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Weekly Wisdom

Read the Introduction to the Weekly Wisdom

by Michael Berg
Author of The Way

August 2 - 9, 2003

The Purpose of Prayer

In the beginning of this week’s portion, Moshe recounts how he pleaded with the Creator to allow him to enter the Land of Israel. Moshe says: “I begged Hashem at that time…”[1] The Midrash reveals that Moshe, at that time, actually prayed 515 times for this request. They deduce this from the Hebrew word used in the Torah for “begged,” which is Vaetchanan. The numerical value of this word is 515, hence they conclude that it is not a coincidence that the Torah uses this word. The Torah was hinting to us how many times Moshe prayed.

The obvious question is, why did Moshe pray so many times for one request? What could his thought process possibly have been? If the Creator did not accept his request the first time, why ask again? But even if he wanted to be persistent let him pray ten times, 100 times, but to pray 515 seems to defy logic. What possible reason could there possibly be for so many prayers? Furthermore, it would seem to be, heaven forbid, brazen. Let us imagine ourselves, if someone requested something from us once and we said “no,” and he then returns a second time, and we still refuse his request, we would hope that he realizes that we will not fulfill his request. If we are “spiritual,” so that even though he returns 10 or 20 times we still answer “no” in a kind way. But if this person would keep asking for 515, then we would certainly think that he is terribly brazen. Of course this was not the case with Moshe. How then can we understand his actions? Furthermore, we know that the Torah is our spiritual guide and that everything in the Torah was written to show us the correct spiritual path, what then are we to learn from this story?

To begin to understand this, we need to analyze the true purpose of prayer. The Midrash[2] explains that the verse, “and to serve him (the Creator) with all your heart,”[3] refers to prayer. What does prayer have to do with service? We usually think of prayer as a way to request things from the Creator. A service is when I give or do something for someone else. What connection is there between prayer and service?

Rabbi Moshe from Trani, better known by his acronym, the Mabit, explains[4] a very important idea concurring with prayer. He reveals an amazing teaching: that the purpose of prayer is not primarily for our prayers and requests to be answered. Rather the process of prayer is that we show and understand that we have nothing of ourselves, and that there is no one in the world who can truly fulfil our needs except the Creator.

The Mabit teaches us a very important basic lesson concerning prayer and our requests from the Creator. When we pray, our thought should be that we know that we have nothing without the Creator’s assistance. And this is why we pray. We don’t necessarily pray to have our requests granted, but to strengthen our understanding that we have nothing by ourselves, and that all that we need can only come from the Creator. In other words, prayer is a tool for us to use in order to strengthen our trust and understanding that, all that we need and lack can only come from the Creator.

Of course, there are many reasons for prayer, and the Kabbalists explain the tremendous Light that we reveal through the process of prayer. But the Mabit enlightens us to a very important understanding: that every time we pray and request from the Creator we should imbue within our consciousness that we can only receive this fulfillment from the Creator.

This is something that all “spiritual” people know to a certain degree. But if we are truthful with ourselves, we will realize that we are certainly not complete with this understanding. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we think that there are other factors that can influence our fulfillment.

One of the basic concepts of spirituality is that the way we can receive from the Creator is by having complete trust that, He and only He can fulfil our need. As long as this understanding is not complete it is difficult for us to receive the Light of the Creator and blessings. This is a very important lesson which deserves focus and repetition. For in truth it is a lifelong work to achieve the true level of understanding in this regard.

This assists us in understanding Moshe’s actions. He was not praying for his request to be accepted. Rather, he was working to imbue himself with a greater and greater understanding. An understanding that, all is from the Creator, and for this there is no limit. We can understand then why he prayed 515 times, he was developing himself spiritually. Also, more importantly he was teaching us a true understanding concerning prayer. This becomes clearer when we realize that the Hebrew word for prayer, Tfilah, is numerically equal to 515 which is equal to the word vaetchanan. Moshe was teaching us here a very important and basic understanding concerning prayer.

This is truly a beautiful understanding. May we all merit to use this lesson and grow with it.



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