Prayer and its Effects

"Prayer and its Effects"

Sermon – Behaalotecha 5763

Former president Calvin Coolidge was known as a man of few words. Once, at a White House dinner, a woman approached Coolidge and said, "Mr. President, I have a bet with a friend that I can get you to say at least three words." Coolidge looked

at her and said, "You lose."

In today's Sidra of Beha'alotcha, we are presented with the shortest prayer on record. Moses entreats Hashem on behalf of his sister Miriam, "G-d please heal her please" (Bemidbar 12:13). The five Hebrew words of this prayer contain only 11 letters altogether.

I pose to you two questions in response to this entreatment that was over before it was even begun:

1. Clearly, Moses' intention was to be as brief as possible. But why?

2. When we pray, "Deliver my loved one from sickness," as our Lawgiver did, and as we do from this bimah each and every

Shabbat morning, do we really expect God to hear, to care, to act? Or, are we only talking to ourselves?

A related Biblical episode, which is recorded in the Sidra of Beshelach, offers us a preliminary answer. When the Israelites

were caught between the Egyptians and the deep blue sea, Moses fell on his face and pleaded to Hashem to save the people. Hashem responded, "Why do you cry out to me? Speak unto the Children of Israel that they may go forward". (Shemot 14:15).

This was not a time for prayer. It was a time for action. Move forward to do something, Hashem was saying, and I will be behind you.

Three millennia later, the great American humorist and social critic, Will Rogers summed it up very nicely: "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

When Miriam became critically ill, Moses remembered this lesson. His place was at her bedside, giving her moral support

and arranging for the best possible medical care. Consequently, his prayer to Hashem was purposefully brief. Rashi comments: The people would have accused Moses, saying: "His sister is in a terrible state, and all he does is pray." While the saying itself does not appear in the Bible, from Moses we learn that G-d helps those who help themselves.

We often disappoint ourselves when we seek to express ourselves directly to God through the convention of prayer, and then feel that God has not heard or answered our prayers. We seek to communicate with God in the same fashion that we communicate

with other people, approaching God like the disembodied voice on the end of the support line who is there to help us solve our problems. But God does not work like a support technician, and God may not always answer our prayers in the way that we expect. Sometimes that which we pray for may not be, ultimately, the best thing for us. Sometimes God may answer our prayer

in a way we do not understand. Sometimes the answers may not be immediately forthcoming. Sometimes we may never get the answer we want.

I recently heard a story about a man who had written an article and sent it out to many periodicals, but had it accepted by none.

He prayed intensely to God to have his article published, and became increasingly frustrated when his prayers were not answered. He vented to a friend, who asked to see the article. After reading it through thoughtfully, the friend suggested that the article may have been too intellectual for the average reader, and perhaps the ideas in the article would be better treated as a full length book. The writer took the suggestion, expanded the article into a book, and had the book manuscript accepted by the first publisher who read it.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook teaches that the expression "to pray to God" is uncommon in the Hebrew Bible. Often the Torah

just says " _______ prayed" - and it is understood that prayer is directed towards God. But there is an additional reason why the phrase 'to pray to God' is abnormal.

The Hebrew verb lehitpalel - "to pray" - is in the reflexive tense. This emphasizes the aspect of prayer's spiritual and emotional impact back on the soul. The state of contemplation brings out an outpouring of directed emotion, beyond the soul's normal range.

It is fitting to talk about prayer "before God". This means that one directed his heart and mind to contemplate God via prayer.

But it is not realistic to refer to praying "to God" or "up to God". The clarity of enlightenment from intellectual study and reflection

is far beyond the inspiration reached through prayer. Praying "up to God" would indicate that one used his mind to attain awareness of his Creator, and somehow achieved emotional uplifting of the soul at this level.

As is explained in the commentary, the infinitive form of the Hebrew word we translate as "to pray" is lehitpalel, a reflexive conjugation of the root which literally means, "to examine" or "to judge". The reflexive tense means the action of the verb returns

to the subject. Therefore, lehitpalel, translated most literally, would mean, "to judge one's self." This deep understanding of the word gives us an extraordinary insight to the Jewish conceptualization of prayer. Framed this way, prayer is less a linear communication with God, and more an effort to better understand one's self using God as a prism. And, as Kook extrapolates,

to better understand ourselves through God, we must direct our hearts and minds, "to contemplate God via prayer."

Rav Kook goes on to argue that, realistically, we should not talk about praying "to God," since this implies a looking outward. Rather, we should more accurately talk about "praying before God," describing prayer as an act of supplication we undertake in consideration of God. This resonates with the midrashim – rabbinic homilies - which talk about the difference between Abraham, who walked "before God," and Noah, who walked "behind God".

Kook concludes by returning to the verse and the description of Moses praying "to God". Following a teaching from the Mishna, Kook notes that the verse is best translated as, "Moses prayed against God", suggesting that Moses defied the conventions of prayer. As a spiritually outstanding individual, who sought to reconcile the people he led with the God he served, Moses approached God directly on behalf of the people. This is why it states, "Moses prayed to God". This is not the common prayer of the individual presenting him or herself before God. Rather, this is an exceptional prayer presented by an exceptional individual, the only one who could approach God directly, "face to face".

Sometimes the things we pray for may not be the best things for us. My eyes opened widely when I first learned what lehitpalel really meant. To "judge one's self" before God, or to use God as a filter in examining one's own true needs, not only alters the way one prays, but also the things for which one prays. And such an understanding of prayer yields a dramatic result: you will find that your prayers get answered much more often.

My theme today affords me the opportunity to broach upon a matter that has troubled me for some time now. It goes back to the weekly prayer for the sick that we encounter at the end of the seventh aliyah, and which has enabled many in our faith community to register and renew their weekly cases of concern.

I sense that many in our congregation treat the inclusion of a name in a Mishabayrach as an exclusive, unaccompanied outlet of advocacy for their loved ones, respectively. To tell them so when they contact me, in their moments of concern and genuine uncertainty would not be what they want to hear. But to broadcast my issue here before the congregation, in a more pedagogic space, might be well received. Here goes.

During the middle ages, the Mishebeirach prayer was instituted to bless those who come for an aliyah before the Torah, for great Torah scholars, and for the sick. The recitation of this prayer was accompanied by a promise of tzedakah by the one being blessed.

This prayer is traditionally chanted during the Torah service because there is no greater way for us to strengthen our prayers than during the study and recitation of our Torah. It is also of great importance for 10 or more Jews to assemble to say this prayer, because in our sacred tradition, 10 Jews constitute a community.

Tzedakah is given for joyous occasions and for less than joyous occasions. It is a commandment for all Jews to give at least

10% of money left over after they pay all necessary expenses. For Jews who do not have financial difficulties, the rabbis have suggested 30% for tzedakah. Tzedakah does not translate at all as charity; it is a commandment.

Now, mind you, the accompaniment of the inclusion of a name with an act of generosity towards a worthy cause is not unheard

of among our crowd. Rather, it is the exception to the norm.

Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi teaches that when prayer for refuah (healing) is accompanied by tzedakah, it gives the prayer more "zip" with God.

As I place the zip on this week's message from the pulpit – one which was not necessarily brief, as was the prayer of Moses on behalf of Miriam – I invite and welcome your consideration of placing your spirituality in a regular tandem with your deeds.

Let us allow God to view us through the split-screen of our numerous endeavors, so that we might prove worthy of His partnership

in repairing and healing the world.