Tefillah Tips - Ahavah Rabba 7

Vahavieynu Leshalom Mearbah Kanfot Haaretz Vetoliychaynu komimiyut Leartzaynu- He will bring us in peace from the four corners of the earth standing upright to our land.

At this point in the Tefillah, we take our four Tzitzit in our hands and prepare them for the recitation of Shema. Just as G-d will bring us to peace from the four corners of the earth, we take our Dalet Kanfos, our four cornered garment, the tzitzit and bring them together towards our hearts.

Take note – we will not only be brought home to the land of Israel, but we will be brought to Shalom / Peace. The Vilna Gaon explains that peace is established when we don’t look laterally, rather vertically. If we all look up and consider what G-d wants and not what we want, Shalom is accomplished.

Komimiyut – We will be brought upright- this has many interpretations. The Baruch Sheamar states that it means we should come back deserving to be in our homeland. It should not be only because of the magnanimity of G-d. Rav Schwab explains that komimiyut means having reached our potential. All the while we are living in foreign lands with foreign cultures we are not able to reach our potential.

This phrase encapsulates what we are missing today in Jewish life. We have Torah, we have Israel, but we don’t yet have Shalom with our enemies or shalom with all Jews. We also have not yet fulfilled our potential.

May the collective lights of Chanukah penetrate our hearts so that we will see soon the fruition of this Tefillah. Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Ephraim Epstein