The Sefer ha'Ikkarim on How Tefilah Works (Part 1)

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!This evening (2/8/23), in our Wednesday night Tefilah shiur, I found myself in a bit of a quandary about how to proceed. On the one hand, we started a new topic last week and left off with a bunch of questions. On the other hand, I knew that some of our regulars wouldn't be here tonight. I decided to compromise by continuing with the same topic as last time BUT holding off on attempting to answer our questions until next time. Thankfully, I found two chapters in the Sefer ha'Ikkarim in which he explains how tefilah works. We learned through the first of those chapters tonight in which he takes up three topics: (1) Why daven to Hashem, of all beings? (2) What, exactly, is Hashem responding to in your tefilah? and (3) What is not proper to daven for?-----מקורות:ר' יוסף אלבו  - ספר העיקרים ד:יזרלב"ג - דברים לב:לטAri Bleicher, "Tefillat Shav: The Limits of Prayer as a Means to Understanding its Transformative Nature" https://hakirah.org/Vol%2012%20Bleicher.pdfשולחן ערוך אורח חיים רל:א-בבכור שור שבת דף כא עמוד א-----The Torah content for this week has been sponsored by Sarah and Moshe Eisen, with the following message: "Dedicated in honor of Popo, who shined bright and brought joy to so many of us. And to Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss who shared her with us and continues to share thoughts, insights, and Torah."The Torah content for this week has also been sponsored by Nava, in memory of Adira Koffsky z"l, who loved learning and philosophy and was a real seeker of truth.-----If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.-----If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.If you would like to sponsor a day's or a week's worth of content, or if you are interested in enlisting my services as a teacher or tutor, you can reach me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.com. Thank you to my listeners for listening, thank you to my readers for reading, and thank you to my supporters for supporting my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone.-----Substack: rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/Patreon: patreon.com/rabbischneeweissYouTube Channel: youtube.com/rabbischneeweissBlog: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com"The Mishlei Podcast": mishlei.buzzsprout.com"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: rambambekius.buzzsprout.com"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com"The Tefilah Podcast": tefilah.buzzsprout.comWhatsApp Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/GEB1EPIAarsELfHWuI2k0HAmazon Wishlist: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Y72CSP86S24W?ref_=wl_sharel