The pasuk writes, “And Avrohom arose early to the place where he had previously stood...” [Bereishis 19:27]. After Avrohom’s dialogue with G-d about Sodom in which Avrohom was unsuccessful in his petition to save the city, the pasuk tells us that Avrohom went back to the place where he originally petitioned G-d.
The Talmud learns from this [Brochos 6b] that “Whoever establishes a fixed place for prayer, the G-d of Avrohom will help him.” The Talmud learns the importance of a fixed place for prayers from Avrohom. The Talmud states that one who does pray in a fixed place will not only be answered by the G-d of Avrohom, but when he dies, people will say about him “such a modest person, such a pious person, a true disciple of Avrohom Avinu.”
The question can be asked: granted it is a nice idea to pray in the same place, but why does the Torah place such great emphasis on this concept? I saw a wonderful interpretation from Rav Bergman in the Sha’arei Orah. The Mishneh [Avos 5:19] contrasts the disciples of Avrohom with the disciples of Bilaam: “One who has these three attributes is a disciple of Avrohom Avinu; one who has three other attributes is a disciple of the wicked Bilaam. A person who is generous, humble and not haughty, he is a disciple of Avrohom Avinu; but one who is stingy, arrogant, and haughty is a disciple of Bilaam the wicked.” That is the contrast between a disciple of Avrohom and a disciple of Bilaam.
Bilaam also prayed. When Balak asked Bilaam to curse the Jewish people, Bilaam traveled to a certain location and he prayed and offered sacrifices, but he was not successful. G-d did not allow Bilaam to curse the Jewish people. Bilaam had to bless them. What was Bilaam’s immediate reaction? Bilaam changed the location. “Let’s go to a different place and pray.” They went to a new place. They built new altars, and they brought new sacrifices. What happened when Bilaam tried again? He failed again. What was his reaction? “Change the place again!” Bilaam went to a third location and started the same procedure all over again... Again Bilaam was unsuccessful...
What do we find by Avrohom? Avrohom pleaded with G-d for Sodom. But when Avrohom was not successful, what did he do? He went back to pray again at the exact same location where he originally prayed. What is the significance of the fact that Avrohom went back to the same place and Bilaam changed places? The difference between Bilaam and Avrohom is haughtiness. Bilaam is haughty. A haughty person cannot accept “It’s my fault!” A haughty person must rationalize, “If my prayers were not successful, there must be something wrong with the location. There must be some kind of extraneous factor. It couldn’t be me. Nothing could be my fault.” When a Bilaam is not successful in his prayers, he goes to another place, because he cannot accept the fact that he may be responsible for his own failure.
However, when a disciple of Avrohom Avinu is not successful with his prayers, he says, “It’s my fault; I am not worthy enough; I didn’t pray well enough.” It has nothing to do with the place. That is a feeble excuse. A disciple of Avrohom Avinu, who has a humble and modest spirit can own up and say the words “It’s my fault.”
When our Rabbis say, “He who establishes a fixed place for his prayers, the G-d of Avrohom will help him...” they are not only referring to a person who always prays in the same place in the same synagogue all his years. Our Rabbis are speaking of a person whose ego is healthy enough to say, “It is my fault; it is my lack; I will not look for extraneous places or things to blame it on.” If a person has this attitude throughout his life and his behavior reflects this, then we can truly say at his eulogy, “There goes a pious person, there goes a humble person, he is a true disciple of Avrohom Avinu.”
