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Prayers and Requests
 
Posted: 13 Jan 2008 02:52 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. Shemonah Esrei is such an archetype for the form of prayer, Chazal simply refer to it as tefillah or tzelosana (depending on the language). Shemoneh Esrei, even in its immediate requests speaks in the plural, referring to the Jewish people as a whole, not my own immediate needs, and the majority of its requests are a progression describing the ultimate redemption. We have the list of prayers in the gemara (Berakhos 16b) that various tannaim, after tzelosana  his Shemoneh Esrei  he would say like this. In contrast, E-lokai Netzor, the post-Shemoneh Esrei petition that made it into our liturgy, is written in the first person, about my own religious needs and protection from those who want ill for me personally.

So, in contrast with what Rabbi Soloveitchik  suggests, it would seem from usage that tzelosana actually denotes the longer term, less immediate, requests.

If the notion that I am contradicting Rav Soloveitchik didnt make me insecure in my position, I would think that the similarity driving the parable isnt immediacy, but something else.

The Vilna Gaon characterizes two kinds of prayer: tefillah and tachanunim. As RYBS himself notes, as does Rav Hirsch, lehit-pallel is in the reflective; something we do to ourselves. Teaching ourselves to turn to Hashem, and what things ought to be our priorities. Our primary tefillah was therefore organized by Anshei Keneses haGdolah in the sunset of the prophetic period, as a means of impressing us with the art of dialogue with the A-lmighty.

Turning to our Father with the needs actually on our mind is called tachanunim. An ideal time for tachanunim is immediately after tefillah, as we find in the above-mentioned list of tannaims requests. As well as tachanun. Tefillah is always in the plural, placing ourselves in the context of the community. Tachanunim, like E-lokai Netzor, can also be in the singular. Because E-lokai Netzor exists as a framework for what should essentially be spontaneous, we have a long tradition of adding various requests to it, rather than preserving the tannas coinage untouched.

Just as the tachanunim we say as part of regular davening has this element of a pre-written framework,  of tefillah, we allso do not call for pure tefillah with no element of personal outpouring. We ask for the health of a sick friend with an insertion in Refaeinu, or Hashems help showing our children how to embrace the Torahs wisdom in Atah Chonein, etc Whomever makes their tefillos fixed has not made their tefillos into tachanunim.

This inseparability of these two types of worship might be an implication of the opening words of Mesilas Yesharim. The Ramchal begins, יסוד החסידות ושורש העבודה - the foundation of piety and the root of work/worship The words initials are an acronym spelling out the name of G-d. However, three of the letters are prefixes. The Ramchal could have equally written יסוד העבודה ושורש החסידות and still have had the same acronym. Why did he choose to associate the more artificial foundation with piety, and the image of the more natural root when it comes to avodah, which means work? It would seem to me he is intentionally showing that the two are inherently mixed. That conscious work on our relationships with Hashem and with other people must flow from natural growth from the root, and our free emotional expression cant be divorced from consciously building a foundation. This is AishDas  the inseparable fusion of fiery passion and precise ritual.

Returning to the Vilna Gaons distinction, the core difference between tefillah and tachanunim is that tachanunim are a raw primeval reaching out to the A-lmighty, and tefillah is an exercise in how we are supposed to reach out to Him.

In this light, the core of the metaphor in the verse is not distance, but usability. A sword in the hands of an expert is formidable, but even in the hands of a klutz, a sword is dangerous. Arrows shot by someone with no experience at marksmanship are pretty much useless. Thus, tefillah, like those pre-composed by Anshei Keneses haGdolah or Chazal, is more like a sword  of utility to anyone. The art of techinah, of personally composed baqashos  that requires greater skill and for the person to already feel that connection to the A-lmighty that their reflexive response is to cry out to Him, to be of any value.

(The Maharsha on this gemara in Bava Basra comments as follows: Becharbi is in response to  Esavs al charbekha yichyeh  you will live by your sword, as Yitzchaq described his destiny. Beqashti is his defense against the Torahs description of Yishmael,  vayhi roveh qashas  and he became great with a bow. Yaaqov described two tools against two kinds of threat.)
 


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