Fast Paced

The only breaks in the flow of text in a Torah scroll are the parshiyot. There are no punctuation marks, no indication where one pasuk ends and the next one begins. Only between one parsha (section, better than paragraph) and the next is there a blank space to indicate the flow of parshiyot.

Parshiyot come in two flavors — Open, P'tucha and Closed, S'tuma. The Parsha P'tucha generally begins a new theme, topic, episode. In our Sifrei Torah, a Parsha P'tucha begins at the beginning of a line, following a portion of the previous line that was left blank until the end of the line.

A Parsha S'tuma begins after a blank space on the same line that the previous parsha ended. It looks as if the S'tuma is a continuation of the previous parsha, and indeed it is. (It is not always obvious how the parshiyot flow, but usually, you can see what's going on. In last week's sedra of To'l'dot, the first parsha (an open one) tells of the births and early years of Yaakov and Eisav. Then comes the famine that "send" Yitzchak to Gerar and the story of his financial successes, difficulty with the wells, and his pact with Avimelech. Different topic. Eisav marries at 40. A short parsha. And the rest of the sedra is the episode of the Brachot. Chayei Sara had 4 parshiyot, Vayeira had 6 and Lech L'cha had 7. B'reishit and No'ach had 23 and 18 parshiyot respectively. They were "busier" sedras, more generations, etc.

FYI, there are 674 parshiyot in the whole Torah, 295 open and 379 closed. That's an average of 12½ parshiyot per sedra, 8.7 p'sukim per parsha, 15.3 lines per parsha.

Which brings us to Vayeitzei. ONE single closed parsha, 148 p'sukim long (no parsha has more p'sukim), that's more than 5½ columns of Torah without a break. One theme. Yaakov's development from a single individual into a wealthy man with a large family and many years of hard-life experience. Remarkable for a mild-mannered tent-dweller. And the pace! 11 sons and Deena in a 7½ year period. By comparison, the two previous foundation building generations were slow and plodding. Solid foundation - time for the explosion.

The real reason I mention this pasuk about the power of prayer is to make some connection to the sedra, although the topic of this lead tidbit has little to do with Parshat HaShavua (well, there will be another connection soon), and mostly to do about the power of prayer. Last week's lead tidbit didn't focus on Chayei Sara, at least this week's mentions To'l'dot.

In the case of Yitzchak and Rivka, there was no question as to what they were davening for. (Even though Rivka questioned the soundness of being pregnant because of the unrest and conflict she felt inside.) What happens, however, when one is not sure what to daven for?

Let's take another look at our petition for rain. We ask, V'TEIN TAL U'MATAR LIVRACHA. Pretty straightforward. In fact, if you don't ask specifically this way, but "just" ask G-d for a blessing, V'TEIN BRACHA, the Amida is invalid, 19 brachot are voided, and one repeats the ENTIRE Amida. What did you ask for? A blessing. What's so wrong with that? The answer seems to be that it just isn't enough. It isn't specific enough. It isn't what our Sages required us to do.

But what about the Jewish community somewhere in the southern hemisphere, where rain at this time of the year would be harmful to them? If during there summer and dry season, rainfall would damage crops or allow mosquitoes to breed and possibly spread disease?

Halacha recognizes the uncertainty of the davener from such a community. Is he praying for his community or for the Jews of Eretz Yisrael? In such a case, one p'sak allows the davener in question to say V'TEIN BRACHA, the more generic request, and let G-d do what is best in each situation. (My way of understanding this halachic issue.)

Now let's put things into a very NOW context. Do I pray to G-d that the Barak gov't should fall, or can that somehow make matters worse? Do I pray that Arafat should depart this world, or will his successor create greater dangers? Who will be better for the Jews and Israel, Bush or Gore? If I don't know, what should I daven for? (Not why should I daven!)

In the famous, inspirational story of the little boy (or ignorant man - depends on what version of the story you've heard) recited the Alef-Bet over and over again, and asked G-d to arrange the letters appropriately. Maybe in a way, that is the value of reciting T'hilim, which is sort of like a shotgun approach to prayer, especially when we really don't know the specifics of what to ask for. These words might sound like ramblings, but I hope you get the point. The power of prayer can apply to specific, obvious situations, and also (hopefully) to confusing, vague, ambivalent situations as well.