פרשת תצוה
This week’s Parsha delineates the different sacrifices that were brought to celebrate the inauguration of the Mishkan. There is an enigmatic Midrash which discusses an interesting discussion that takes place between God and the Jewish people about the sacrifices. The Midrash says that the Jewish people came to God complaining that when the prince of the nation sins, he has a special sacrifice to bring. Similarly when the Cohen sins, he too has a special sacrifice. But when we sin, what sacrifice can we bring? Hashem responded by saying that he will give them the opportunity to bring a cow as an offering and to achieve atonement. But they press Hashem further by asking, “What if we can’t afford to bring a cow”? Hashem responds by quoting the verse, “‘And you shall take with you words…’, meaning if you cry sincerely in front of me and request your needs, I will answer you. Behold, your ancestors in Egypt didn’t have any sacrifices, and I answered all of their prayers, when Yehoshua had difficulty and they cried out to me, I answered him, so you see, I don’t need fancy animals or offerings, all I ask is for sincere words and I will surely answer you.”
R’ Leib Chasman poses two powerful difficulties on this Midrash. Firstly, he asks, were the Jews not aware that there were sacrifices available to common Jewish folk that they claimed that they had no viable method for atonement? What were they thinking? Secondly, what did they mean by asking Hashem ‘What if we can’t afford it’? Could the entire Jewish people not afford one cow to achieve their atonement?
R’ Leib explains that the poverty which the Midrash refers to is not in fact monetary poverty, but rather a type of spiritual poverty. Meaning, the Jews were asking Hashem, what if we are not on the level to bring a sacrifice to the Holy Temple, how can we possibly achieve penance? Hashem responded by telling them that even for a person who has reached the depths of despair and spiritual ruin, he can still openly pray to Me and I will happily answer him. Furthermore, it is implied from the Midrash, that not only will this person be answered, but they will be answered to the same degree our forefathers were such as the Jews in Egypt, and Yehoshua during his time. R’ Leib would point out from here the incredible power of prayer. We see from here that not only is such a lowly person answered by God when he cries out sincerely to Him, but he can even reach the lofty levels of our great ancestors in a very short period of time by merely turning to God in his hour of need.
Truthfully, this concept is strongly alluded to in the verse in Psalms (22). The verse says “God doesn’t despise the prayers of the destitute”. The Midrash explains, normally, a king only allows the very rich and powerful into his antechamber, however, this is not so with Hashem. Hashem accepts even the most modest and poverty stricken human beings into His inner room and listens to their heartfelt pleas. R’ Leib explains that this verse is certainly not referring to people who are financially poor, for there would be no thought that God wouldn’t accept their prayer. Money is a non-issue to God. Rather, R’ Leib explains that this verse is clearly referring to people that are spiritually “poor” or have emotional poverty and that even these people, Hashem is fully attentive to.
However, R’ Leib concludes, there is one condition which is an absolute prerequisite for everything that we have mentioned to come true. The prayer that one offers, whether rich or poor, has to be completely sincere and with an astute awareness of Who one is standing in front of when that prayer is offered. This is actually implied in the above quoted Midrash itself. The Midrash says “You must know who you are standing in front of, and I will answer you”. In fact, prayer itself is called “Amidah” which means to stand, referring to our standing in front of God and our awareness thereof.
R’ Chaim Halevi from Brisk in his famous work explains that although during prayer it is a very nice bonus to know the meaning of the words that we are uttering, this intent is not absolutely necessary in order to fulfill the commandment of prayer. However, the knowledge of Who one is standing in front of is an absolute requirement without which, one is required to say the Shmone Esrei over again.
What does this mean to “Stand in front of God”? One is required to have a supreme awareness that he is standing in front of a God that is all-capable and can grant him any wish imaginable, and is solely in charge of any event that happens in this universe and during his prayer, is listening intently to every word that comes out of his mouth. This is the mind frame that one is required to have during his prayer.
The Shelah in his introduction to his masterful work, quotes the statement of Chazal, “Why do the Jews pray, and yet find themselves not being answered? It is because they do not know My Name”. The commentaries explain, that to know God’s name, one has to be fully aware of all of the attributes of God and how kind and merciful God is when one prays. This can be seen from the event of the golden calf. After the Jews worshiped the golden calf, and they had the threat of complete annihilation hovering over them, we find that Moshe is charged with praying to God to avert this calamity. What does Moshe do? He tells God, “Oh God, Oh God, You are a God of kindness and mercy…” In other words, all Moshe does is point out God’s attributes – being eternally kind and all-powerful – instead of actually asking for what he wants. And the result was that he was answered fully. We see from this interchange a powerful lesson. The most powerful prayer is to recognize Hashem’s attributes and extol them, and to truly know who we are standing in front of, and with this method, even a person who is in the spiritual depths of despair is guaranteed to be answered.
I would just like to conclude with an interesting event which happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I was standing by a bus stop, and an Israeli man without a Kippah on his head stopped and offered me a ride. Normally, I don’t take rides with somebody I don’t know, but his invitation was so gentle and sincere that I accepted. As we were driving, he looked at me and remarked, “You religious people have the most powerful weapon imaginable”. I asked him what he was referring to. He responded, “You have prayer”. I looked at him with some surprise being that he looked totally secular. He explained, “Although I am not a religious man, I believe in God 1000% and in the power of praying to Him. Whenever in my life I have ever turned to Him in prayer, whether for something small or for something big, He has answered me almost immediately. For example, I recently prayed to Hashem that during the course of my job, I should have the opportunity to come to Jerusalem once in a while so that I can see the holy city. Almost instantly I got a phone call which demands that I come to Jerusalem once a month for one of our clients.”
May we all fully realize the power of prayer and who we are standing in front of!