Toldos 5772

And Yitzchak prayed to Hashem opposite his wife for she was barren, and Hashem responded to his prayer and Rivka, his wife, conceived. (Bereishis 25:21)

Although both Yitzchak and Rivka prayed, the Torah emphasizes that it was the prayer of Yitzchak alone that brought the desired result. To explain this Rashi cites the statement of Chazal (Yevamos 64a) that the prayer of a righteous person who is the son of a righteous person (Yitzchak) is greater than the prayer of a righteous person who is the son of a wicked person (Rivka).

At first glance this presents a difficulty. A person who has overcome the spiritual shortcomings of his negative family background should have greater merit than the person to whom the religious life came naturally due to the advantages of his positive background. This point is illustrated by the well-known statement of Chazal (Berachos 34b), “In the place where the penitent stand the purely righteous may not stand.”

A careful reading of the original statement will provide a clue to the solution. The difference between the prayers of Yitzchak and Rivka was not in that Yitzchak had more merit; to the contrary, a strong argument can be made that Rivka had more merit coming from her disadvantaged upbringing. The difference was in the quality of the prayer itself. This is the point that Chazal are making when they say that there is no comparison between the two prayers.

A short digression may give us insight into the deeper understanding of this difference. There is a famous Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 30:12) which explains that the Arbah Minnim of Sukkos correspond to various types of Jews. The Esrog which has taste and fragrance corresponds to those Jews who possess Torah scholarship and good deeds; the Hadasim which have only fragrance correspond to those who have good deeds alone; the Lulav whose fruit has taste only corresponds to those who only have scholarship. The lowly Arava, having neither, corresponds to those Jews who have neither Torah scholarship nor good deeds. The question may be asked: What does the Arava contribute then to the bundle?

The Sfas Emes (Sukkos, 5637) answers: Those Jews who lack both Torah scholarship and good deeds have a unique power of prayer. The efficacy of prayer is in our placing ourselves at G-d’s mercy by recognizing our total dependence on His kindness. One who believes that he has merit – whether deeds or scholarship – and thus approaches Hashem as if he has a valid claim for payment, actually undermines the prayer itself. The “Arava Jew” is free from any self-delusion.

(It is noteworthy that the Arava, by virtue of its shape, symbolizes the mouth (Vayikra Rabba 30:14), which is the organ of prayer, and that Hoshanna Rabba, on which the Arava features most prominently, is the day on which the entire focus is on prayer. Also, Hoshana Rabba corresponds to Dovid HaMelech, the seventh of the Ushpizin, who, as the author of Tehillim, is the embodiment of prayer.)

Returning to our original problem, we can suggest that the power of the prayer of the righteous person son of the righteous person is precisely in that he lacks the merit of his more worthy counterpart. Assuming that his observance is a credit to his upbringing and not to any choices he may have made on his own, he approaches Hashem with the humility and contrition which is the hallmark of effective prayer.