Etz Yosef - Al HaTzaddikim

This refers to those who guard the mitzvos.

This refers to the people of action.

Meiri elaborates further:

This refers to the scholars of Israel.

Alternatively, this refers to the leaders of each generation who work tirelessly for the sake of the Jewish nation purely for Heaven's sake.

This refers to the scribes who "count" the words and letters in the pesukim in Torah in order to glean deeper insights from the numerical equivalents.

Alternatively, this refers to the schoolteachers of the youth of Klal Yisrael, who are described with glowing terms in the Gemara:

See more about this topic at length in Shu"t Divrei Yatziv (Yoreh De'ah Vol 2, Teshuva 131)

Introduction:

Etz Yosef brings an alternate explanation in four of the six groups mentioned from the Avudraham. (See my analysis on it elsewhere....as his explanation is tied to many midrashim)

The punctuation on this clause seems to be a debate among the meforshim. Some learn that "Aleinu" is another title of a group of people in the beracha, with no singular relationship to the supplication יֶהֱמוּ רַחֲמֶֽיךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ. In other words, there is a comma after the word "Aleinu", separating it from the subsequent supplication.

However, Etz Yosef is clear that the supplication יֶהֱמוּ רַחֲמֶֽיךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ is a supplication singular to the group of "Aleinu". In other words, there is no comma before the word "Aleinu", rather the mention of the group "Aleinu" immediately triggers us to ask for particular mercy on their behalf to give them reward (see next part of the beracha).

In other words, we are asking Hashem to give good reward to those who those who know the trueness of Your Name (i.e. Your actions)

This group of lofty people are described in slightly different terms by Dovid HaMelech in Tehillim:

This request seems puzzling. We believe that everyone will receive the award they justly deserve based on their actions. If so, what would a prayer to Hashem accomplish? Either one is worthy of reward and prayer is unnecessary, or he isn't worthy of reward and he is asking for something he has no right to claim?

Sefer Negid U'Mitzvah* answers by giving a novel explanation as to what this supplication is really about.

There is a Kabblistic teaching which says that even if a person has done good deeds and is entitled to greast reward, his reward can be revoked from him if his transgressions outweigh his good deeds.

However, the reward for the good deeds is not obliterated from existence, instead Hashem transfers the reward of those mitzvos and the angels created through them into the accounts of the righteous to derive pleasure from.

This concept is known as יכין רשע וצדיק ילבּשׁ, a spinoff of a passuk in Iyov which reads:

The "reward transaction" would seem to end here, but there is an unexpected twist.

Some of these righteous people, upon becoming aware of their "windfall" of reward, do not hold on to it, and instead "return" the reward to the original propagators of the meritorious deeds for them to derive benefit from. (The reason they do not want to keep them is because they only want to benefit from the rewards they earned on their own merits)

However, these righteous people have one condition the original owner must fulfill, and that is that they do teshuva and show remorse for the fact that they did more aveiros than mitzvos.

With this background, Negid U'Mitzvah explains the clause here. We are asking Hashem, "Please Hashem, if our aveiros outweigh our mitzvos and our mitzvos are confiscated from us, please transfer them to the righteous people who aren't keen on receiving externally generated reward, so that we can do teshuva and recover our treasured reward."

The beracha continues by detailing the fate of one who doesn't merit to receive the heavenly reward (or doesn't recover his reward, in the Negid U'Mitzvah's scenario) - eternal embarrassment.

In the World to Come, where the currency is good deeds and closeness to Hashem, one who wasted his life on the pursuit of vanities and fleeting pleasures instead of developing Torah values, doing mitzvos, and becoming closer to Hashem experiences an intense shame and embarrassment.

In two aspects the embarrassment of the World to Come is more severe than the embarrassment in this world, both in who the audience we are being shamed in front of and the duration of the embarrassment.

1.

This World

The audience only consists of mere mortal human beings.

World to Come

One is being shamed in front of Hashem's Presence, as it were.

When a sinner is introduced, the angels make a public announcement to stay away from this "impure one"

Even ones family members distance themselves not to be seen in association with a wicked person.

2.

This World

The embarrassment only lasts a few moments and then they can extricate themselves from the situation.

World to Come

The embarrassment lasts forever, without respite.

Introduction:

In explaining the concluding beracha of Al HaTzadikim, Etz Yosef brings two different approaches found in the Rishonim. Both approaches see the terms מִשְׁעָן וּמִבְטָח not two terms representing two entirely different ideas, but rather as one unit, each contributing a unique aspect to one idea.

In his first approach, the focus is on how Hashem watches over the Tzaddikim throughout their entire existence, both in this world and in the next.

מִשְׁעָן translates as being a "Mainstay" for something that is leaning upon it. In the same way, Hashem is the mainstay for the tzaddikim throughout their life in this world and its ensuing exiles.

The word מִשְׁעָ֣ן is used by Dovid HaMelech in how he described Hashem's protection of him when he was being chased relentlessly by Shaul HaMelech:

In addition to Hashem being our מִשְׁעָ֣ן, our "Mainstay" in galus, Hashem is also our מִבְטָח, our "Assurance" in the times of Moshiach and Olam Habah.

Introduction:

Etz Yosef brings an alternate explanation of the meaning of the end beracha. This explanation gives us insight into how Hashem involves Himself in the Tzaddikim's lifelong battle against the evil inclination and their subsequent reward in the World to Come.

מִשְׁעָן in this context means that Hashem saves the righteous from the attempts of the evil inclination to entice them into sinning. We find allusion to Hashem assisting the righteous in two pesukim in Tanach:

Although Hashem assists the righteous in their battle, Hashem assures them - וּמִבְטָח - that they will be rewarded in full!