ברכות-כה

When ר׳ נפתלי מראפשיץ was in a neighboring town on his way to שחרית, he saw a group of men sitting and drinking. “When are you going להתפלל” he asked. “We pray ותיקין,” one of them responded, referencing the תיקון given after the תפילה. “Do you know who established your תפילת ותיקין?” the רב asked. When they didn’t respond, the רב cited today’s גמרא, which says תפילות אבות תקנום and this is reflected in the second letter of the names of the אבות. The ב of אברהם stands for בוקר. The צ of יצחק stands for צהריים. The ע of יעקב stands for ערבית. And your תפילת ותיקין was established by the man who had a vav as the second letter of his name and loved to drink. As the תורה says: וישא לוט את עיניו וירא כל ככר הירדן כי כולה משקה and that’s why he chose to live there.

28/01/2020