Shabbat Parashat Vaetchanan 5782

Parashat Hashavua: On Tefilla – part I

Our parasha opens with Moshe’s tefilla ("Va’etchanan") to be forgiven for his sin and thereby allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael (Devarim 3:23-24).Chazal learned various halachot about tefilla from here. We should point out that the institution of prayer is very much in the minds of educators these days, as well as older shul goers, who wonder how they can improve their tefilla. Things certainly became harder in this regard after the uprooting of traditional minyanim during the pandemic. How to improve tefilla has been on the minds of the rabbis from the time of Chazal.

The gemara (Berachot 30b) asks how long one should wait between one amida and another. Two amora’im agreed on the amount of time but used different terms to describe it, one based on our pasuk of “Va’etchanan” and one based on the pasuk of “Vayechal” (Shemot 32:11), which was Moshe’s prayer to Hashem when it became necessary to protect Bnei Yisrael from Hashem’s “wrath” after the sin of the Golden Calf. It is not obvious why one is praying two amidot, one after the other – the case to which the question applies. Rashi explains that it is either because one made a mistake the first time or when the second tefilla is Musaf, which can come right after Shacharit.

There are two difficulties with Rashi’s first possibility, of a mistake, as the question seems to be asked about a standard case, not one that arises only in an exceptional situation of a mistake. Also, how can one learn from Moshe’s tefilla to such an unusual case?

For that reason, Rashi gives another scenario, which is based on the normal order of Musaf after Shacharit. Rashi also sees the two answers in the gemara as expressing the same idea in two different ways. It is necessary to approach tefilla with an outlook that the fact that Hashem invites us to make requests of Him, which he often accedes to, is a unique chesed, not something we should take for granted. This is something that Yaakov did before he begged Hashem to protect him: “I am not worthy of all of the kindness and the good that You have done for Your servant” (Bereishit 32:11). Moshe too understood that the basis of the institution of prayer is that Hashem wants it because “His mercy is on all that He created.”

It is still a mystery according to Rashi why this lesson should come up specifically in the context of two amidot one after the other. Be it as it may, we still need to be thankful that we have the great privilege to approach Hashem and stand before Him in prayer.

Next week we will continue to look into aspects of tefilla.

Top of page

Print this page

Send to friend