פרשת ויחי
The passuk in this week’s Parsha mentions in reference to Eretz Yisroel “אשר לקחתי מיד האמורי בחרבי ובקשתי” – “I took Eretz Yisroel by my sword and my arrow”. However the Aramaic translation of Onkelos translates this to mean “by my prayers and my supplications”. One could ask, why would prayer and supplication be referred to with the words, “swords and arrows”?
The Maharsha in Bava Basra explains that prayer can help against the two world powers who wish to destroy us: Eisav who uses the power of the sword, and is blessed with the ability to wield the sword, as the verse says regarding Eisav “You will live by the sword”, and Yishmael who uses the power of the Bow and arrow as the verse refers to him as the “wielder of the bow and arrow”.
I saw that the Brisker attempts to explain the difference between prayer and supplication, and why these two words are relegated to the sword and the bow, by saying that there are two types of prayers in Judaism. Firstly, there is the general prayer of Shmoneh Esrie, which we pray three times a day and was established by the Men of the Great Assembly. This prayer is referred to as the “sword” prayer. Secondly, there is the personal prayer that each and every Jew offers to God, a supplication, and this is referred to as a “bow and arrow” prayer.
To understand the distinction between these two types of prayers, we must delve into what the essential difference is between a sword and a bow as weapons of war. A sword is sharp and has the ability to inflict damage without much external power or torque. Similarly, the Shmoneh Esrei is effective because the Men of the Great Assembly imbued in its words so much power that no matter who wields this power, it will still have the same amount of potency. Whereas a personal prayer is referred to as a bow and arrow, for just as a bow is only effective if one puts great strength into it, so to personal supplications are only efficient if the one who is supplicating has personal Zechus. He concludes by explaining that this is the reason why the Gemorah in Bava Basra says that if one has a sick person in their house they should seek out a Tzadik to pray for their recovery, as a righteous person has more personal merit and likely to be answered.
I once heard R’ Moshe Shternbach attempt to explain the Rashi on this passuk who says, that “my sword” is referring to wisdom and “My bow” is referring to prayer. It seems that Rashi is arguing on the Gemorah in Bava Basra which said that “My sword” is referring to prayer. Perhaps we could explain that what Rashi means to say is that Tefilah requires a special Chochma, for although we explained that Tefilah has all the power of the Men of the Great Assembly, and is compared to a sword, nonetheless, Tefilah still requires Kavana – Intent. When it comes to personal supplications, it is no big deal to have Kavana, for everyone feels strongly about there own plight and prays with sincerity when they are asking God to help them. However, the prayer of Shmoneh Esrie, which we become so accustomed to by virtue of the fact that we say it three times a day every single day, requires a special “Chochma” to generate the proper intent. This is what Rashi means when he says that every day tefillah is referred to as “Chochma”.
What kind of Chochma does it take to develop one’s “Kavana” in daily Shmoneh Esrei? I would like to purpose that this wisdom is accomplished during the time that one takes before prayer to contemplate their prayer. The Shulchan Aruch says in סימן צ”ג that each and every Jew is required to set aside time to prepare himself before Davening in order to have proper intent. The Gemorah in Berachos says that the righteous people of yesteryear used to prepare themselves for one full hour before they would pray. However, we, who aren’t on the level to take out one full hour, still have an obligation to set aside some time to build up our Kavana. What should one be doing during this preparation? The Rishonim say that one must remove all of his foreign thoughts and focus on the fact that he is standing in front of the King of all kings, and that this King is listening intently to every word that he has to say. Just as somebody who is talking to another person on the telephone will not lose his concentration, even if that person can’t answer for some reason, so to when we are standing in prayer, if we truly felt we were standing in front of God, we would never be able to forget what we are talking about. From here we see that during the preparation for Shmoneh Esrei we should be focusing on the fact that we are about to stand in front of our maker.
To what degree must a person take this preparation? The Law is that one must take three steps forward when he prays. This law is learned from Avraham Avinu who the verse records “stepped toward God” to pray. R’ Aryeh Leib Shteinman asks why we perform this seemingly unnecessary act (as God is everywhere)? This question is particularly pertinent regarding Avraham Avinu who was in the process of receiving Nevuah at the time. R’ Aryeh explains that although God is everywhere, it is necessary for us to portray bodily our enthusiasm to stand in front of God. One can conclude from here that a person’s preparations for Tefilah should take him to the point where he is physically excited to merit talking to his Creator.
I would like to demonstrate that if we can increase our Kavanah during Shmoneh Esrei, even slightly, it be very beneficial. The Gemorah in Megilla records that the Jewish people went to the prophetess Chulda Hanviah to pray for them to rebuild the Holy Temple. The Gemorah asks, why wouldn’t the Jewish people go to Yirmiyahu who was known as the Prophet who lamented the destruction of the Holy temple? The Gemorah answers that women are more compassionate then men, Chulda’s prayers would be more likely to be accepted vis-à-vis her compassion as a woman. Certainly Yirmiya was no slouch and his prayers were likely to be accepted, but we see from the Jewish people’s choice of the prophetess Chulda how critical every ounce of Kavana can be.
Similarly, the Kotzker Rebbe says that prayer is referred to as a bow. Just as a bow, even when one pulls the string of the bow only slightly further back, the arrow goes considerably further and can do more damage, so to prayer, the more intent that one has, even if only “slightly” more, the more powerful that prayer is and the more likely it is to be acknowledged.
May we all be inspired to build up our concentration in prayer and through this, may all the prayers of Klal Yisroel be accepted to their maker!