"He encountered the place" (28:11)
Now think about this. A Jew gets up in the morning, puts on tallit and tefillin, opens up his siddur, and starts to pray and his voice is heard on the other side of the Universe. Who installed the spiritual narrow-cast that accomplishes such an incredible feat? Who was able to construct a system that elevates every prayer in every generation through all the worlds above this one until they find their home under Hashem’s throne of Glory?
Who engineered such an incredible communications system that even the Internet pales in comparison?
Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. The Avot Patriarchs. The spiritual fathers of the Jewish People established those incredible spiritual conduits to Heaven. However, each of the Avot established something unique in his prayer.
The Talmud (Berachot 26b) tells us that Avraham established Shacharit, the morning prayer. The morning is the time of Chesed, kindness. As it says in Tehillim, "to relate in the morning Your Kindness." The midah (defining characteristic) of Avraham is chesed, as it says "Chesed l’Avraham."
Yitzchak established mincha, the afternoon prayer. The afternoon is when the world starts to descend into the darkness of night. It is a time of Din, of Judgment. The midah of Yitzchak is Din.
That Yaakov established the evening prayer, Maariv, we learn from this week's Torah portion: "He encountered the place" The spiritual masters teach us that the Hebrew word which is translated here as "encountered" implies the supreme encounter with the Divine prayer. Yaakov prayed at night. Another understanding of the word "encounter" means that Yaakov wanted to move from that place but he "encountered" the Wall of the World. The whole world became like a giant stone wall in front of him.
During the history of the Jewish People's long night of exile, it sometimes seems like the whole world is like a stone wall in front of us, a stone wall that will not let us pass. For these times, Yaakov established a prayer for his children, and their children, and their children, until the long night of exile finally ends.
That prayer is the prayer of the night. The prayer that lifts us above the tragedies of pogrom and holocaust, the prayer of exile. The prayer of hope. Maariv.
