רְצֵה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ בְּעַמְּךָ יִשרָאֵל וְלִתְפִלָּתָם שְׁעֵה. וְהָשֵׁב אֶת הָעֲבודָה לִדְבִיר בֵּיתֶךָ. וְאִשֵּׁי יִשרָאֵל וּתְפִלָּתָם. מְהֵרָה בְּאַהֲבָה תְקַבֵּל בְּרָצון. וּתְהִי לְרָצון תָּמִיד עֲבודַת יִשרָאֵל עַמֶּךָ. וְתֶחֱזֶינָה עֵינֵינוּ בְּשׁוּבְךָ לְצִיּון בְּרַחֲמִים:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה'. הַמַּחֲזִיר שְׁכִינָתו לְצִיּון
רְצֵה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ בְּעַמְּךָ יִשרָאֵל -
We begin this tefila by asking Hashem to want our prayer. This indicates we can create a desire for our prayers. How does this work?
We say the phrase “אבינו מלכינו – our Father, our King” many times over the course of the year. The reason we refer to Hashem as both our Father and our King, is that during a period where we serve Hashem properly, we are His sons, and (ch”v) in a time where the Jews do not serve Hashem properly, the Jews are downgraded to the status of servants.
It would seem illogical for our status to be subject to change, but it isn’t. Our status is the characterization of the way a son or a servant behaves. A servant works for reward, and is motivated by economics. He does nothing extra, and earns nothing extra. A son, however, does as his father tells him out of love. And in turn, the father loves the child. But the child has a further ability. When the son enjoys or loves something, the father takes care to ensure his son has access to the thing he loves, and to a large degree, the father then cares for something, not because he values it, but because his son does. The son can create this feeling in the father, and in a very real way, we can create a desire in Hashem.
We must note however, that it is only once the son acts like a son that the father cares for him. If we expect Hashem to want what we want because He is our Father, we must indeed be His son and do His will.
We are requesting that Hashem have desire for what we have to say, because we are His people.
וְלִתְפִלָּתָם שְׁעֵה – and our prayers
The “and” adds something that was not said previously.
We are asking Hashem to not only want us as a people, but to want a connection with us, and our prayers, that are our connection with Him.
וְהָשֵׁב אֶת הָעֲבודָה לִדְבִיר בֵּיתֶךָ - and return the service
עֲבודָה classically means the Korbanos, the animal sacrifices, but it also means prayer, which is called עבודת הלב. So on a basic level, this means that we are asking for Hashem to return the daily sacrifices to His house, the Beis HaMikdash. But why would we ask for our prayers to return to the Beis HaMikdash?
In this prayer, we request that our prayers be more easily answered. We ask Hashem to take our prayers to the Beis Hamikdash because this is where Heaven and Earth meet, where physical and spiritual merge. The אבן השתיה – the Foundation Stone, after which the Dome is named, is where Creation started from. It is where Akeidas Yitzchak occurred, and the Kodesh HaKadoshim was located on it. This is where the Gates of Prayer are located.
We ask that all our prayers, whether we were concentrating or otherwise, whether they were strong or weak, spoken or thought, that they all group together, and Hashem take them where they need to go.
וְאִשֵּׁי יִשרָאֵל וּתְפִלָּתָם -
As with עֲבודָה, this classically means Korbanos. Today, it is forbidden to offer animal sacrifices, so this does not mean Korbanos, but it too, means prayer. This fits in two ways; the first is thatוּתְפִלָּתָם is our prayers, and וְאִשֵּׁי יִשרָאֵל is our passion and fervor; the second is that וּתְפִלָּתָם are the set prayers of Shacharis, Mincha and Maariv, and וְאִשֵּׁי יִשרָאֵל are the spontaneous prayers we all make in the middle of our days.
מְהֵרָה בְּאַהֲבָה תְקַבֵּל בְּרָצון -
We request Hashem’s love before Hashem’s desire, even though it would seem that desire must come before love. The reason we ask in this order is that love can be broken. Desire runs deeper than love. Desire lingers and remains, and when someone desires something or someone, it causes love. Even when the love is not deserved, desire causes the one seeing to find something they love, for example, in the father-son relationship. In this way, desire is a more powerful expression of love than love itself, and this is why we request them in this order.
We are asking Hashem that as His children, even when ch”v we are underserving of His love, that Hashem maintain a desire to want to love us.
וּתְהִי לְרָצון תָּמִיד עֲבודַת יִשרָאֵל עַמֶּךָ – And may you always want the service of your people
There are two ways to read this too. The first is that we want Hashem to always want us, His people’s, work; the second is that we want Hashem to want our עבודת הלב, because we are his people. It is a fine line, but the difference is whether the subject is our prayers or us a nation.
וְתֶחֱזֶינָה עֵינֵינוּ בְּשׁוּבְךָ לְצִיּון בְּרַחֲמִים - May our eyes see as you return to Zion.
Over time, everything that happens must eventually bring Moshiach, and Hashem, closer to Yerushalayim.
We are asking Hashem to show us how His plan unfolds and develops, and how events bring us closer.
הַמַּחֲזִיר שְׁכִינָתו לְצִיּון - Who cause his presence to return to Zion.
Why does Hashem “cause” his presence to return?
Hashem “forces Himself” to be in plaes He does not want to be in, for example, with people or in places that are טמא, impure. Hashem’s Shechina is with us in Exile, it is in Jerusalem, and it is the Makom HaMikdash. A very beautiful and key point must be noted – when a person is not worthy of Hashem’s closeness, Hashem is not any further away or less accessible than He was. He isn’t further away from the person; rather, it’s the person who sees himself as being further away from Hashem.
We are asking, just as in וְתֶחֱזֶינָה עֵינֵינוּ, that Hashem strengthen our resolve, that we see and feel Him in our lives, in the same way He is הַמַּחֲזִיר שְׁכִינָתו.
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