Sefer Yashrish Yaakov asks how it could be that Moshe Rabenu davened so much, yet his prayers were not answered. Why were all of his tefillos accepted besides this one?
He answers that Hashem specifically chose not to answer this tefillah so that this prayer would remain as a “debt” that is owed by Hashem to future generations. Since Hashem still “owes” us, we are able to cry out to Him in times of difficulty, and we are answered as payment for Moshe’s tefillah, even if we are unworthy.
No Sadness During Davening:
The previous Parshah concludes with the words (3:22): “Do not fear them because Hashem your G-d, He will fight for you.” The Torah then continues to say that Moshe davened to Hashem at that time. The Tiferes Shlomo explains the connection between these two pesukim by saying that the Torah is teaching us how to daven properly. When the yeitzer hara sees that a person is about to start davening, it tries to impede him by convincing him that he is too sinful and lowly to speak to Hashem.
One should ignore this claim. When one davens, he should not think about his lowly stature. He shouldn’t be saddened by his past sins. Rather, he should put them out of his mind and focus on his prayers. He can always go back and do teshuva for his aveiros later, but now is not the time to think about them. He says that this idea is hinted to in the words of Chazal: “Ain ma’avirim al hamitzvos”, which can be translated to mean that one should not think about his aveiros while he is doing mitzvos.
He adds that this is the reason we recite “Pesukei D’Zimrah” at the beginning of davening. While the words “Pesukei D’Zimrah” literally means “verses of praise”, the word “zimrah” can also mean to “prune” or to cut away. This indicates that we use these prayers to cut away the impure forces that are all around us as a preparation to speak to Him as we daven Shemonah Esrei.
Accordingly, the pesukim can be read as Hashem telling us not to fear the evil forces that try to confuse us and impede us from coming close to speak with Him. We need not fear because Hashem will fight them for us, so that we can approach Him in prayer and entreat Him for our needs. And He will hear our prayers.
It is said in the name of tzadikim that the yeitzer hara never tries to remind a person of his aveiros while he is in the middle of eating or drinking. It never tells him that is unworthy of enjoying his meal. It only comes when a person is davening in order to try to obstruct him. This is a proof that it is merely trying to confuse and fool the person into not davening.
Hashem’s Hears Every Prayer:
Another strategy to overcome the yeitzer hara’s claims is to tell it: “Even if I have sinned in the past, I can still daven to Hashem because He listens to every prayer, no matter who is saying it.”
It is related that Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev zy”a once entered the bais medrash in the city of Lemberg and saw a group of merchant who were in a hurry to go to the fair to conduct business. They davened Shacharis as quickly as they could and were on their way out the door when Rav Levi Yitzchok told them that he wanted to tell them one thing.
They waited to hear what he wanted to say and he began uttering a string of sounds that seemed to be nonsensical. He made sounds like, “Ah, ah, ah, bah, bah, gah, gah...”
They stared in wonder but he kept muttering these strange sounds. He then said, “You don’t understand what I’m saying? But that’s how you sounded when you rushed through the words of Shacharis!”
One of the merchants piped up and said, “Yes, we did daven quickly and didn’t pronounce the words right. But Hashem knows what we need. Just like a mother understands a baby when it gurgles and makes incoherent noises, Hashem understands what we mean when we hurry through our words.”
When the Berditchever heard this defense, his face lit up and he began to dance with joy. He looked up to Shomayim and said, “Hashem, look at how Your children fulfill Your mitzvos with mesiras nefesh, even though they are forced to go out and do business amongst the goyim. Even though they don’t pronounce the words of davening properly, they speak to You like a baby speaks to its mother!”
Davening at all Times:
This idea is hinted to in this week’s Parshah. Sefer Zera Kodesh asks why it says that Moshe davened to Hashem “at that time”, without specifying what time it was.
He answers that this is meant to teach us that a person can daven to Hashem at any time. One should never say: I don’t have the head to daven now. When I am able to concentrate and focus properly, I will daven. Rather, one should always daven at any time. No matter how busy or unfocused a person feels, he should stop and daven to Hashem.
He uses this idea to explain the pasuk (Devarim 4:29): “And from there you will seek Hashem your G-d, and you will find Him” Wherever a person is, whatever situation one finds himself in, he should daven to Hashem “from there” and he will find Him.
Davening for the Geulah:
Sefarim Hakedoshim explain the words “va’eschonon el Hashem” to mean that one should mainly daven for things that are relevant “to Hashem” – meaning that one should daven for the Shechinah to be revealed to all. This should be one’s main tefillah, and one should not focus too much of his prayer on his physical needs.
Rav Osher’l of Ropshitz zy”a (quoted in Ohr Yesha) relates that there once was a war between the countries of Russia and Turkey, and the Russian army besieged the city of Istanbul. One day, the Czar of Russia came to visit the troops. One of the Turkish soldiers who was guarding the border noticed him and aimed an arrow at his head. The Czar would have been killed if not for one Russian soldier, who saw the arrow coming and knocked the Czar off his horse and out of harm’s way.
The Czar was very thankful to the soldier who had saved his life and he asked him, “What can I do for you? I will give you anything you ask for.”
The soldier replied, “Can you please replace our sergeant with someone else? He is very strict and we don’t like him.”
The Czar yelled at him, “You idiot! You could have asked me to appoint you yourself as the sergeant!”
Rav Osher’l concluded: Klal Yisroel is like that unintelligent soldier. When we daven to Hashem, we tell Him about our toothaches or about a loss of parnassah. We ask Him to help us with these small things. Wouldn’t it be better to daven for the ultimate geulah, which will solve all of our problems?
Davening for Hashem to Reveal His Love:
The Kedushas Levi explains the pasuk of “va’eschonon el Hashem” by saying that it contains a hint that we should not become upset or confused in tough times. Rather, we should remember that everything is from Hashem and, therefore, everything is good.
While things may appear bad to us, we know that He only acts in our best interest. Therefore, we ask Him to show us His kindness (Tehillim 85:8) so that we will be able to how everything is really good.
Moshe Rabenu was speaking about this when he said, “I entreated Hashem at that time saying...” “The word “laymar” (saying) connotes ahavah (as in Devarim 26:18). Thus, he was asking Hashem to show His love by revealing his goodness to us.
