I begged for grace (va’es’chanan) from Hashem. (Devarim 3:23)
Chinun always means asking for an undeserved gift. (Rashi)
Chinun is one of the terms of tefilah, as is learned from the verse ל ה'. (דברים ג, כג) Chazal say that Moshe Rabbeinu was asking here for an undeserved gift. This is because we should ask Hashem for all our needs from His incomparably great treasure-house, the treasure-house of matnas chinam – “unjustified gifts.”
The fact that chinun is among the terms of tefilah shows that it is not just a request for Hashem to graciously bestow even things that are not strictly coming to us. Rather, it is a type of feeling of self-negation in tefilah, such that it defines a type of tefilah on its own.
It is founded on the understanding that we are requesting to receive in a truly gratuitous manner: we feel and clearly recognize that, strictly speaking, nothing at all is coming to us. Between man and his fellow, it is actually very difficult to find an example of requesting in the way of matnas chinam. When a pauper solicits a wealthy man for a donation, this in fact is not a baseless request at all. It is right and just that the rich man show mercy on the poor man. First of all, because the Torah so obligates him, and also because peoples’ souls are unified and each person is responsible for keeping his fellow alive. The Halachah states that tzedakah money can be forcibly extracted from those obligated to give.
In truth, the fact that the rich must give to the poor is among the ways of Divine Providence. This is because the money in the rich man’s hand is what Hashem deposited with him for the needs of the poor person. This idea is mentioned in numerous Torah sources. The proof is that when the rich man gives a donation, the poor man indeed thanks him for this favor from the depths of his heart – but if the rich man doesn’t give, the poor person is upset with him and feels robbed. And it is in fact so: the rich man robbed him. The poor man may not understand this intellectually, but we could say that “if he doesn’t see it, his guardian angel sees it.”
On a deeper level, that is how it is. ם ה' ֻ א ְ ב נ ָ ה ָ ּ ז ַ י ה ִ ל ְ ף ו ֶ ס ֶ ּ כ ַ י ה ִ ל – “The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,” said Hashem.
A person is just a treasurer who performs the task assigned him by the Torah. He actually receives an explicit order from Heaven, in the form of the compassionate feelings that Hashem implanted in our nature. In this way Hashem makes His will known to us.
Therefore, it is very difficult to find an illustration for matnas chinam. And if we would manage to find a case of requesting something chinam, who would dare to ask for something so truly uncalled for?
Nevertheless, we might cite the following well-known allegory, which has some resemblance to the point. There was a person whose father treated him very kindly and showered him with abundant goodness and great wealth and protected him his whole life from all harm. At a certain point this person initiated a bitter quarrel with his father, in the course of which he went and killed him.
The son stood before the judge and saw what a terrible thing he had done. But he was in big trouble: his sentence was liable to be very severe, so he pleaded for mercy that the judge should let him off on the grounds that... he is an orphan. How disgraceful. What a shame! Who made him into an orphan? Does he have even a semblance of a right to ask for mercy?
This is a true allegory for all the kinds of requests we make of Hashem, such as life, livelihood, health and all the other things we need. Who is the one depriving us of the goodness? Hashem from His side constantly longs and yearns to bestow a limitless abundance of goodness and blessing. It is only our deeds that damage and destroy the whole world as well as ourselves. Since this is so, on what basis can we ask for mercy?
The same is true if a person is in terrible danger and is begging Hashem for mercy to be saved. Who put him in the situation where he needs to receive punishments and suffering from Heaven? The Torah regularly warns us to keep the mitzvos. Three times a day, Hashem cautions us [in the Shema] ם ֶ כ ָ ל ּ רו ְ מ ָ ׁ ּ ש ִ ה ם ֶ כ ְ ב ַ ב ְ ה ל ֶ ּ ת ְ פ ִ ן י ֶ ּ פ – “Guard yourselves, lest your hearts be enticed.” All the warnings of the Torah written there inform us what will happen if we don’t keep the Torah with ahavah and yirah.
Added to this are the warnings and admonitions of Hashem’s messengers, our rabbis the Rishonim and Acharonim. They all stand together and shout out constantly in an awesome voice: Watch out, be careful not to leave the way of the Torah, don’t do such, because such and such will happen.
But people don’t listen and aren’t careful. In the end, when the thing they were warned about comes upon them, how can they be so bold as to stand up and ask Hashem to rescue them from their predicament? And if they do ask, it is only out of a feeling and awareness of Hashem’s unbounded mercy. It is despite their lack of any claim or argument, a justified one or a plea for special leniency. Rather, it is totally chinam.
This is a feeling and form of tefilah on its own. It comes in total submission, emanating from a hope to receive Heaven’s limitless and unending mercy, without any semblance of a right. Absolutely chinam.
