How did Moshe pray to Hashem when his sister, Miriam, had Tzaraas?
וַיִּצְעַ֣ק מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶל־יְהוָ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר אֵ֕ל נָ֛א רְפָ֥א נָ֖א לָֽהּ[1]
So Moses cried out to Hashem, saying, “O Empowerer Please, heal her please!”
Rashi states the following on this verse[2].
אל נא רפא נא לה HEAL HER NOW, O GOD, I BESEECH THEE — (Sifrei Bamidbar 105). Scripture hereby teaches us proper conduct — that one’s requests of his friend should be prefaced by two or three words of imploration.
Two Aspects of His Prayer according to Rashi.
His friend:
Firstly, it is interesting to note how Rashi is considering this exchange between Moshe Rabeinu and Hashem as “מֵחֲבֵרוֹ” , his Friend. I think it is important to note the approach of Moshe of Hashem as his friend.
Beseeching:
Rashi says that one should begin his davening with תַחֲנוּנִים; as per Chazal.
I am interested in understanding what does תַחֲנוּנִים, words of imploration mean? How does this process work? How we can therefore better use this tool of Moshe in our own prayers? What is possible when we daven this way?
There are five times the word תַחֲנוּנִים is used in Tanach. I thought I would start with the verse in Daniel and see what can be gleaned from this process of תַחֲנוּנִים .
In Daniel the verse states:
וָאֶתְּנָ֣ה אֶת־פָּנַ֗י אֶל־אֲדֹנָי֙ הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים לְבַקֵּ֥שׁ תְּפִלָּ֖ה וְתַחֲנוּנִ֑ים בְּצ֖וֹם וְשַׂ֥ק וָאֵֽפֶר
I turned my face to the Lord God, devoting myself to prayer and supplication, in fasting, in sackcloth and ashes.
The Alshich[3] and the Medrash Rabba[4] offers great insight on prayer in this verse.
The way the Alshich is describing Daniel when praying with “tachanunim” , as one who is beseeching Hashem it required self-work and a commitment to self-perfection; also known as a shalem. These are some of the areas he considers as praying before Hashem with “tachanunim”. Although one would normally think of a state of “beseeching” , of wearing sackcloth and ashes, as one who is bereft of all, the Alshich is actually saying something I hear as very different when hearing what is possible and desired by Hashem to be one who is beseeching Hashem.
- He describes how the commitment obligates such a person with the task of davening for Klal Yisroel. Such a person who is a “shalem” is the desired choice of Hashem to go before The King of Kings to daven for others and become the nation’s mouthpiece. It seems to me that this is what Hashem saw in Moshe Rabeinu when tasking him as the leader of Klal Yisroel. And therefore is possible for all of us with such a commitment!
- It is vital for this person to organize one’s thoughts before davening, until he or she finds a beautiful way to say what they want when they stand before The King.
- It is important for this relationship with Hashem for such a person to organize the words himself and not fall into the trap of saying, “Hashem will do the organizing for me” and not work at it.
- One has to work on the Mitzvah of having the proper awe of Hashem, and therefore the Alshich provides different strategies of attaining the reverence necessary.
- He should approach Hashem not as one who is necessarily deserving but seeking compassion.
- One should begin his davening first by seeking Kapara for his own mistakes before asking things of Hashem.
- Part of being an advocate requires one to articulate one’s case clearly before Hashem, to plead for mercy instead of strict Justice before Hashem. (Medrash Rabba, 43:1)
May we all master the process of “Tachanunim” when we daven, for true healing, restoration and redemption of Klal Yisroel Biezras Hashem b’mhaira b’yameinu amein.
[1] Shemos, 12:13
[2] אל נא רפא נא לה. בָּא הַכָּתוּב לְלַמֶּדְךָ דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ, שֶׁהַשּׁוֹאֵל דָּבָר מֵחֲבֵרוֹ צָרִיךְ לוֹמַר שְׁנַיִם אוֹ שְׁלֹשָׁה דִבְרֵי תַחֲנוּנִים
וְאַ”כַּ יְבַקֵּשׁ שְׁאֵלוֹתָיו (ספרי):
[3] (1)
A person who is committed to perfecting him or her self, has a status of being a choice person to stand before The King, The King of the universe, on behalf of the nation, and becomes a mouthpiece for Klal Yisroel, to daven to Him to deliver us from the travails and sufferings.
(2)
Such a person, organizes his tefilla so his tefillos are able to be heard, and the voice of תַחֲנוּנִים are heard. The words to be organized so the words articulated are beautiful to elevate to The King of Kings and so that it reaches and becomes His Will.
(3) He should not trust in himself and stumble by saying to himself that Hashem will organize his speech so he need not organize himself.
(4) He should recognize that he is made from the earth, “Afar V’eifar” and stands before the One Who pronounced, “V’haya Haolam”. (Who Created the world with 10 maamaros)
(5) He is standing before The One Whose Greatness is infinite, beyond a human capacity to understand It.
(6) He has to have an understanding heart of Who he is standing before, and if a person would be standing before a human king, would he not prepare, and stand with awe before the king, and one davens before The King of all Kings. The Alshich describes how a person should become in awe and have reverence before Him that is present in his standing, bowing recognizing he is a human being before Hashem.
(7) Since a human being makes mistakes, he should contrast himself to the angels who are without sin, are not destructive and observe how they tremble with awe before Him when they say “Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh” , so how much more so should a human being of mistakes to have awe before Hashem.
(8) He should approach Hashem as one who is not necessarily deserving but in a way that should evoke Hashem’s compassion, and his words would be desired by Him to not in any way cause harm.
(9) He explains how one has to humble oneself, and Daniel took a three-pronged approach. He wore ashes on his head, the place of tefillin which demonstrates for others his lowering of self; he wore sackcloth as did the king Yehoram to demonstrate that he is not without sins; and finally an internal process through fasting. The Alshich says when one acknowledges first and seeks Kapara for himself before asking something from Hashem . The main objective of Tefilla is to reach Hashem.
[4] Shemot Rabbah 43:1 AND MOSES BESOUGHT THE HASHEM HIS LORD (32, 11). R. Tanhuma b. Abba began thus: Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn back His wrath (ps. 106.23). R. Hama b. Hanina said: The good advocate knows how to present his case clearly before the tribunal. Moses was one of the two advocates that arose to defend Israel and set themselves, as it were against the Holy One, blessed be He. These were Moes and Daniel. That Moses was one we deduce from: ‘Had not Moses His chosen, etc.,’ and that Daniel was the other we infer from: And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer, etc. (Dan IX, 3). These were the two men who set their face against the Attribute of strict Justice in order to plead for mercy on Israel’s behalf.
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Michal
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Neil Wernick