Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

42
Toledot
Window To Prayer
Rav Jake Vidomlanski
O ne of the greatest trials that a married couple may face is the inability to conceive
children. The pain, the grief, the constant battle against one’s inclination to be jealous
and the struggle to instead be happy for all the other couples that thankfully have
been blessed with children, are unimaginable. It is not for naught that when Rachel
Imeinu was barren she cried to Ya’akov Avinu that without children she would rather
be dead (Gen. 30:1). Yitzchak and Rivka had to face this trial. For twenty years their
home lacked the sound of a child’s laughter or cry; the pain was no doubt unbearable.
Naturally, Rivka and Yitchak turned to Hashem in prayer. “Yitzchak prayed to God
opposite his wife” (Gen. 25:21). In Hebrew there are no less than thirteen synonyms
for the word to pray. The most commonly employed word is tefilla, but here with
regard to Yitchak’s prayer the Torah does not use the verb “va-yispallel,” but rather
“va-ye’etar;” synonymous but different. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabba 63:5) states that
va-ye’etar implies that Yichak prayed richly (if you replace the taf with a shin the word
becomes va-ye’eshar,” meaning rich). It is possible to understand “richly,” as Rashi
does, connoting often and repeatedly. The Torah is revealing to us that Yitzchak had
an unlimited supply of prayers to offer to Hashem. He was not deterred by the fact
that prayer after prayer did not seem to produce the desired results. He tenaciously
and relentlessly prayed until finally, after twenty years, Hashem answered his prayers.