In Their Merit   

When we daven for specific individuals, context and connection are of the essence. Who is this name I’ve added to my Tehillim list? Is it a relative, a friend, the child of my coworker? Knowing who we’re davening for takes our tefillah up a notch.

Al hatzaddikim, v’al hachassidim, v’al ziknei amcha Beis Yisrael, v’al pleitas sofreihem, v’al geirei hatzedek. Who are these people we daven for daily? Why do they deserve our continuous tefillos?

A List

Al hatzaddikim v’al hachassidim. What distinguishes a tzaddik from a chassid, and why do they merit inclusion in this brachah?

The Avudraham differentiates between tzaddikim, “who are the greatest of all, as they’ve never sinned,” and chassidim, who have sinned and repented. Generally, we correlate chassidim with the concept of “lifnim mishuras hadin,” those whose service of Hashem reaches beyond the absolute letter of the law. Rav Chaim Friedlander (Sifsei Chaim) explains that once a person sins, he’s advised to behave stringently in the areas where he previously stumbled to safeguard against another misstep. Thus, chassidim are associated with lifnim mishuras hadin as a security measure to circumvent future sins.