Learn the Words!
This Shabbos marks the Shloshim of the Mashgiach of Lakewood, Hagaon Hatzadik, Rav Matisyahu Salomon zt"l, and the pain of his loss is still quite strong. Our nechama is that what he taught us through his shmuessen, seforim, and personal example still lives strongly in our hearts. I was zoche to have a personal connection to the Mashgiach, and even received a haskama from him for my first sefer, OASIS, full of ideas that can guide us to experience the beauty and inner secrets of Shabbos.
I told him I was working on a sefer about tefilla, and asked him what is the best way for a person to connect to davening. He was very weak, but he whispered, "He should learn what the words mean. If you don’t understand what you are saying, how can you connect to it?" That being said, please make sure to give special attention to the column dedicated to understanding the words of Asher Yatzar. Like all the other tefillos that were written by Chazal, there is a never-ending depth and beauty in the words, and as much as we discover, it's only the tip of the iceberg. The more we think about this powerful and important beracha and the more we study it, the more kavanah we will have when reciting it. It is an excellent idea to take a few words each week, and have one of these explanations in mind, thus infusing the beracha with a constant freshness.
This monthly leaflet was started as a zechus for a refuah sheleimah for my daughter (Esther bas Sara Miriam), a young mother undergoing treatment for the machalah. May the chizuk that results from it bring a complete recovery to her, to R' Yossi Hecht (Yosef Chaim ben Devorah Leah), founder of ashertotheyatzar.com, and to all our brothers and sisters who have been wounded during these difficult times.
With much tefilla for good health for everyone,
Eliezer M. Niehaus
Editor
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