Praying for Others - Yitro 5784
This Shabbat, can we find a way to acknowledge הכרת הטוב, recognition of the good, for someone else?
V’eich Shelo by Mosh ben Ari (originally Ariel Zilber)
Who are the first examples of pray-ers in the Bible? Take a moment to try to think of them. Our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob make sacrifices and offerings in different places along their journeys but for the most part, the actual words of their prayers are not recorded. In fact, the best and clearest examples we have of pray-ers and prayer language in the Bible are actually predominantly offered by the non-Jewish characters.
Hagar is the first pray-er we encounter, as she calls out after she is kicked out of Abraham and Sarah’s home:
וַתֵּלֶךְ וַתֵּשֶׁב לָהּ מִנֶּגֶד הַרְחֵק כִּמְטַחֲוֵי קֶשֶׁת כִּי אָמְרָה אַל־אֶרְאֶה בְּמוֹת הַיָּלֶד וַתֵּשֶׁב מִנֶּגֶד וַתִּשָּׂא אֶת־קֹלָהּ וַתֵּבְךְּ׃
Hagar went and sat down at a distance, a bowshot away; for she thought, “Let me not look on as the child dies.” And sitting thus afar, she burst into tears. (Gen. 21:16)
Eliezer then prays on behalf of his master, Abraham, that he should be successful in his quest to find Isaac a wife.
וַיֹּאמַר ׀ ה׳ אֱלֹהי אֲדֹנִי אַבְרָהָם הַקְרֵה־נָא לְפָנַי הַיּוֹם וַעֲשֵׂה־חֶסֶד עִם אֲדֹנִי אַבְרָהָם׃
And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, grant me good fortune this day, and deal graciously with my master Abraham: (Gen. 24:12)
And when his prayer is granted and he finds Rebekah he says,
וַיִּקֹּד הָאִישׁ וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ לַֽה׳׃ וַיֹּאמֶר בָּרוּךְ ה׳ אֱלֹהי֙ אֲדֹנִי אַבְרָהָם אֲשֶׁר לֹֽא־עָזַב חַסְדּוֹ וַאֲמִתּוֹ מֵעִם אֲדֹנִי אָנֹכִי בַּדֶּרֶךְ נָחַנִי ה׳ בֵּית אֲחֵי אֲדֹנִי׃
The man bowed low in homage to the LORD and said, “Blessed be the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld God’s steadfast faithfulness from my master. For I have been guided on my errand by the LORD, to the house of my master’s kinsmen.” (Gen. 24:26-27)
Prayer takes us out of our own self-centered lives and helps us ground our emotions in love and care for others.
Hagar prays on behalf of her son. Eliezer prays on Abraham’s behalf. There is a pattern here. Prayer takes us out of our own self-centered lives and helps us ground our emotions in love and care for others. Prayer, in fact, can and should be a selfless act - showing us that there is more to the world than just our own lived experience.
In no place in the Bible do we see this more clearly than in this week’s parsha, Yitro. Moses’s father-in-law, Yitro, arrives at the camp of the Israelites and has this to say,
וַיִּשְׁמַע יִתְרוֹ כֹהֵן מִדְין֙ חֹתֵן מֹשֶׁה אֵת כּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֱלֹהִים לְמֹשֶׁה וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵל עַמּוֹ כִּֽי־הוֹצִיא ה׳ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָיִם׃
And Yitro, priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel God’s people, how God had brought Israel out from Egypt. (Ex. 18:1)
What is happening here? Reb Shlomo of Radomsk says that this is the first time we see in the Torah someone offering a blessing for something that happened to others. In the Talmud (Sanhedrin 94a) the rabbis proclaim that it was shameful that Moses and the 600,000 Israelites did not offer blessings until Yitro came to bless God. But wait! The rabbis say. Was Moses and the Israelites’ song of the sea of praises and thanksgiving not a blessing? Was it lesser than the words of Yitro?!
Rather, Yitro’s innovation was in the way he brought recognition to God. The Israelites praised God for the good God did for them, but Yitro blessed God “who delivered you”, for the graces and redemption of others. In this way Yitro was the first.
אֶלָּא יִתְרוֹ חִדֵּשׁ דָּבָר בְּהַבָעַת הַכָּרַת הַטּוֹב לָהּ'. בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָמְרוּ שִׁירָה וְהֹדּוּ לָהּ' עַל הַטּוֹב וְהַחֶסֶד שֶׁעָשָׂה עִמָּהֶם, אֲבָל יִתְרוֹ בֵּרֵךְ אֶת ה' "אֲשֶׁר הִצִּיל אֶתְכֶם", עַל הַחֲסָדִים שֶׁגָּמַל עִם אֲחֵרִים. בְּזֶה הָיָה יִתְרוֹ רִאשׁוֹן
Rather, Yitro’s innovation was in the way he brought recognition to God. The Israelites praised God for the good God did for them, but Yitro blessed God “who delivered you”, for the graces and redemption of others. In this way Yitro was the first.
This Shabbat, can we find a way to acknowledge הכרת הטוב, recognition of the good, for someone else?
This is a prayer innovation! What would it be like if we walked through the world like this - giving gratitude to God when we notice the good that has been done for others!? It is a powerful vision of what it means to be a pray-er. This Shabbat, can we find a way to acknowledge הכרת הטוב, recognition of the good, for someone else? How do we go about doing that?
This song, V’eich Shelo, is one of my favorite Israeli songs and has recently become popularized again with a new remix by Israeli artist Omer Adam. The words of the second verse tell us what the world is like when everyone only focuses on themselves, “It's quiet now...and everyone is busy with their own issues. Off to the best doctor in the country, in order to expose to their own end, but the picture does not change. Words, just words, and their endless meanings… may a wave come to wash them away…”
But the chorus dreams of what could be if we try to truly see, “And at night, at night, inside me melodies arise. And a narrow flow gushes forth and my prayers are answers to the wind.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Josh