, has to do with משיח. Because the way the גמרא learns out that מנחה is very important is from אליהו הנביא. And אליהו הנביא is the one that's going to bring the בשורה for משיח. And therefore, with the תפלות and with doing what the תפלות stand for, that we connect to השם in all these different ways, so by doing that, we will have the real connection to השם, which we'll have when משיח will come במהרה בימינו.

Go ahead. Is anybody raising hand? Yeah. Closer, I don't know why, if it's a question... My question is that many times at a שול, people come late or I come late, and they're up to מוסף. So what are you supposed to do at that point? Are you supposed to דאווען מוסף with the מנין, or you just start דאווענינג from the beginning and then דאווען מוסף? Because sometimes people walk in the middle and all of a sudden they דאווען מוסף and they didn't דאווען. No. So when you come, you should start from the beginning. This is not, I'll tell you this is not our subject, but I'll explain it. There are different customs. Some people, I'm not even talking about the women who their obligation they have an obligation to דאווען, but not in the same level as men, there is no obligation to דאווען three times a day, whatever. But even by men, there are some that when they come to שול and they come late, what they do is, they skip around. Why? The reason is very simple, that's what it says in שלחן ערוך. So שלחן ערוך that because there is a very important ענין of דאווענינג with a מנין, the real part of דאווענינג with a מנין is שמונה עשרה. So you have to do everything in your possibility, in your ability to דאווען שמונה עשרה with the מנין. So if you come a little late, and if you're going to start from the beginning and go through the whole the whole תפילה, you will not have דאווען שמונה עשרה with the מנין. So what should you do? So it says you should skip. You should if you're able to, you should say ברוך שאמר, אשרי, ישתבח, and then ברכות קריאת שמע, and there's all kinds of different ways, and do it fast in order when you get to שמונה עשרה you should דאווען with the מנין. That's the way it is according to הלכה. And then you go back and you finish off you what which you missed out. Yeah. You get Yeah, now you say all the הללוי-ה'ס, you say everything that you skipped, you will make up later. According to קבלה, you shouldn't do this. You shouldn't you shouldn't jump around. Why? Because דאווענינג, as we said before, is like a ladder going from level to level level. And על פי קבלה it's going from one world to the other. So first when you start off with the first part of דאווענינג, you're going from this world to עולם העשיה, then you go from עולם העשיה to עולם היצירה, from עולם היצירה to עולם הבריאה, and the different parts of דאווענינג represent different עולמות. And when you come to שמונה עשרה, that's עולם האצילות, and you're going all the way up. Now imagine you're going to jump and go straight to שמונה עשרה, because על פי דין when you walk in and they're holding שמונה עשרה, you got to start שמונה עשרה. So what you're going to do is you're going to you're going to come, you're going to start with אצילות, then you're going to jump down to יצירה, then you jump to בריאה, that makes no sense. There's no order. And by doing this, we're not going against הלכה. Doesn't say you're not doing an עבירה. If this would be called doing an עבירה, then if you ever don't come to שול to דאווען with a מנין, you're also doing an עבירה, because you're also not דאווענינג with a מנין. Obviously, there is a you should דאווען with a מנין, but if you don't actually דאווען שמונה עשרה with a מנין, you're not being מבטל a מצוה, you're not going against the מצוה. And therefore, since על פי קבלה it says clearly not to do this, a חסיד told me, he remembers once an אלטער חסיד came once into a שול, and he saw this guy doing this. So he walked over to him, he said, 'You know, I'll tell you one thing: you did על פי הלכה, but you didn't דאווען.' This is not דאווענינג. דאווענינג has a סדר, and everything and every word is not only exact, but the order is exact in קבלה and every So even though there is an important thing to דאווען with a מנין, but the כונה of תפילה is also very important. You see by חסידים they used to דאווען long, and it turned out that they didn't דאווען שמונה עשרה with a מנין. That's What? Because they davened long, they came on time, they started to דאווען long, and they didn't have with the מנין, because the כונה is important. And therefore, if you come late, you should טאקע דאווען straight. Now there are some people that take advantage of this הלכה, and I know people not in like ליובאוויטשער שולן or חב״ד, because we don't have that so it makes no difference to us. But many but other people, I know from other communities, real פרומע, real יראי שמים, they come too late to שול late daily, and they do this every day. They skip around. So I was once speaking to one of the, he's a real יראי שמים טאקע, the ליטווישע people. I told him, 'How could you do such a thing? Even according to you, if it happens once it happened, so you you happen to skip. But to make a סדר לכתחילה?' And I showed him there's a letter from the רבי that someone wrote to the רבי that I think on himself or he does this constantly. So the רבי made him a list of all the people who has סידורים, like רב עמרם גאון, and רב סעדיה גאון, and the רמב״ם, and this, and they all say that you have to דאווען with every word the way it says the order. So how could you go with...? פשט נעמליך means originally going לכתחילה to come late to שול and skip around and not דאווען in the proper order? How could you do it? Even according to you that this is the way you have to do על פי הלכה, this is the way you want to do it. So there's only one time that there is a possibility that we should do it also, when it comes to הלל on ראש חודש. הלל on ראש חודש, if you don't דאווען with a מנין, now people are doing are changed a little bit, you should When you דאווען with the מנין, I mean, the חזן make the ברכה, and we don't say the ברכה. Now if you דאווען without a מנין, then you have to say the ברכה. So is there a special So what happens if you come late to שול and the חזן and they're holding by הלל, so if you're going to דאווען with a מנין, then you will solve the problem of the ברכה, but you'll say הלל before דאווענינג. Now everyone else, if their מנין is holding by הלל, we say הלל before דאוונען. What do we do? So I know a בחור told me, this is years, years ago, he went into יחידות, and he asked the רבי, \"What should I do if I come on ראש חודש late? Should I say הלל, because of the ברכה, should I say הלל with the מנין before דאוונען?\" So the רבי says to him, \"On ראש חודש, make extra, put in extra effort to come on time.\" So he says to the רבי, \"But what happens...\" He's a בחור that, if you know who it was, he's able to like, not argue, but you know, pressure, \"But what happens if I came late?\" So the רבי says, \"So make sure it shouldn't happen.\" He himself told me. And he went on like this a few times, and he says, \"But what happens if I did come late, I woke up late?\" The רבי says, \"No, it shouldn't happen.\" He went on and on, and the רבי did not want to answer him. But finally he pressured. And he told me that the רבי said, \"Don't say it with the מנין.\" Continue in the order, and say it later. I saw him lately in New York. I was in New York for שבועות, this שבועות. I saw him, and I asked him again to tell me, so he says he it became a ספק now. He told me this, I think, 40, 50 years ago. He says it's a ספק in his mind if the רבי said yes or said no. But I told him as far as I remember, you yourself told me that the רבי told you not to דאווען, not to say it with the מנין, because you're you're mixing up the order, and הלל belongs in a certain place, and הלל doesn't belong before דאוונען. And there is קבלה, everything, all kinds of things that you shouldn't mix it up. Yeah, it says not to mix it up. Not to mix it up, yeah. Huh? בפשטות? Yes. Yes. I've seen a lot of people don't do it, and maybe it's not as strict as the rest of the דאוונען, but it's definitely definitely the wrong thing to do, to say to leave קרבנות for later. You have to דאווען with the order the way the סידור put it, which the חכמים put it, and קרבנות comes before דאוונען, you have to דאווען קרבנות before דאוונען. I'm afraid to say it, because sometimes if that would happen, you wouldn't have a מנין here by שמונה עשרה. So that's why I'm afraid to say it, because if for the sake of of other people, so maybe אהבת ישראל overweighs, I don't know, because if not, the חזן won't have a מנין, and the חזן needs a מנין and won't be able to say קדיש. I don't know, that's why I that's why I'm I hesitate even to say it, because I don't want to ruin anything. But normally, certainly not. \"I, so what should we do?\" No, you come on time, and you make sure to say. Yeah, no, this no, this reminds me. Come a half-hour earlier. It reminds me in תניא, in אגרת התשובה, it talks there's an interesting thing. There it talks about if a person does עבירות, and the and חכם said that you should fast a certain amount of days for these עבירות. Then it says in תניא that nowadays people are weak, and we cannot fast. We shouldn't bother to fast. So it says you should give צדקה instead. If you if you did עבירה, so you should give צדקה. So they say that רב שמואל גרונם, who was a משפיע in ליובאוויטש, when he taught this פרק of תניא, so he said that you should fast, but if you can't fast, since we can't fast, so give צדקה. Someone asked him, \"What happens if you're poor and you don't have money to give צדקה?\" In other words, you don't have כח, you can't fast, and you don't have money to give צדקה, what do you do then? So he said, \"Well, you have no choice but not to sin.\" There's no choice! Same thing here, you have no choice but to come on time. No. You have to you have to hear קריאת התורה. Yes, that's true. But the truth is all this doesn't really apply to women as much, because their obligation is not the same. They have no obligation to hear קריאת התורה. But for women, the truth is, you should try to hear קריאת התורה. But if the question is if you hear קריאת התורה you might not manage to דאווען, and better to דאווען, because דאווענען is more obligation for the women than קריאת התורה. The ברכות, certain. For women it's enough, because the obligation of the woman is not is not ממש the same way as for the men. There's no obligation three times a day, and there's not even the נוסח. So therefore, if they're מקיל, it's נישט קיין עולה. For women it's, but for the men it's it's important. Very good. It's it's sure the best thing. I know women who דאווען מעריב also. No, but I'm say- but I know more more דאווען מנחה than מעריב. מעריב very few, but מנחה, yeah yeah yeah yeah, that's a very and and that happens to be a very good idea, because if you're, huh? Must you be מחוייב מעריב? No. But you're מחוייב to דאווען once a day, you're מחוייב to דאווען. Yeah. No, שחרית. The main דאווענען is שמונה עשרה. So if you דאווען מנחה, then that's that's very good. There's one time that women have have another obligation to דאווען for a different reason, and that is Friday night. Friday night, for some reason, all women had a custom to דאווען. I'll tell you, בכלל the whole idea of women דאווענינג is something fairly new, new I mean 40, 50 years. It's only in Russia, למשל, my my parents' ages, the women didn't דאווען. Used to they used to say ברכות, to בענטש, or in קריאת שמע, but דאווענען wasn't something that's I'm saying it for for the good, for the positive, that it became better. But one thing they always did: Friday night women always דאווענד, קבלת שבת and מעריב. And one of the reasons given for that for a different reason, הלכה gives I don't really know the reason, but the reason is like this: there is a מצוה to make קידוש Friday night. That מצוה is from the תורה. The פסוק says זכור את יום השבת לקדשו, you should remember שבת, and the גמרא says, what does that mean? Remember with words. That means you have to make a ברכה over the שבת, but you don't have to do it over wine, מדאורייתא. The חכמים came and they said, we want you to do the מצוה of קידוש over a cup of wine. So it comes out like this: that when we דאווען מעריב Friday night, and in מעריב we bless the שבת, with the מעריב we have fulfilled the מצוה of the תורה of קידוש. When we come home now and we make קידוש over a cup of wine, מדאורייתא we don't have to do that because we already said the ברכה. This is fulfilling the מצוה מדרבנן, and the רבנן said that you have to say קידוש over a cup of wine. The מצוה of קידוש מדאורייתא is for women like for men, even though it's a מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, it's a מצוה that's connected to time, but the גמרא learns out from a different לימוד that קידוש women are obligated. So it comes out like this: that when the husband comes home and makes קידוש, he is now fulfilling the מצוה מדרבנן. The wife, if she didn't דאווען, she is still obligated to hear קידוש מן התורה. Now when a person does a מצוה that you're only obligated מדרבנן, you cannot be מוציא somebody else whose obligation is stronger than yours. You could only be מוציא somebody if his obligation is equal to yours. If I'm a מחוייב מדרבנן and you're a מחוייב מדרבנן, so my מצוה can be יוצא you. If I'm a מחוייב מדאורייתא and you're a מחוייב מדאורייתא. But if I'm obligated מדרבנן and you're a מחוייב מדאורייתא, not מוציא. That's why a child who'd make קידוש would not be מוציא. The child is obligated to hear קידוש or make קידוש, but since he's under בר מצוה, it's only מדרבנן. Can't be מוציא us because we're adults and we're מחוייב מדאורייתא. So someone who is obligated מדרבנן cannot be מוציא someone מדאורייתא. So if the woman will not wife will not דאווען, so she still has to fulfill the מצוה of קידוש מדאורייתא, how could I be מוציא her when I am only doing the מצוה which I'm obligated מדרבנן? That's why one of the reasons the מנהג is that she should דאווען. Now the question is, what happens if she did not דאווען? It happens sometimes she didn't get a chance or she didn't דאווען. How is she יוצא קידוש? So some want to find a תירוץ in that when she when you come home and she says to you, \"גוט שבת,\" מדאורייתא she could be יוצא the מצוה because it doesn't say which words to use. You have to sanctify the שבת with words, it says in the תורה. The נוסח of the exact לשון, which words to use, that the רבנן made, the whole ברכה of קידוש. מדאורייתא there is a מצוה to say. So some want to say that, an המצאה a hat, that when they she says \"גוט שבת,\" it means that you're sanctifying the שבת, you're יוצא מדאורייתא. Now what happens if she didn't דאווען מעריב and she's angry at her husband, so she doesn't say \"גוט שבת\"? Then she's not יוצא קידוש! Now this is just a joke, it doesn't happen. Can she דאווען after מעריב if she Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, so you have to rely on the other opinion that you're יוצא just by saying \"גוט שבת.\" That's why it's better to דאווען beforehand. So the women used to do this years and years and years ago? Mhm. מעריב Friday night, it's an interesting thing. דאווענען, most of the true even שבת, women would maybe דאווען less, but Friday night שבת. Not going to be any more rules. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, we're talking just Friday night. That's the main. In a שול and there's nine people and they're holding by ישתבח or ברוך שאמר, whatever they are, and you first walk in, Yeah. so then What do you do? Yeah, what do you what do you do? Put on טלית and תפילין, and you start איזהו מקומן, and then you say הודו, and then you say מזמור שיר, and then you say ברוך שאמר, and you go on, you דאווען, yeah, you keep on דאווענען. Even though it's taking this far away, do you hold up the whole מנין? Or let them go ahead because you walked in so they can just answer, and If they spoke, so they could do it. No, they they don't need you to דאווען with the מנין if you're the sixth. What happens if you're the ninth and you're the 10th? That's their problem and And? You don't have to דאווען. You only need six people to דאווען with the מנין in order to be able to But to answer a מנין, don't you need Yeah, you have to. So then you should If you're holding after after ברכו, after יוצר אור, you can't answer, right? So then they just have to wait for you. See, what I would do is I wouldn't דאווען באריכות, I wouldn't דאווען long, I would דאווען fast, and make sure to spend the least time possible, they shouldn't wait. But I wouldn't skip, you know. I wouldn't skip. Cuz you're you're you're mixing up the order. I mean, imagine talking to a king and you say, you have a whole speech prepared, and you say the second paragraph before the first, then you say the eighth paragraph, then you go back, it makes no sense. Has no סדר. Well, you're like the guy said, you did על פי הלכה, but you didn't דאווען. So you didn't really communicate with השם. Thank you, everybody, for coming.