Rabbi Moshe Shapiro
In Parashat Vayechi, the patriarch Jacob says: “And I have given you one portion beyond (that given to) your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow” (Genesis, 48:22).
The Gemara (Bava Batra, 123a) asks: did he really take them with a sword and a bow? For it is written (Psalms, 44:7): “For I do not rely on my bow, and my sword will not save me.” No. [What is meant is that] the sword is prayer, and the bow is supplication.
There is prayer, and there is supplication. Maharsha explains: “The sword is prayer, and the bow is supplication.
Prayer is called a sword here because it will help against Esau, who was given the blessing ‘By your sword you shall live,’ while supplication is called a bow because it will help against Ishmael, whose strength is likened to a bow, as it says: ‘He grew up and became an archer.’”
We need Jacob’s “sword”—his prayer—to overcome the one who was given a sword. And we need Jacob’s “bow”—his supplication—to overcome the one who was given a bow.
What is "prayer," and why does it save us from Esau? What is "supplication," and why does it save us from Ishmael?
First of all, what is a sword? A sword is a weapon with a limited range: I can wound only where I can reach, meaning the area around me. And what is a bow? A bow sends arrows over long distances. Their names hint at this. Esau comes from the word asiyah, and his blessing concerns a sword, which symbolizes action. Ishmael, whose strength lies in listening and speaking, acts from afar, like his bow. His influence extends far beyond his actual location. For what is written about him to be fulfilled—“A wild man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him”—he must spread far beyond his actual boundaries. This also speaks of power: a sword gives power over what is nearby, while a bow gives power over what is far away. And we see how this power has been given to Ishmael—“his hand against everyone”: he has spread far and wide, and his power reaches across distances.
The meaning of prayer is to stand before the Creator of the world and address Him.
King David, the embodiment of the power of prayer among the Jewish people, says of himself: “But I am prayer” (Psalms, 109:4): I myself am prayer. True prayer means being in the presence of the Almighty. Prayer is like Rachel’s words: “I have wrestled in a G-dly struggle” (naftulei Elo-kim niftalti). This carries both the meaning “I bound myself to my sister” and “I pleaded and prayed to be granted the same as my sister.” It also comes from the word patil, “a tightly fitting covering.”
In other words, prayer means joining with the Almighty, binding oneself to Him. True prayer means standing properly before the Almighty as I am, with all my shortcomings.
Abraham stood in prayer before the Almighty, and the Gemara (Berakhot, 6b) says: “The G-d of Abraham helps one who establishes a fixed place for prayer.” Abraham stood and prayed (Genesis, 18:25): “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked fare alike. Far be it from You (to do this). Shall the Judge of all the earth not render (just) judgment?!” And as it is written in Psalms (106:30): “Then Pinchas stood up and executed judgment, and the plague ceased.” The Gemara in Sanhedrin (44a) says that he argued his case with the Almighty. It was as though he had summoned the Almighty to a Torah court. True prayer means wanting the Almighty’s will to be fulfilled in the world.
Supplication (bakashah) is something entirely different. The root of this word means seeking.
As it is written in Psalms (119:176): “I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek [bakesh] Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments.” There are many examples in the Oral Torah in which asking means seeking.
In the passage we read on the ninth of Av (Deuteronomy, 4:26-29), a day of bitterness for us, it is written: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that you will perish, perish quickly from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess; you will not remain long upon it, for (otherwise) you will be destroyed. The L-rd will scatter you among the nations, and you will be left few in number among the peoples to which the L-rd will lead you away. And there you will serve gods, the work of human hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear, nor eat nor smell.” All this has already happened to us.
And further: “And from there you will seek [bikashtem] the L-rd your G-d, and you will find Him; for you will seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” We must seek and ask.
Our Sages reveal to us that the great hardship and suffering Ishmael causes us do not belong to the matter of the four kingdoms (and Maharal discusses this in several places). The four kingdoms—Babylonian, Persian-Median, Greek, and Roman—received their power from us. Nebuchadnezzar took the kingdom from the House of David. The Torah Sages took the kingdom back from the Greeks.
Ramban, at the beginning of Parashat Vayechi (in editions of the Pentateuch in which all passages removed by the censors have been restored), writes: the reason for our final exile under the rule of the fourth beast is that the last king of the dynasty of the Hasmoneans himself invited them (Rome) and asked for help and protection. With his own hands, he handed the kingdom over to Edom. These four took the kingdom from us.
Ishmael reigns in his own right. He owes this to Abraham, who was deeply attached to him. Abraham, to whom the Almighty had promised Isaac, said: “If only Ishmael might live before You.” Our Sages say that Ishmael’s strength lies not in himself, but in Abraham’s merits. He was circumcised, and he also holds firmly to Abraham’s faith. Rambam writes: there is no flaw in Ishmael’s belief in the oneness of the Creator. They are deeply devout and prepared to give their lives for their faith—as they understand it. They believe in the G-d of Abraham.
There are no personal requests in their prayers—and there cannot be. All their prayers are words of praise. For them, asking for something borders on denying the foundations of faith. After all, the L-rd knows better than I do what I need. How can I ask Him? Change His opinion about what I need?
We are in a life-threatening situation.
Anyone with reason understands that all the solutions we have for confronting Ishmael are short-term. There is no true solution, because it is not here. The solution is Above. Seeking a solution here will only lead us into greater dangers. And we see that things grow worse from year to year.
It is written in the Torah: “And you will seek the L-rd your G-d from there, and you will find Him; for you will seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Through the power of what is written in this verse, we will be saved. Seek and find. You can also find something right under your feet, but a find like that is hardly worth bending down for. Let us be sensible people. “In your distress, and (when) all these things befall you at the end of days, you will return to the L-rd your G-d and listen to His voice” (Deuteronomy, 4:30). This speaks about us and our present situation. We must seek Him “from there.”
Everyone acknowledges the open miracles happening to us, but where does that leave us? Are we worthy of them? Will we receive them because of our merits? Why are we so certain that miracles will happen to us?
The only way we can overcome Ishmael’s bow is by seeking.
Ishmael’s descendants also know how to pray and stand before G-d, but they do not know how to ask. The Torah promises us that if we ask and seek, we will find. A person who finds what he asked for can be born anew. A person who does not seek remains in his present state—this is true “obsolescence.”
The Almighty asks us to seek and find Him; He wants to save us.
Prepared by Rabbi Shimon Skarzhinsky