Today - What do we pray for? - What is our sin?

(1) A song of ascents. Out of the depths I call You, O LORD. (2) O Lord, listen to my cry; let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy. (3) If You keep account of sins, O LORD, Lord, who will survive? (4) Yours is the power to forgive so that You may be held in awe. (5) I look to the LORD; I look to Him; I await His word. (6) I am more eager for the Lord than watchmen for the morning, watchmen for the morning. (7) O Israel, wait for the LORD; for with the LORD is steadfast love and great power to redeem. (8) It is He who will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

(1) A song for ascents. I turn my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come? (2) My help comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth. (3) He will not let your foot give way; your guardian will not slumber; (4) See, the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps! (5) The LORD is your guardian, the LORD is your protection at your right hand. (6) By day the sun will not strike you, nor the moon by night. (7) The LORD will guard you from all harm; He will guard your life. (8) The LORD will guard your going and coming now and forever.

(1) A song of ascents. In my distress I called to the LORD and He answered me. (2) O LORD, save me from treacherous lips, from a deceitful tongue! (3) What can you profit, what can you gain, O deceitful tongue? (4) A warrior’s sharp arrows, with hot coals of broom-wood. (5) Woe is me, that I live with Meshech, that I dwell among the clans of Kedar. (6) Too long have I dwelt with those who hate peace. (7) I am all peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

(18) The well which the chieftains dug, Which the nobles of the people started With maces, with their own staffs. And from Midbar to Mattanah, (19) and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, (20) and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the country of Moab, at the peak of Pisgah, overlooking the wasteland.

Rav Mattana said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “The well that the princes dug out, that the nobles of the people delved, with the scepter, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah” (Numbers 21:18)? If a person makes himself vulnerable like this wilderness, which is open to all and upon which everyone treads (causes to sprout), his Torah study will endure and be given to him as a gift [mattana]. And if not, his Torah study will not endure. The Gemara relates that Rav Yosef had a grievance against Rava, son of Rav Yosef bar Ḥama, who is usually referred to in the Gemara simply as Rava, and as a result of the grievance the two would never meet. When the eve of Yom Kippur arrived, Rava said: I will go and appease him. He went and found Rav Yosef’s attendant mixing him a cup of wine. He said to the attendant: Give it to me, and I will mix it. He gave it to Rava, and Rava mixed it. Rav Yosef was blind and could not see his visitor, but when he tasted the wine he said: This mixture is similar to the mixture of Rava, son of Rav Yosef bar Ḥama, who would add extra water to the wine. Rava said to him: It is I. Rav Yosef said to him: Do not sit on your knees until you have explained these verses to me: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And from the wilderness to Mattanah; and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; and from Bamoth to the valley in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks out toward the desert” (Numbers 21:19–20)? Rava said to him: If a person makes himself vulnerable like this wilderness, which is open to all and upon which everyone treads (causes to sprout), the Torah will be given to him as a gift [mattana]. And once it is given to him as a gift, he inherits it [neḥalo] and God [El] makes it His inheritance, as it is stated: “And from Mattanah to Nahaliel.” And once God has made it His inheritance, he rises to greatness, as it is stated: “And from Nahaliel to Bamoth,” which means heights. And if he becomes haughty, the Holy One, Blessed be He, lowers him, as it is stated: “And from Bamoth to the valley.” And if he repents, the Holy One, Blessed be He, raises him back up, as it is stated: “Every valley shall be exalted” (Isaiah 40:4).

How does the court intimidate the witnesses in giving testimony for cases of capital law? ...The court tells them: You should know that cases of capital law are not like cases of monetary law. In cases of monetary law, a person who testifies falsely, causing money to be given to the wrong party, can give the money to the proper owner and his sin is atoned for. In cases of capital law, if one testifies falsely, the blood of the accused and the blood of his offspring that he did not merit to produce are ascribed to the witness’s testimony until eternity. The proof for this is as we found with Cain, who killed his brother, as it is stated concerning him: “The voice of your brother’s blood [demei] cries out to Me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). The verse does not state: Your brother’s blood [dam], in the singular, but rather: “Your brother’s blood [demei],” in the plural. This serves to teach that the loss of both his brother’s blood and the blood of his brother’s offspring are ascribed to Cain. The mishna notes: Alternatively, the phrase “your brother’s blood [demei],” written in the plural, teaches that that his blood was not gathered in one place but was splattered on the trees and on the stones. The court tells the witnesses: Therefore, Adam the first man was created alone, to teach you that with regard to anyone who destroys one soul from the Jewish people, i.e., kills one Jew, the verse ascribes him blame as if he destroyed an entire world, as Adam was one person, from whom the population of an entire world came forth. And conversely, anyone who sustains one soul from the Jewish people, the verse ascribes him credit as if he sustained an entire world. The mishna cites another reason Adam the first man was created alone: And this was done due to the importance of maintaining peace among people, so that one person will not say to another: My father, i.e., progenitor, is greater than your father. And it was also so that the heretics who believe in multiple gods will not say: There are many authorities in Heaven, and each created a different person. And this serves to tell of the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as when a person stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to each other. But the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, stamped all people with the seal of Adam the first man, as all of them are his offspring, and not one of them is similar to another. Therefore, since all humanity descends from one person, each and every person is obligated to say: The world was created for me,

(2) Now, each person must say: “The entire world was created only for my sake” (Sanhedrin 37a). Consequently, because the world was created for my sake, I must constantly look into and consider ways of making the world better; to provide what is missing in the world and pray on its behalf.

(1) 2. Now, our Rabbis, of blessed memory, taught: Every person must say: “The world was created for my sake” (Sanhedrin 37a), and he is obliged to improve it. What is its rectification? The matter is as follows: One must see to raise up all the sparks in all things. these sparks are letters. Thus we see that one raises up letters, and the letters become words, so that through speech great good is provided to Israel.

(4) Therefore, every person has to be vigilant when praying; he should pray in such a way that can arouse the flow of bounty into the world. As our Rabbis, of blessed memory, taught: Every person must say, “The world was created for my sake” (Sanhedrin 37a).

(27) Abraham spoke up, saying, “Here I venture to speak to my lord, I who am but dust and ashes:

(2) ואנכי עפר ואפר I Am BUT DUST AND ASHES — I would long ago have been reduced to dust by the kings and to ashes by Nimrod had it not been that Thy mercies stood by me (Genesis Rabbah 49:11).