Article No. 17, Part 2, 1984<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the beginning of the assembly, there should be an agenda. Everyone should speak of the importance of the society as much as he can, describing the profits that society will give him and the important things he hopes society will bring him, which he cannot obtain by himself, and how he appreciates the society accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is as our sages wrote (Berachot<\/em> 32), \u201cRabbi Shamlai said, \u2018One should always praise the Creator, and then pray.\u2019 Where did we get that? From Moses, as it is written, \u2018And I besought the Lord at that time.\u2019 It is also written, \u2018O Lord God, Thou hast begun,\u2019 and it is written, \u2018Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the reason we need to begin with praising the Creator is that it is natural that there are two conditions when one asks for something of another:<\/p>\n\n\n\n From such a person you can ask for a favor. This is why they said, \u201cOne should always praise the Creator, and then pray.\u201d This means that after one believes in the greatness of the Creator, that He has all sorts of pleasures to give to the creatures and He wishes to do good, then it is pertinent to say that he is praying to the Creator, who will certainly help him since He wishes to do good. And then the Creator can give him what he wishes. Then, also, the prayer can be with confidence that the Creator will grant it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, with love of friends, at the very beginning of the assembly, when gathering, we should praise the friends, the importance of each of the friends. To the extent that one assumes the greatness of the society, one can appreciate the society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd then pray\u201d means that everyone should examine himself and see how much effort he is giving to the society. Then, when he sees that he is powerless to do anything for society, there is room for prayer to the Creator to help him and give him strength and desire to engage in love of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And afterwards, everyone should behave the same as in the last three of the \u201cEighteen Prayer.\u201d In other words, after having pleaded before the Creator, The Zohar<\/em> says that in the last three of the \u201cEighteen Prayer,\u201d one should think as though the Creator has already granted his request and he has departed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In love of friends we should behave the same: After examining ourselves and following the known advice of praying, we should think as though our prayer has been answered and rejoice with our friends, as though all the friends are one body. And as the body wishes for all its organs to enjoy, we, too, want all our friends to enjoy themselves now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence, after all the calculations comes the time of joy and love of friends. At that time, everyone should feel happy, as though one had just sealed a very good deal that will earn him lots of money. And it is customary that at such a time he gives drinks to the friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, here each one needs his friends to drink and eat cakes, etc. Because now he is happy, he wishes his friends to feel good, too. Hence, the dispersion of the assembly should be in a state of joy and elation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This follows the way of \u201ca time of Torah\u201d and \u201ca time of prayer.\u201d \u201cA time of Torah\u201d means wholeness, when there are no deficiencies. This is called \u201cright,\u201d as it is written, \u201cat His right hand was a fiery law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But \u201ca time of prayer\u201d is called \u201cleft,\u201d since a place of deficiency is a place that needs correction. This is called \u201cthe correction of the Kelim<\/em> (vessels).\u201d But in the state of Torah, called \u201cright,\u201d there is no room for correction, and this is why Torah is called a \u201cgift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is customary to give presents to a person you love. And it is also customary not to love one who is deficient. Hence, at a \u201ctime of Torah,\u201d there is no room for thoughts of correction. Thus, when leaving the assembly, it should be as in the last three of the \u201cEighteen Prayer.\u201d And for this reason, everyone will feel wholeness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Article No. 17, Part 2, 1984 In the beginning of the assembly, there should be an agenda. Everyone should speak […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6243,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[26],"class_list":["post-9389","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n