This Midrash is difficult to understand. It implies that if a person does not pay
attention to the words of his prayer, he has prayed albeit not properly. But the very definition of prayer is a
request, a petition of God. If a person
mouths the words while his thoughts are elsewhere, is this prayer?
To be sure, at the very least one must be attentive to his
words. The Midrash, however, is
referring to a higher level of prayer.
The clue to understanding this Midrash is in the pasuk the Midrash
brings. The pasuk says that God prepares
their hearts and He listens to their prayers.
Shouldn’t the pasuk say that the ones who pray prepare their own hearts? Why does it say that God prepares their
hearts? The Sfas Emes explains that at
the highest level, true preparation is also from God. The Midrash is teaching us that a person who
prays in a totally unselfconscious way, pouring out his heart before God, has
reached a level of prayer at which God Himself prepares and directs that
person’s heart towards Him. This type of
prayer is certainly heard.
But why would we want God to direct our hearts? Can we not direct our own hearts? The answer to this question is related to the
reason a person approaches God with a request.
At its highest level, prayer is not about asking for our own
benefit. At its highest level, prayer is
about asking for the sake of Heaven. The
pasuk in Mishlei (16:1) says, “לְאָדָם מַעַרְכֵי־לֵב וּמֵה' מַעֲנֵה לָשׁוֹן/The
preparation of thoughts in the heart are man’s but the response of the tongue
is from God.” A person who reaches the
highest level of prayer, whose prayers are for the sake of Heaven is so
completely unselfconscious and involved in the connection to God that the
prayer affords, that he even forgets the need that brought him to prayer in the
first place. At this level God puts the
appropriate words into his mouth to ask for what he really needs. Shlomo
HaMelech is teaching us that if we prepare properly for prayer then God
supplies us with the proper words. At
this level of prayer for the sake of Heaven we want God to direct our hearts,
to supply us with the proper words and the best way to approach Him.
What can we do to reach this level of prayer? The Sfas Emes learns the ways of preparing
for prayer from the first Midrash on the parsha.[2] This Midrash mentions ten different
expressions that represent prayer.
Significantly, the primary Hebrew word for prayer – tefilla, is
not among them. Why not? The Sfas Emes explains that the Midrash is
teaching us ten different ways of preparing for prayer. In order to reach a level of prayer at which
God directs us we need to use the tools mentioned in the Midrash.
Chazal teach us that even the righteous who are able to
approach God in prayer on the merit of their good deeds prefer to come before
God as unworthy and rely completely on His mercy and compassion.[3] The Kotzker Rav asks from a pasuk in Iyov, (41:3) “מִי הִקְדִּימַנִי וַאֲשַׁלֵּם
.../I will pay the one who comes before Me …”
God is telling Iyov that He will answer the prayers of the one who comes
before Him and makes a request. The
implication is that no one really deserves to be answered, not even the
righteous. The Sfas Emes elucidates that
if a person were truly deserving, he would not have to ask. He would receive what he should according to
the letter of the law. Yet, Chazal tell
us that the righteous are deserving in the merit of their good deeds. How does this Chazal reconcile with the pasuk
in Iyov?
The Sfas Emes explains, according to what we’ve said, that
while the pasuk in Iyov is referring to petitioning God with requests,
Chazal are referring to approaching God in prayer. No one, not even the righteous, merit positive
answers from God. And this is implied by
the pasuk in Iyov. However, the
righteous are certainly able to approach God and come close to Him in the merit
of their good deeds. Still, they prefer
to come before God as unworthy. They
would rather approach God with entreaties.
The last of the expressions of prayer mentioned in the Midrash, in fact,
is tachanunim/entreaties which comes from the root chanun/compassionate. It implies that God in His mercy allows us to
approach Him with our requests even when we are unworthy of His compassion[4].
This is why the first Midrash above brings the pasuk, “... תָּכִין לִבָּם .../… You prepare
their heart …” as an expression of the highest level of prayer. As we noted earlier, significantly, the pasuk
says that God prepares their hearts rather than their preparing their own
hearts. At the highest level, we want to
approach God from a position of unworthiness and rely upon Him to prepare our
hearts, to guide us in prayer.
According to this approach to prayer we can understand the
inner meaning of the first pasuk in our parsha, “וָאֶתְחַנַּן אֶל־ה' ... לֵאמֹר/I
entreated God … saying.” (Devarim 3:23)
VaEschanan/I entreated is in the reflexive form. The last word in the pasuk, leimor/saying
is apparently extra. Moshe Rabbeinu is
saying, “I prepared myself reaching the level of one who entreats before God so
that I could be guided by Him in prayer.”
Moshe Rabbeinu is teaching us that prayer is a reflexive activity. It is working on ourselves, preparing
ourselves to approach our Creator. The
primary goal of prayer is approaching and coming close to God.
May we merit it. Amen!
[1]Devarim
R. 2:1
[2]Ibid.,
א"ר יוחנן עשרה לשונות נקראת תפלה ואלו
הן, שועה, צעקה, נאקה, רנה, פגיעה, ביצור, קריאה, ניפול, ופילול, ותחנונים
[3]Sifri
VaEschanan 26
[4]See
also Ramban in Parashas Mishpatim (Shmos 22:26) That חנון implies that He accepts supplication even
from one who is not worthy. The root of חנון
is חנם/free.
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