One of G-d's greatest kindnesses to us is allowing us to pray. Prayer affects reality.
We read in our Parasha that, after Moshe Rabbeinu had prayed 515 times - as alluded to by the choice of the word ואתחנן, the numerical value of which is 515 - that the decree that he not enter the Land be cancelled, he implores Hashem (3:25):’Let me now cross and see the good Land that is on the other side of the Jordan’. Hashem replies:(3:23-34)’Do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter. Ascend to the top of the cliff and raise your eyes..and see with your eyes’ all of the Land, ‘for you shall not cross this Jordan’.
Our Sages derive from these psukim, that:(Brachot 32:) ‘one hour of prayer is ‘better’ than good deeds, as, despite all the deeds of Moshe Rabbeinu, he was told to :’ascend to the top of the peak’, only in the merit of this thing’ : his prayer.
4They learn this from the juxtaposition of the two psukim:’Do not contןnue to speak to Me further about this matter; Ascend to the top of the cliff and raise your eyes’ in all directions, ‘and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan’.
Expounds the Pnei Yehoshua:’Why did Hashem tell Moshe Rabbeinu: ‘Do not continue to apeak to Me further about this matter’, when He yearns for the prayers of the righteous? We must say that it must be because, had Moshe Rabbeinu prayed further, his prayer might have been accepted, and Hashem did not want to annul His decree, that Moshe should not enter the Land.
Further, our Sages might have seen this passuk - ‘ascend the top of the cliff’ - as unnecessary, as in Parashat Ha’azinu (32:49), we read that this was said to Moshe on the day of his death: ‘Go up this Mount Avarim..and see the Land of Canaan, which I am gibing to the children of Israel’. Therefore we must say that our passuk comes to teach us this thing: that Moshe only merited to see the Land because of his prayer, as he already previously had performed plenty of good deeds, yet did not merit seeing the Land’.
The Ben Ish Hai, on this Gemara, brings the teaching of our Sages (Avot 5:18):’One who raises the community to be meritorious. the community’s merit is attributed to him’. No one was as meritorious as Moshe Rabbeinu, as he taught the Torah to all the people, and all the Mitzvot, and therefore he had a 4share in all of their meritorious deeds.
Thus, in bringing the two juxtaposed psukim:’Do not continue to speak..’, and: ‘Ascend to the top of the cliff’, the Torah intended to bring an aid from each of them, that prayer was ‘greater’ than good deeds - as th1e command ‘do not speak further..’ was because it was difficult before Hashem to turn down Moshe’s prayer, and if good deeds were greater than prayer, surely Moshe had abundant good deeds, so what purpose would there be, in commanding Moshe not to pray?
Therefore, prayer is certainly greater than good deeds, and this is clear from the next passuk:’Ascend to the top’, as Moshe thereby achieved one of the two things for which he prayed: to see the Land, but not to cross the Jordan, into the Land - and, though Moshe had good deeds before he prayed, Hashem did not permit him to ascend, and see the Land, until after his prayer.’
Rav Ahron Kotler, commenting on our Gemara, waxes praise on the gift of prayer, adjuring us:’In truth, it is one of Hashem’s great chassadim to us, to permit us to praise Him, in our prayers - it is not the way of the world for the lesser to praise the greater, and our Sages say, that were it not that Moshe Rabbeinu said, in the Torah (Eikev 10:17):’The Lord of the lords, the great mighty and awesome G-d’, and the sages of the Great Convocation having inserted these words in our daily prayers, we would not have had leave to do so - but this is through the chesed of Hashem’.
Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl offers an intriguing insight, from Moshe Rabbeinu’s prayer, in our Parasha, based on the unusual words of his supplication: ‘אעברה בא: Let me now cross and see the good Land’ - why, he asks, did Moshe not say - to accord with the decree - ‘to enter the Land’, but instead chose to ask ‘to cross the Jordan’?’.
To answer this, the Rav first asks:’Why, specifically, after Moshe had been permitted by Hashem to offer his supplication 515 times did Hashem tell Moshe not to pray the intended 516th time, saying:’Do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter’.
‘Because’, answers the Rav, ‘this was first occasion that Moshe had used this plea - אעברה - thereby alluding to ‘another’ ‘crossing’, when Hashem promised that the prayer would always be accepted.
In Parashat Ki Tissa, in reply to Moshe’s plea:(3:18-19): ‘Show me now your glory’, Hashem said:’אעביר: I shall make all My goodness pass before you’, whereupon (34:5-6) - the Torah relates - ‘ויעבור: Hashem passed before him’ and proclaimed the thirteen attributes of mercy, with the promise - as our Sages teach (Rosh Hashana 17:) - ‘Whenever Israel sin, let them perform before Me this order of prayer, and I shall forgive them’.
‘For the first time’ expounds the Rav, ‘Moshe alluded to this ‘secret weapon’, in his need to enter the Land.
‘This would result in a ‘clash’ between two vows that Hashem had made:’the first, that Moshe not enter the Land, and, the second: the vow that whenever the thirteen attributes were ‘proclaimed’ in prayer, the prayer would be accepted.
Therefore, Hashem asked Moshe to ‘speak no further of this matter’ - not to make this special five hundred and sixteenth prayer - and Moshe, the faithful servant, whose whole need to enter the Land - as our Sages teach (Sotah 14:) was to be able to fulfill Hashem’s will, by performing the Mitzvot which could only be performed there, whole-heartedly obeyed Hashem, and did not offer the alluded further prayer’.
A parting insight from Rav Kotler:’Whilst all the great commentators agree that prayer is a positive commandment - whilst differing as to whether the obligation is from the Torah, or from our Sages - is there really a ‘need’ that it should be commanded? Just as there is no need to ‘obligate’ an infant to call ‘mother’, as from itself it will do so, after recognizing that all its needs are met by her, SO TOO man relies on his Creator for his every need - physical and spiritual - for his existence, as we proclaim in our daily prayers:’Who formed us and formed our universe. Blessings and thanks are due to Your great and holy name for giving us life and sustaining us..it is for us to give You thanks, Blessed be G-d to whom thanksgiving is due’.
‘This surely teaches us how necessary it is, that we pray with proper כוונה: intention’.
By Danny Ginsbourg at https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374834
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