Thursday, September 3, 2015

Ein Yaakov Brachos 20 - Missing shul

The gemara in Brachos states that if one usually attends shul but misses a day, HaShem, as it were, asks about him. The Ein Yaakov states that the motivation for this drasha is the contrast between the first half of the passuk stated, which reference a y'rei HaShem, and the second, which refers to one who is "holeich chasheichim". The y'rei Hashem expresses this yir'ah by coming to shul before doing anything else in the day, setting his priorities in their proper order, but if he decides that a davar r'shus requires that he leave while it's still dark so that he is unable to daven in shul in the morning, he is condemned for not trusting in HaShem Who will provide his needs.