In the beginning of this week’s parasha, Parashat Va’Era, Hashem shares with Moshe Rabbenu that He has heard the groan of b’nei yisrael as a consequence of their slavery and that Hashem remembered His covenant.
B’nei yisrael’s response to the slavery is also recorded in another place in the Torah – in Sefer Devarim. In the description of the mitzvat bikkurim – the commandment of the first fruits – the Torah describes the commandment for a farmer to bring his first fruits to Yerushalayim. In presenting the fruits to the kohen, the farmer recites a confession – a viduy. As part of this confession, the farmer briefly recounts the experience of the children of Israel in Egypt. The farmer begins, “An Aramean tried to destroy my forefather. He descended to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation – great, strong and numerous. The Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us and placed hard work on us.”
In the next passage, the farmer describes the reaction of b’nei yisrael to the affliction. He says, “Then we cried out to Hashem, the G-d of our forefathers and Hashem heard our voice and saw our affliction, our travail and our oppression.” The farmer concludes his confession by briefly describing the salvation of the Jewish People from bondage and their inheritance of the Land of Israel.
What was the text of the Jewish People’s prayer? What language did they use to beseech Hashem that He should save them?
Many commentators interpret the Torah as not taking a stance on this issue. When the Torah says, “And we cried out to Hashem, the G-d of our forefathers,” these commentators see only a reference to this prayer – not the text of the prayer itself.
Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berliner – the Netziv – interprets this verse to be sharing with us the actual text of the Jewish People’s prayer. He reads the verse to say, “And we cried out to Hashem, ‘The G-d of our forefathers’.” The Jewish People’s prayer was primitive and only two words long – “elokei avoteinu” – “G-d of our forefathers”. The Netziv bases his interpretation on a comparison of this verse to a similar verse in a different context. In this other context, b’nei yisrael is describing to the king of Edom how the Jewish People cried out to Hashem when they were suffering in Egypt. Through this description, b’nei yisrael is hoping to arouse the sympathy of Edom and to convince them to allow passage through their land. In this description, the Torah leaves out the words, “elokei avotenu” – “G-d of our forefathers”. Netziv understands this omission to have been intentional – the Edomites did not need to know the text of the prayer – only that the Jewish People prayed.
For the Netziv, this short prayer – “G-d of our forefathers” – represents the minimal content of a prayer. As the Jewish People were on an exceedingly low spiritual level, their capacity for prayer was limited. This prayer did not even contain a formal request – only a statement of G-d’s existence and His relationship with our forefathers. However, b’nei yisrael prayed to their capacity and Hashem answered. The Netziv interprets this verse to mean that G-d answers even the most primitive prayer – when that prayer represents the capacity of that individual.
This is an important lesson for us and for our children. Each of us has our own philosophical and spiritual capacity and we pray to Hashem based on these capacities. According to the Netziv, the Torah teaches us that the one measurement of the quality of a person’s prayer is the level to which the prayer compares to the capacity of the person offering the prayer. In other words, in prayer it is critical to aim to do one’s best.
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