02 May REVITALIZING OUR DAVENING – PART EIGHT

In the fifth bracha of the
Shemone Esrei, we ask
Hashem, “Hashiveinu
Avinu l’Sorosecha –
Return us, Our Father, to
Your Torah.” Since in the
previous blessing we asked
for knowledge, the first
pursuit for which we want
to use our knowledge is to
study Torah, for Torah is the
very purpose of our existence. As Reb Yochanan
says in Pirkei Avos, “Ki l’kach notzorta – For
This (the Torah) you were created.”
We say “Return us to Your Torah.” The Olas
Tomid and Rav Eliyahu Lopian, zt”l, zy”a, both
explain this with the Gemora in Niddah which
informs us that when we are in our mother’s
womb, an angel comes and teaches us the entire
Torah. When we are born, that malach strikes
us above our lip and the Torah is removed from
our conscious thought. However, the potential
lies dormant within us, and we ask Hashem to
restore it, with our efforts, to our consciousness.
The reason why we refer to Hashem here as ‘Our
Father’ is because just like a father must teach his
son Torah, so too we ask Our Father in Heaven
to aid us in recovering our portion of His Torah.
We need specially to ask Hashem to assist us
in our Torah efforts for there is nothing that the
yeitzer hara, the evil inclination, tries to stop
us from accomplishing more than the study of
Torah. This is because the Torah is the nemesis

of the yeitzer hara. As the Gemora in Kiddushin
informs us, “Barasi yeitzer hara, barasi Torah
tavlin la – I (Hashem) created the evil inclination,
and I created the Torah as an antidote to it.” So,
the evil one tries mightily to impede us from
Torah success.
Once we succeed on a path of Torah study, the
Torah then brings us closer to Hashem as we are
taught, “Kudsha brich Hu v’Oraisa chad hu –
Hashem and the Torah are one.” It also leads
us to follow-up our study with concrete actions,
as we are taught, “Gadol hatalmud she’hatalmud
meivi lidei maisa – Great is learning for learning
leads to action.” Therefore, it follows naturally
that our next request within this bracha is,
“V’karveinu Malkeinu la’avodosecha – And
bring us close, Our King, to Your service.” Here,
we refer to Hashem as Our King for a subject
serves his king. We should have in mind when
we say this, that when we do the mitzvos, we
have Hashem in mind and not just do them by
rote, out of habit and social pressure. The Olas
Tomid adds that avodah also refers especially
to prayer. As the Gemora says, “Eizhu avodah
shehi b’lev? hevi omer zu tefilah.” What is
the service of the heart? We conclude that it
is prayer. And we are therefore supplicating
to Hashem that our prayer service should be a
connecting one with Hashem and not merely lip
service.
The final petition of this blessing is,
“V’hachazireinu bi’s’shuvah shleima l’fonecha
– Return us in perfect repentance before You.”

I had a very basic question on the order of this
blessing. We know that we are taught, “Sur
meirah v’asei tov – Turn away from evil and
perform good.” The order and sequence of the
business of spiritually is to first purge the evil
and then embark on the good. So why, in this
blessing, do we first ask Hashem to bring us close
to do his mitzvos and then to do a full repentance
of our sins. Shouldn’t we reverse the order? I’d
like to suggest the following explanation. If you
notice, we ask Hashem to help us with a perfect
repentance.
Why don’t we simply ask Hashem to help us
repent? The answer is that we must start the
process on our own. We are taught, “Hakol
biydei shamayim chutz miyiras shamayim –
Everything is in the hands of heaven except
for fear of G-d.” We need to start the tshuvah
process on our own. Therefore, we first ask
Hashem to bring us close to Him. When we will
feel close to Hashem, we will want to repent our
sins. Once we have the first sparks of penitent
feelings, then we can ask Hashem to assist us to
do a complete tshuvah. For as we are taught,
“Pis’chu li pesach k’chudo she’machat, v’Ani
eftach lachem pesach k’pis’cho shel ulam –
Open for Me an opening like the eye of a needle
and I’ll open for you an opening like the door of
the palace.”
The great Yaros Devash, zt”l, zy”a, adds that
we shouldn’t pray solely for our own repentance
but we fervently should have in mind at this
juncture for all those who have strayed from the

path to get Divine assistance to return to the fold.
Although this was written hundreds of years ago,
this is of contemporary urgency in our time with
so many wonderful children off the derech and
so many casualties from the silent holocaust of
the melting pot of our American culture.
We finish off the blessing, “Baruch Attah
Hashem, haRotzeh bis’shuvah – Blessed are
You Hashem, Who wants our repentance.”
Once again, we refrain from saying “HaOseh
tshuvah,” that Hashem does the tshuvah, because
only we can do our own tshuvah. Instead, we
thank Hashem for wanting our tshuvah and not
turning away in disgust from our attempts at
repentance.
In the merit of our trying to always be better,
may Hashem bless us with long life, good health,
and everything wonderful.