Reb Daniel 3/11/11 11am - Avraham's progression to Tefillah

■ We are not all seperate and distinct entities. We share a common reality. In creation, everything is created in response to man's creation. There's no plant life, grasses, etc because man is not there to work the ground.

■ Man should not be alone. 1st Hashem creates the animals. That doesn't work, so Hashem creates woman. Was man created in Gan Eden?

■ Man was created to bring order to the world of chaos.

■ אברהם gematria = רחם

■ Avraham when he comes along is really a change in the world, because he brings tefillah into the world.

■ at the beginning Avraham does not pray, and Sarah asked why he did not pray for her. This is the time when he was Avram, and then he becomes enabled with the ה (letter) in his name and is able to pray.

■ Avraham we shift from לך-לך to הולך לפני and this is only because he can stand out and be independent by himself with the ה. He now talks back to G-d. He now responds to G-d because he now has רחם.

■  בהבראם (Genesis 2:4) grammatically performs the function of placing the ה in his name. Now he is in the world of שיח (discourse/conversation with G-d), and he can now pray. You can't pray unless you have compassion. You can't pray from a world of דין - the world of Adam and Noach.

אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ בְּהִבָּרְאָם בְּיוֹם עֲשׂוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָיִם. Genesis 2:4

■ The first prayer is a reminder of showing Hashem of who he is. But it is not confrontational. G-d speaks to Avraham about the משפת (sentence) that he is about to mete out to Sodom. It is because Hashem knows that Avraham understands the concept of משפת. Avraham is now sensitive to Hashem's משפת and decides that Avraham can't be hidden from G-d's sentence on the world - because Avraham is aligned with Hashem. Avraham understands now. Avraham has become the TUNER for the planet.
■ Avraham has רחמים (pity/mercy/compassion) on Sodom and therefore this created his responsiveness to enquire about Sodom. He accepted the דין on Sodom but added in the רחמים in order for there to be a pleading for the world.
■ Hashem never tells אברהם to go to 'ישראל' - BUT

"אל ארץ אשר אראך" = To the land that I will show you.

Avraham is never actually told the specific land to go to. Ramban explains that he went wandering after Ur-Kasdim from nation to nation, kingdom to kingdom - but he did have the intention to head in the general direction towards the Land of Canaan whi

Reb Aaron 2/11/11 9am - Pesukei D'Zimra

■ As per the previous post, just like we sing together in the morning, it is "a moment to gather myself". We start davening before we start davening! If I don't have a good Psukei Dzimra, then I won't feel as 'gathered' for my Shema and Shmone Esrei.
■ לזמר also means to 'prune', eg like a gardener. to set new boundaries and to make it look presentable and pruning just one plant has to be relative to the whole garden. Some things are bigger or smaller, some left alone and some need attention and care, watering and not watering, etc. Pruning is also sometimes necessary in order to have a tree grow, or make more blossoms.

Reb Aaron 1/11/11 9am - Pesukei D'Zimra

psukei d'zimra - preparation

■ Few kehillas say korbanot.
■ Consists of tehillim, like poetry, and meant to be expressed and shared (there's a cadence & rhyme). zimra means singing.
■ Mishna Brurah says that mizmor letoda needs to be sung together, however if the kehilla is not interested in singing along with the shaliach tzibur, then perhaps it should not be done, because it is preferable to have a united energy.
■ Psukei Dzimra is necessary because we begin to create a harmonious unity with our voices, then we also come to say Shema and Shmone Esrei united in the minyan - the ULTIMATE purpose of psukei dzimra.