Shabbat Forshpeis
A Taste of Torah in Honor of Shabbat
PARSHAT BEHA'ALOTEKHA
DIFFERNING ANGLES ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER
JUNE 20-21, 5763 / 21 SIVAN 5763
The importance of prayer is second nature
to all of us. But rarely do we step back and ask, "What is prayer really about? Why is it important?" By looking at the verses that provide the rationale for prayer, we encounter two different approaches to these questions.
Basing himself on the biblical verse "and you shall serve the Lord your God" (Exodus 23:25) Rambam (Maimonides) argues that one is biblically obligated to pray once a day.
Rambam's rationale may be that prayer is fundamentally a function of praising God. The limited and finite person acknowledges the gifts of life bestowed upon him/her by the unlimited and infinite source of all creation. Its mode is intellectual, and its motif makes it incumbent to express gratitude to God every day.
Nachmanides, (Ramban) offers another angle. For Ramban, the biblical source for prayer is a verse found in this week's portion, "And when you go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets: and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved before your enemies." (Numbers 10:9)
Here Ramban states: "It is a mitzvah to plead fervently with God through prayer and teru'ah (shofar blasts) whenever the community is faced with great distress...for it is a mitzvah to affirm in moments of distress our belief that the Holy One listens to prayers and intervenes to grant aid. "(Ramban'scommentary to Rambam's Book of Commandments, positive commandment 5.)
In Ramban's view, biblical prayer is not about praise, per se. It is petitional as it is offered in times of distress. It is essentially a cry of need, wherein the finite and frightened human being seeks out God's help in his or her hour of distress. As it is not every day that we feel compelled to petition God, therefore, there is, according to Ramban, no biblical obligation to pray every day. In his view, one approaches God, using one's own personal format, only when motivated to do so. Prayer, for Ramban, is a function of rahamim in which one asks God to be merciful and supportive during moments of concern and necessity.
In time, as we well know, the rabbis instituted prayer thrice daily. Still, Rambam and Ramban seem to approach prayer differently. Maimonidean prayer (Rambam) is essentially the praising of God; Nachmanidean (Ramban) is essentially petitioning God. In the end, both views stand. Praise (hoda'ah) and petition (bakashah) make up two of the elements of the central prayer every day, the Amidah. They literally live side by side in the spirit of "eilu va-eilu divrei Elohim hayyim, these and these are the words of the living God."
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Avi Weiss
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