Shabbat Parshat Ki Tisa - 5763
The Parshah of Prayer

Perilous times prevail currently in the world, especially due to the seemingly inevitable war between the United States, along with several allies, against Iraq, and the threat of inter-civilizational conflict between the Muslim world, as represented by Al-Qeda, and the West. The Jihad, or Holy (sic) War of Islam also has a particular target; namely the Jewish People. In view of these facts, the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, the Orthodox Union and the RCA called for a worldwide response of Tefilah, or Prayer, coupled with a half-day fast by those who were capable of doing that, last Thursday, 18 Adar I.

Prayer is the classical response of the Jewish People when it is in trouble, as we see in Shir HaShirim 2:14, “O My dove, who is in the cleft of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff,” where Shlomo HaMelech pictures the “Beloved of HaShem;” namely, the People of Israel, pursued by the Egyptian Army, before the Splitting of the Sea, as a dove that has sought refuge from a large bird of prey in a rocky cave, but now finds itself trapped between the flying predator and a poisonous snake lying in the cave. The Holy One says to Israel, “..Let Me see your countenance, let Me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your appearance is comely.” HaShem wants to hear the voice of His people, raised to Him in prayer.

In this week’s Parshah, the Jewish People commits a great sin; namely, worship of the Golden Calf, after hearing the Ten Commandments and after waiting forty days for Moshe to return from the mountain-top. So shameful is this sin that Chazal compare it to the adultery of a bride while standing under her bridal canopy. HaShem says to Moshe (Shemot 32:10), “And now leave Me, and let My anger burn against them, and I shall destroy them; and I shall make you into a great nation.” Rashi comments, “We have not yet heard that Moshe prayed for them!” (So what does G-d mean by “Leave Me?”) “But here He gave Moshe an opening and informed him that the matter depends on him, that if he prays for them, He will not destroy them.”

Moshe’s response is described in Shemot (32:11,12), “Moshe pleaded with HaShem, his G-d, and said ‘Why, HaShem, should your anger burn against Your people, whom You have taken out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand?... Relent from Your burning anger and reconsider regarding the punishment with which You have threatened Your nation...’ ” And HaShem’s response to Moshe’s prayer is stated in Shemot 32:14, “HaShem did indeed reconsider regarding the punishment against His nation.”

In about a month, we will celebrate the great Holiday of Purim. That too was an occasion of great danger facing the Jewish People, as punishment for unfaithful behavior towards HaShem. The danger then was clothed in the genocidal plan of the wicked Haman to solve the “Jewish Problem” of his day. After a fateful conversation between Queen Esther and Mordechai, in which Mordechai makes clear Esther’s historic responsibility, Esther takes matters into her own hands. As recounted in Esther (4:16), the Queen charged Mordechai, “Go and gather together all the Jews of Shushan, and fast for me, neither eating nor drinking for three days, night and day. Together with my maidens I will fast likewise, and so I will go in to the king, though it is against the law; and if I must perish, then I will perish.”

Prayer is the language with which the Jewish People communicates with the Creator on a daily basis, and it is our only hope when we are in danger. By fasting, we attempt to rise to the level of the angels, G-d’s attendants in heaven, Associate Justices on the Heavenly Court, who neither eat nor drink, nor have any physical needs.

Last Thursday, we recited several chapters in Sefer Tehilim. In Tehilim 20 we are rallied, “May the L-rd hear you in the day of trouble; may the Name of the G-d of Yaakov defend you.” In Tehilim 79, we ask “How long, O L-rd? Will You be angry with us forever?” In Tehilim 83, we describe the evil plans of our enemies, “They have said, ‘Come and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Yisrael no longer be remembered.’ ” We ask that their plans be frustrated, as were the plans of Haman, and turned upside down upon them, “Let them be confounded and frightened forever; and let them be put to shame, and perish. That men may know that You alone, Whose Name is the L-rd, are the most high over all the earth.”

In Tehilim 121, we express our initial despair and loneliness, followed by faith in our Great Ally, “I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where will my help come? My help comes from the L-rd, Who made heaven and earth.” In Tehilim 130, we call upon G-d “from the depths.” We recognize that “If you punish strictly according to one’s sins, none can stand.” But we recognize G-d as a G-d of forgiveness “for forgiveness is with You...” Therefore “Let Yisrael hope in the L-rd, for with the L-rd there is steadfast love... And He shall redeem Yisrael from all its iniquities.” Finally, in Tehilim 142, we offer a “Prayer of David, when he hid in a cave... I cried unto You, HaShem – I said You are my refuge ... Deliver me from my enemies, for they are stronger than I.”

We recognize that without Tefilah, Prayer, our secret weapon, our “voice, the voice of Yaakov” (Bereshit 27:22), we could not survive now, nor could we have survived throughout history, at the “merciful” hands of our enemies. But we trust that ours is the “still, small voice” (I Kings 19:12), of morality and truth, compassion and G-dliness, the voice of Mashiach, that will ultimately prevail in the world.

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel

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