July 31, 2015
This week's Torah portion opens with Moses pleading before God for the one thing he really desires: to enter the Promised Land. God answers curtly, "Enough, don't speak to me of this matter again." God uses the same words with which Moses answered the rebellious Korah, "Rav lach," "You have arrogated too much to yourself." Moses pleads from his heart, and God, with whom Moses enjoys the best of relationships, turns him down so coldly that God appears annoyed at Moses' arrogance.
Moses immediately turns to the task at hand: reviewing the story of the sojourn from Egypt, through Sinai, and to the Israel.
What had Moses done wrong? He had made it about himself. He asked for fulfillment, a very human desire that we expect to have answered humanely if we have done well. What would it cost God, after all, to be kind?
Rashi understands Moses' passion and God's refusal in his comment on Dt. 3:23, "And I pleaded..." The word 'pleading' always refers to a freewill gift. Even though the righteous can and should rely on their good deeds, one does not pray to God for anything other than a freewill gift, as God said to Moses in Exodus 33:19 "I shall give grace to whomever I want." In other words, God chooses according to God's own criteria, which we cannot fathom.
The midrash turns the passage into a question of waiting between prayers: how long between worship services or parts of the service should someone take before starting up again? Here's the answer:
R. Simlai expounded :
A man should always recount the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, and thereafter pray [for his needs].
Whence have we this? From Moses; for it is written, "And I besought the Lord at that time, saying" (Deut. iii. 23).
Then it is written, "O Lord God, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts ?" (ibid. v. 24). And after that it is written, "Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land" etc. (ibid. v. 25). (from sefaria.org)
Moses immediately turns to the task at hand: reviewing the story of the sojourn from Egypt, through Sinai, and to the Israel.
What had Moses done wrong? He had made it about himself. He asked for fulfillment, a very human desire that we expect to have answered humanely if we have done well. What would it cost God, after all, to be kind?
Rashi understands Moses' passion and God's refusal in his comment on Dt. 3:23, "And I pleaded..." The word 'pleading' always refers to a freewill gift. Even though the righteous can and should rely on their good deeds, one does not pray to God for anything other than a freewill gift, as God said to Moses in Exodus 33:19 "I shall give grace to whomever I want." In other words, God chooses according to God's own criteria, which we cannot fathom.
The midrash turns the passage into a question of waiting between prayers: how long between worship services or parts of the service should someone take before starting up again? Here's the answer:
R. Simlai expounded :
A man should always recount the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, and thereafter pray [for his needs].
Whence have we this? From Moses; for it is written, "And I besought the Lord at that time, saying" (Deut. iii. 23).
Then it is written, "O Lord God, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts ?" (ibid. v. 24). And after that it is written, "Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land" etc. (ibid. v. 25). (from sefaria.org)
In other words: take time first to think of God's merits, and then ask for what we need. The logical conclusion of this discussion we find in the Mishnah, Pirkei Avot 2:4, which opens:
Make His [G-d's] will your will, so that He will make your will His will. Make your will insignificant relative to His will, so that He will make the will of others insignificant relative to your will.
Make His [G-d's] will your will, so that He will make your will His will. Make your will insignificant relative to His will, so that He will make the will of others insignificant relative to your will.
We, all of us, have those desires of our hearts that we truly wish to see fulfilled. Moses gave his life for a cause, and asked for a major favor at the end, with which God took umbrage and declined. Moses immediately returned to his task of leading the people. What, then, is the purpose of prayer, Rashi asks, if not to bend God's will to our own? Rashi answers brilliantly, "Take time before worship to remember God's manifold wonderful qualities, and only then should you pray." Then what do we pray for? The answer comes in Pirkei Avot, "That our will will become God's will and our desires match." That is the purpose of prayer.
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