פרשת ויחי
In this week’s parsha, Yaakov gives Yosef a double portion to inherit. The land was to be divided among Yosef’s sons, Ephraim and Menashe. It’s interesting that Yaakov refers to the land as being taken by “my sword and my bow.” The Gemara in Bava Basra 123 and Onkelos render “my sword” as “my prayer” and “my bow” as “my extra requests.” The question one must ask is why Yaakov chose such a language to describe prayer? T’fillah certainly doesn’t seem to be an instrument of violence!
The Maharsha answers that the sword and the bow are the forms of weaponry specific to Esav and Yishmael. Regarding Esav the verse says “By your sword you shall live” (Breishis 27:40), and regarding Yishmael, the verse says “He was an archer” (Breishis 21:20). This is where their power was manifest. However, Yaakov had the power to counteract these weapons through the power of t’fillah. “Prayer” and “extra requests” were Yaakov’s artillery. But a question still remains. Why is the sword specific to “prayer” and the bow specific to “extra requests”?
My great-uncle the Meshech Chochma explains something amazing about t’fillah. He says that the Anshei Knesses HaGedola infused the Shmone Esrei with incredible potency. Because the words are so holy and the concepts are so lofty, they have a special influence in the heavens above that no other prayer has. It is comparable to a sword that can be swiftly and effectively used to eliminate one’s opponent even with very minimal strength. The Shmone Esrei, even if we’re not as focused as we should be when we say it, has a tremendous effect. However, personal requests that are not part of the Shmone Esrei need a lot of kavana to be effective. This can be compared to the care required by an archer if he is to hit his target. Even bending the bow requires great strength and steadiness. So too, personal requests demand meticulous kavana and great motivation in order to be accepted.
I would like to expand on what my uncle said with two thoughts. Firstly, so many Jews don’t have an appreciation of how strong their Shmone Esrei is. They wonder, who am I that Hashem should hear my t’fillos? They don’t realize that they have a blade that can cut through any barrier between them and Hashem. Regardless of who they are, they will be heard. Secondly, if a person has special difficulties and has found his personal prayers to be ineffective, he shouldn’t be discouraged. Rather, he should realize that in order for his personal requests to be fulfilled, he needs to have more kavana.
So what kind of kavana does one need? The Zohar says that the t’fillah of a poor person is the most accepted of all prayers. Why? Because when he davens, he truly seeks mercy and knows he needs HaKadosh Baruch Hu. When we daven for things that we need or want, we should feel the same kind of desperation as someone in need and know that the only one who can help us is HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And when davening for others, we should feel the same pain they do and literally cry out to G-d for mercy. Then we are sure to have a powerful t’fillah.
Once, one of the grandchildren of Rabbi Moshe Mendel fell severely ill. Reb Moshe’s son-in-law came to ask him to daven for the child. Surely the power of Reb Moshe’s t’fillos would help the situation. However, after a day or two, the situation got worse. The doctors didn’t know what to do. Reb Moshe’s son-in-law came running into his study one night and told Reb Moshe how critical his son’s condition was. Reb Moshe and his wife stopped whatever they were doing and grabbed their Tehillim. They began davening intensely with tears running down their cheeks. The next day the doctors reported a miraculous turn of events. The boy was doing much better. We can see from this that the t’fillos of Reb Moshe, as great as he was, became extraordinarily stronger when they were filled with tears and emotion.
We can also get inspiration from Rebbetzin Kanievsky z”l, who was also known to have had very strong t’fillos. One thing that made her t’fillos so powerful was that she honestly felt for every person she prayed for. Every day, she met with hundreds of people. All of them would tell her their problems and she would give words of encouragement as well as daven for them. To get through the entire list of people for whom she dovened would take her 1-2 hours. Her children realized that she never wrote down any of the names of the people she dovened for. And not only that, she didn’t even write notes to remind herself of each person’s unique circumstances. When asked about it, she replied, “A mother doesn’t need to write down the problems of her children.” This should inspire us to daven for our fellow Jews with similar compassion.
The Netziv on this verse adds that even though the Shmone Esrei is a powerful t’fillah, we shouldn’t be focused mainly on the fact that prayer can help us with our problems. Rather, we should look at the Shmone Esrei as an opportunity to get close to Hashem. By declaring that Hashem is all-powerful, controls the world, and that we’re dependent on Him in every way, we are deeply endeared to Hashem, and can also get ourselves to realize the greatness of the G-d to Whom we pray. This will cause us to pine for G-d with all our hearts, making us into new beings deeply connected to Him. This is where we want prayer to take us. And of course, all goodness from G-d is sure to follow.
May we all be zoche to use the powerful weapons that G-d has given us!!!