Heavenly Father, we begin this day seeking Your blessing upon each step of our walk with You. Guide our hearts, renew our minds, and open our spirits to the wisdom, encouragement, and truth found in Your Word. May these spiritual disciplines draw us nearer to Your presence and equip us to reflect Your love in all we say and do.
Here is what awaits you in today’s readings:
1. As the Day Begins: Guarded by Grace
A morning meditation on Psalm 91:11–12 that reminds us we are not alone—God has commissioned His angels to protect us and walk with us throughout our day.
2. The Greatness Test: A Day in the Life of Jesus
A reflective blog exploring the disciples’ argument over greatness in Mark 9:33–37, and how Jesus redefines true greatness as humble service and childlike trust.
3. God’s Help in Every Season: Thru the Bible in a Year
A rich devotional summary of Psalms 60–67 that walks us through David’s experiences of battle, longing, praise, and trust in God’s consistent care.
4. The Two Roads of Fatherhood: Life Lessons Learned
An article contrasting two fathers’ relationships with their sons, urging intentional connection, daily presence, and spiritual leadership in the home.
5. The War on Innocence: A Biblical Take on Today’s World
A scriptural reflection on the recent report of Russia’s abduction and reprogramming of Ukrainian children, calling believers to advocate, intercede, and stand for truth.
6. As the Day Ends: Guarding the Gate of Our Words
An evening meditation from Proverbs 18:6–7 that challenges us to reflect on the power of our words and surrender our speech to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for taking time to nourish your soul with God’s Word today. Your attention to spiritual health honors the Lord and deepens your relationship with Him.
Pastor Hogg
The distinction between Tefillah and the tachanun prayer
the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ
Aharon N. Varady (transcription)·opensiddur.org·
Concluding Prayer for Hallel in the Home Service for the Festival of Passover, by Rabbi J. Leonard Levy (1896)
This is a concluding prayer in the Hallel service at the Passover seder by Rabbi J. Leonard Levy to his Haggadah or Home Service for the Festival of Passover (1896) pp. 32-34. The prayer does not appear in subsequent editions. The prayer threads the needle between the particularly Jewish communal focus of Passover and the…
What separates תפילה from תחנון? A blessing requires שם ומלכות. Shemone Esrei does not contain שם ומלכות. Yet it functions as the definition of a blessing. As does kadesh, which also lacks שם ומלכות. For that matter so does ברכת כהנים וגם כן קריא שמע. The k’vanna of חנון has nothing to do with the formal prayer written in the Siddur. Why? Because all these “mitzvot” qualify as tohor time oriented commandments which require k’vanna. What’s the k’vanna of תחנון through which it defines תפילה?
Word translations amount to tits on a boar hog when the new born piglets are ravenous and the sow died after giving birth! The 5th middah of the revelation of the Oral Torah at Horev – חנון, serves as the functioning root שרש of the term תחנון תפילה. The tohor time-oriented commandment of תפילה learns from the additional metaphor of תחנון. Consider the Order of the Shemone Esrei blessings … 3 + 13 + 3 blessings. 6 Yom Tov and 13 tohor middot revealed to Moshe, 40 days after the ערב רב Israelites – Jews assimilated and intermarried with Egyptians, no different from the kapo Jewish women who slept with Nazis. This ערב רב, according to the Torah – as expressed in the memory to war against Amalek/antisemitism – they lacked fear of אלהים. This same ערב רב referred to their Golden Calf substitute theology by the name אלהים. This tie-in explains the k’vanna of the term “fear of heaven”.
The ערב רב Jews lacked “fear of Heaven”, and therefore their avoda zarah profaned the 2nd Sinai commandment. Hence when Jews assimilate and intermarry with Goyim who do not accept the revelation of the Torah at Sinai (neither the Xtian Bible nor Muslim Koran ever once brings the שם השם first revealed in the 1st Sinai commandment – the greatest commandment of the entire Torah revelation at Sinai and Horev! Do Jews serve to obey the Torah revelation לשמה או לא לשמה? Observance of all the Torah commandments and Talmudic halachot hangs on this simple question.
Therefore תפילת תחנון interprets the k’vanna of תפילה, through the concept that a person stands before a Sefer Torah and dedicated specific and defined tohor middot which breath life into the hearts of the Yatrir HaTov of the chosen Cohen oath brit people. The verb תפילה most essentially entails the k’vanna of swearing a Torah oath. What Torah oath? The dedication, think korban, of some specified tohor middot…. Hence the concept of תפילת תחנון.