And Yitzchok prayed to Hashem opposite his wife because she was barren, .. and Rivka his wife conceived. Rashi states: opposite his wife: This one (Yitzchok) was standing in this corner and praying, and that one (Rifka) was standing in that corner and praying. The Mefarshim ask; what is the reason that the Torah is telling us that Yitzchok prayed opposite his wife, what would have been if they were in different places? Besides from where do we derive that they stood in opposite corners?
The answer may be as we see at the end of the phrase the Torah states “and Rifka his wife conceived”, which is interesting that here the Torah mentions her name Rifka as his wife, yet by the prayer it simply states Yitzchok prayed opposite his wife, without mentioning her name! The obvious reason is that when one prays for another person who is standing next to him, there is no need to recite the name of the person being prayed for. Here in our Posuk, Yitzchok prays opposite, or near his wife and he sees her. In this case all Yitzchok has to do, is pray that she should have a child, without mentioning her name. Only after she conceived, and had the Yeshua does the Torah mention her name as a good omen.
Now we can explain how did the Midrash derive that they stood opposite each other and prayed, and not that they were far away from each other? The answer is simple, since the Posuk doesn’t mention Rifka’s name by the prayer, is proof that she was close to Yitzchok’s prayer, otherwise it would have had to state ...
We can bring proof to this from a Posuk ... Now save me from the hand of my brother Esov. The Magen Avraham, in his commentary on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim Chapter 119, asks why does Yaakov have to duplicate “my brother my Esov”? And answers: since Yaakov was not near Esov, he has to mention his name. The Magen Avraham brings this from the Zohar Hakadosh, and continues that according to this, we can now understand find a similar episode in the Torah by Moshe and Miriam, when she was stricken with leprosy, Moshe prayed; “Please, Hashem, heal her, please.” The Gemarra Berachot 34a states; ... Having mentioned Moshes’ prayer for Miriam, the Gemarra cites what Rabbi Yaakov said in the name of Rav Chisda: Anyone who requests mercy on behalf of another need not mention his name, as it is stated: “Please, Hashem, heal her, please,” and Moshe did not mention Miriam’s name. The answer is since Miriam was standing next to Moshe, there was no need to mention the name of the sick person, and it was sufficient to pray “Please, Hashem, heal her, please,”. The question can be posed; where did Moshe learn this manner? The answer is from Yitzchok: From this episode, after Hashem listened to Yitzchok’s prayers, the Torah then states; “and Rivka his wife conceived” Moshe learned from this how to act when praying near someone, therefore he did not mention Miriam’s name. can learn a powerful lesson in when we pray for our friends who are in need of a Yeshua. If we are close in heart and it really bothers us that the friend needs something we can just pray for him without mentioning names!
The heilige Rebbe Reb Moshe Leib of Sassov said: He learned from two drunk people what Ahavas Yisrael is. One drunk asked his friend do you really love me? The other answered: Of course! Then answer me what’s bothering me. We must have Ahavas Yisrael and feel what our friend is missing and what’s bothering him and pray for him to have everything he needs. If we do so Chazal promise “kol hamispalel al chaveiro vehu tzarich le’oso davar.” One who davens for his friend as if he is the one who needs that thing, then “hu ne’ena techila,” he is answered first. This can also be derived from Yitzchok who prayed for Rifka to have a child and he also needed a child, since he prayed for his wife, Hashem helped him.
(Yehuda Z. Klitnick)
