9. Adon Olam & Yigdal_ Emunah of the Heart and Mind

The main idea of the transcription is about the spiritual progression in the morning prayers Adoniram and Yigdal. Adoniram focuses on emotional faith and personal trust, while Yigdal emphasizes intellectual faith and foundational beliefs. Both prayers complement each other by grounding emotions and clarifying beliefs. Adoniram speaks to the heart, while Yigdal speaks to the mind. These prayers remind us to align our heart and mind with Hashem before starting the formal prayers. Challenge: Reflect on a line from Adoniram and internalize a principle from Yigdal to strengthen your connection with Hashem. Welcome back to Tefila today. If you've been following our journey, you've seen how each verse in the Mattoba opening builds a spiritual progression from orientation to mercy, reverence and love. But now the structure shifts. We move from conceptual and experiential framing into specific declarations of our emunah, our belief. Today we explore Adoniram and Yigdal, two tefilos that form the spiritual foundation of the Morning Davening. Why do we say both? And what does each one uniquely contribute? Because emunah, faith, isn't just one thing. It has two sides. The emunah you feel, expressed through Adoniram, and the emunah you know, captured in Yigdal. So let's start with Adoniram, the faith that you feel. This tefila is poetic, it's lyrical and it's deeply personal. It begins, Adoniram, Hashem Elach, the Terim Kol Yitzir Nevra, Master of the World, who reigned before any creature was formed. It walks us through Hashem's eternal rule. From before creation, through His governance of time, to His care for the individual, and then it gets intimate. B'yado Avkidruchi, into His hands I entrust my spirit. Hashem is with me, v'lo ira, Hashem li v'lo ira, Hashem is with me, I will not fear. This isn't abstract theology, it's a soulful surrender, a daily reminder that no matter what today brings, that no matter what today brings, Hashem holds me, He sees me, He guards me. That's why many people say Adoniram both in the morning and at night. It bookends the day with a spiritual reset, a statement that we're never alone. Yigdal is the faith you know. Right after this emotional anchor of Adoniram comes Yigdal, a more structured, declarative tefillah. Each line of Yigdal is a poetic rendering of the Rambam's 13 principles of faith. Yigdal Ikrim, Hashem's unity and incorporeality, prophecy, the truth of the Torah, reward and punishment, the coming of Mashiach, and more. Where Adoniram speaks to the heart, Yigdal speaks to the mind. It's like a creed, a public reaffirmation of the intellectual pillars of Jewish faith. And it reminds us, believing in Hashem isn't just about feeling close, it's about understanding what that closeness entails. So you might ask, if both tefillahs express Amonah, why do we need both? And the answer is because tefillah is meant to shape the whole person, and that includes both our thoughts and our emotions. So there are four categories. There's tefillah, prayer, focus, function, and tone. So in Adoniram, the focus is emotional Amonah, the function is surrender and personal trust, and the tone is that it's poetic and devotional. In the Yigdal tefillah, the focus is intellectual Amonah, the function is an affirmation of foundational beliefs, and the tone is declarative and educational. And together they form a pair, one grounding our emotions, and one clarifying our beliefs. And that's why they follow the Mattovot sequence. Mattovot sets the tone, you're standing in a sacred place. Adoniram centers the heart, and Yigdal centers the mind. And only after this do we begin the more formal parts of Tzupe Dezimra and Shema. But these opening tefillahs remind us, before we speak, we ground ourselves in trust, in truth, and in love. So this week, here's your challenge. Say Adoniram slowly, and pick one line that speaks to you. And say Yigdal with intent, and pick one principle to internalize. Because Amonah isn't the concept, it's a connection. Heart and mind aligned with Hashem. Until next time, dear, today.