[Avodah] Davening Outside (was davening in public)

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 07:54:08AM -0500, Zev Sero wrote:
: Tosfos already dealt with that, by saying that even though it was
: *called* "sodeh" it wasn't really an open field but Har Hamoriah, which
: was an enclosed space.

Medrash Rabba discusses it as well. Moriah is called a har when Avraham
davens there, a sadeh when Yitzchaq does, and Yaaqov declares it a
bayis.

Clearly the sadeh has more to do with how Yitzchaq related to the place
than the place itself.

I describe RYAAMSKrieger's take on this Medrash (from Divrei Yisrael I)
at http://www.aishdas.org/asp/vayeitzei.shtml :

    ... To Avraham, it was like climbing a mountain. Not everyone can
    climb a mountain, and even then you need favorable conditions --
    rain can wash away the trail, wind can cause landslides. As King
    David wrote, "Who can climb onto the Har of G-d?" Avraham's encounter
    at Moriah was during the akeidah the last of ten challenges he faced
    to get to this point. He had to climb from an environment ignorant
    of G-d, and struggle until he reached the pinacle.

    Yitzchak was able to build from that platform. He didn't need to
    struggle go to some remote inaccessible place. He davened in the
    middle of the sadeh. With no borders, allowing the holiness to
    radiate to the rest of the world.

    Yaacov came to Moriah, and found a bayis. While a sadeh does not
    require that kind of struggle, it is still open to the elements. A
    bayis protects those who enter it.

    We can find these same three kinds of relationships looking at the
    three Batei Mikdosh.

    When Yehoshuah came to the land, after 40 years in the desert, he
    had to conquer it. We went through the struggles of that era, the
    Shoftim, and Shaul before we were ready to build the First Beis
    Hamikdosh. It was the top of the har, high and glorious, but hard to
    reach.

    The problem with the trail up the har is that if you veer even a bit
    from the road of halacha, you are no longer at the peak. ... When we
    couldn't maintain that spiritual height, we plummeted into exile.

    Zerubavel, Yeishua, Nechemia and Ezra regroup to rebuild the Second
    Beis Hamikdosh. ... The elders who saw the second bayis remembered
    the first and cried, only the youth rejoiced. It was a sadeh, not
    as lofty, but there was no struggle to climb.

    As the Jews lost grounding, other nations, the Hellenes, the Romans,
    entered the sadeh. It has no border, no protection... After a while,
    Rome -- whose ancestor Eisav was called in last week's parashah a
    'man of the sadeh', destroyed the Temple, and scattered us.

    The Third Temple, however, will be in Yaacov's mode. It will be a
    bayis, a home, protecting us from the elements... "For My bayis will
    be called a beis tephillah, a house of prayer for all the nations."

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I long to accomplish a great and noble task,
micha at aishdas.org        but it is my chief duty to accomplish small
http://www.aishdas.org   tasks as if they were great and noble.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                              - Helen Keller