Yesterday, we spoke about the need to work on humility specifically in the three weeks. I'm going share a concept that I learned from spending many years by Rav Wolbe, which is that when you want to work on something, the way to do it is not with great, lofty deeds, but rather with small, under the radar, almost microscopic activities. One of his proofs for this was that when we put medicine on something, we don't use large doses. For example, as I've mentioned many times, my father practiced dermatology for many years. The medicine of choice to stop many rashes was cortisone. If you look at the tube, there’s only 0.01% of the active ingredient. That means you're not putting on a lot of cortisone (which is actually a steroid, which stops inflammation). It's a small amount, but that small amount, slowly but surely makes an impact, like dripping water makes a hole in the rock. So, if you want to become humble, it's good to start with something very small. I once heard from Rav Wolbe that when you bow at start the Amidah, which is something that's automatic for us, pause for a while and think, “ I'm bowing in front of God. Why am I bowing in front of God? Because He is the most powerful of beings. He's the One that decides everything that's going to happen… I can't do anything. ” And as we’ve said before from Rav Wolbe, the greatest impediment to kavana/concentration, intent) in our prayer is arrogance . The reason we don't have kavana is not due to an inability to focus or lack of attentiveness. It's because the act of praying is an act of humility, and our arrogance interferes with our humility. That's why thoughts crop up in our minds- we start thinking about what we have to do today, and of all the different things going on. I gave a mashal for this a few weeks ago, which I think is a nice one. It happened to me once- You're praying Mincha in an airport, for whatever reason (flight delay etc) and just as you start to pray Mincha, they’re about to board. You’re up to Shema Kolenu when they announce that they're boarding section A. You paid extra money to be in section A, so you start speeding up your Amida. You don't ask for everything you normally do in Shema Kolenu. You start getting all frazzled.. Stop! Who's flying that plane? Who's deciding whether it’s going to take off on time or be delayed for another 10 hours? And you’re thinking about ending your prayers early to get on the plane? I'm always nervous that I'm not going to be able to get my carry-on on, and therefore I want to get on the plane earlier, especially when they’ve already announced that it's a full flight and they’ll be taking away carry-ons. So you're go speed up your Amida, as if that's going to help!? You are going to decide? That's our arrogance creeping up. So how do we fight off the arrogance? Rav Wolbe says, start off with bow. And I'd like to suggest another bow. It's important to know that there are 22 days in the three weeks. From the 17 th of Tamuz to Tisha B’Av is 22 days. Those 22 days correspond to the 22 days from Rosh Hashana to Shemini Aseret. We're building our high holiday season during the three weeks. That's why, in Parashat Pinhas, which we read last week, we read all the Korbanot/holiday offerings, because we're preparing for the holiday season now . The holiday season is all about God's blessing and bounty, and it all comes from God's presence in this world. It's the exact opposite of destruction. We're rebuilding . We always speak, during the high holiday season, about God's glory and greatness. Where is that all delineated? It's in our Musaf prayers of Rosh Hashanah. How do we start our Musaf prayers of Rosh Hashanah? Alenu L’Shabe’ach. What do we say there? V’Anachnu Mishtahavim/And we bow… So I suggest that from now until Rosh Hashanah, we should have a little bit more kavana when we say V’Anachnu Mishtahavim/we bow in front of God. And what do we say? Hu Elohenu V’en Od Acher.. Emet Malkenu True is our God- it doesn't say Hu Elohim: He is God, Emet Hamelech/The king is true, but Hu Elohenu/ He's our God . Emet Malkenu/ our God is true and absolute, He’s our God. Hem Mishtahavim/ they bow versus we bow. How lucky we are! How proud we are, to be bowing and humbling ourselves to the King of the world, our God. That's going to prepare our hearts and prepare ourselves , because that's the way we undo the destruction. That's the way we make our heart fit to receive God, and eventually fit to receive all the blessings that are being prepared for us during these three weeks. These Three weeks are three weeks of preparation for God's blessings. But it comes through humility . And as an aside, why rush out of the synagogue when we're saying Alenu L’Shabe’ach, take it slow. Take it in, savor that God is the King of the world deciding everything for us, and our machinations have nothing to do with it. Have a wonderful day.