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Aspaqlaria

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Prayers and Requests
 
Posted: 10 Jan 2008 08:49 PM CST
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/214738197/prayers-and-requests.shtml


Yaaqov avinu lying on his deathbed, tells his son Yoseif:

וַֽאֲנִ֞י נָתַ֧תִּֽי לְךָ֛ שְׁכֶ֥ם אַחַ֖ד עַל־אַחֶ֑יךָ אֲשֶׁ֤ר לָקַ֨חְתִּי֙ מִיַּ֣ד הָֽאֱמֹרִ֔י בְּחַרְבִּ֖י וּבְקַשְׁתִּֽי׃

Also, I gave you one portion (or perhaps, one thing, [the city of] Shechem) beyond that of your brothers, which I took from the control of the Emori  becharbi uvqashti  with my sword and with my bow.
- Bereishis 48:22

The Targum Yonasan renders  becharbi uvqashti as betzelosi uvaus-hi  with my prayers and my requests. This is also in Bava Basra 123, Charbi  this is tefillah, qashti - this is baqashah [request].

Based on this, R YB Soloveitchik explains the Targums tzelosana to refer to our immediate requests  sword-like, in comparison to the longer reach of the bow and arrow. Tzelosana is thus our request for health, income, peace in our homes, etc Whereas the arrows of baus-hon are for things like the coming of mashiach, the restoration of justice, etc

Personally, I dont follow. We have the list of prayers in the gemara that various tannaim, after tzelosana  his Shemoneh Esrei  he would say like this. Shemoneh Esrei, the archetype tefillah, even in its immediate requests speaks in the plural, referring to the Jewish people as a whole, not my immediate needs. As RYBS himself notes, lehit-pallel is in the reflective; teaching ourselves to turn to Hashem. The requests made in E-lokai Netzor are all

personal requests, things that touch my life now, written belashon yachid. If the mashal vs nimshal were all about distance, I would have thought the words would have mapped the other way  tefillah is the long-term requests, baqashos are my immediate needs.

If the notion that I am contradicting Rav Soloveitchik didnt make me insecure in my position, I would think that the primary issue isnt immediacy, but need for expertise. A sword in the hand of an expert is

formidable, but even a klutz with a sword is dangerous. Arrows in the

hand of the unexperienced are pretty much useless. Thus tefillah, like

those precomposed by Anshei Keneses haGdolah, is more like a sword 

of utility to anyone. The art of techinah, of personally composed

baqashos  that requires greater skill to be of any value.

The Maharshas comment in BB: Becharbi is keneged Esavs al charbekha

yichyeh, while beqashti is Yishmaels vayhi roveh qashas. Becharbi

ubeqashti  because prayer can protect us from both kinds of threat.
 


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