The Legacy of Their Teachings

 

In Memory of Rabbi Dovid Feinstein z’l and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z’l

    There is a Talmudic statement that I find meaningful:

אמר ר' יוחנן כל מקום שאתה מוצא גבורתו של הקב"ה אתה מוצא ענוותנותו

Wherever you find a reference in the Bible to the might of the Holy One, Blessed be He,

you also find a reference to His humility adjacent to it

     What this means is that if we want to emulate God, then we must realize that true greatness is only achieved when accompanied by humility. This also means that when one achieves greatness s/he must remain humble in the awareness that one’s accomplishments are gifts from Hashem and we pursue greatness not for purposes of self-aggrandizement, but rather to optimize our ability to serve our purpose on Earth.

     I am reminded of these lessons as the Jewish world mourns the losses this past week of Rav Dovid Feinstein z’l and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z’l. In my upcoming December bulletin message I will share some of the most inspiring stories that I have heard about these two men since their passings. In addition to their characters and their actions, it is their Torah - in both written and spoken form - that serves as their most enduring legacy for Klal Yisrael. This Shabbat, the Divrei Torah shared at the morning minyanim will be in tribute to these great Jewish leaders; as are my Dvar Torah and Dvar Tefilah. When the Jewish People lose great Torah personalities, it is incumbent upon all of us that remain to “step up our game” and grow with the help of the teachings that they leave for us.

 

Prayer as Conversation - and Conversation as Prayer
An Idea from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z’l

     The Talmud in Brachot teaches: Abraham instituted the morning prayer, as its says: And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood, and ‘standing’ means prayer, as it says then Pinchas stood up and prayed. Isaac instituted the afternoon prayer, as it says, and Isaac went out to meditate in the field towards evening, and ‘meditation’ means prayer, as it says, a prayer of the afflicted when he faints and pours out his meditation before the Lord. Jacob instituted the evening prayer, as it says, and he encountered [vayifga] a place, and pegia means prayer as it says, therefore do not pray for this people nor lift up prayer or cry for them, nor make intercession [tifga] to Me.

     Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z’l explained this Talmudic passage as follows: Abraham ‘rises early in the morning’ and ‘stands.’ When it comes to prayer, he is the initiator. Acknowledging that he is “but dust and ashes” he nonetheless utters the most audacious prayer of all time: “Shall the judge of all the earth not do justice?” That is prayer as amidah.

     Jacob, by contrast, ‘encounters.’ It is not he who seeks G-d on his flight from home but G-d who seeks him. The phrase the Torah uses just before Jacob has his vision of the angelic ladder is vayifga ba-makom, which in rabbinic Hebrew could be read to mean, ‘He bumped into G-d.’ There are spiritual experiences we have when we are least expecting them – when we are alone, afraid, thinking of something else altogether. That was Jacob’s vision of prayer. Not everything in the life of the spirit is under our control. The great transformative experiences – love, a sudden sense of beauty, an upsurge of happiness – happen unpredictably and leave us, in Wordsworth’s famous phrase ‘surprised by joy.’ The glory of Jacob’s epiphany is that it happened at night, in the midst of fear and flight. That is prayer as pegiah.

     There is a third kind of prayer. Isaac is ‘meditating’ in the field – but the word sichah in modern Hebrew means not only meditation but also, and primarily, conversation. When the Talmud says, in the context of Isaac, ein sichah ela tefillah, we could translate this phrase as “conversation is a form of prayer” – and in a profound sense it is so. Prayer is a conversation (between heaven and earth). But conversation is also a prayer – for in true conversation, I open myself up to the reality of another person. I enter his or her world. I begin to see things from a perspective not my own. In the touch of two selves, both are changed.

 

(From: https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation-5768-chayei-sarah-isaac-and-prayer/)