Prayer in the Parashah תְּפִלָּה
One of the saddest parts of the Torah is when Moshe isn’t allowed to enter the promised land after he leads Benei Yisrael with tremendous dedication for 40 years. A midrash tells us that Moshe was upset with Benei Yisrael for not praying on his behalf:
אָמַר רַבִּי שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר יִצְחָק: כֵּיוָן שֶׁנָּטָה מֹשֶׁה לָמוּת וְלֹא בִּקְּשׁוּ עָלָיו רְחָמִים שֶׁיִּכָּנֵס לָאָרֶץ כִּנֵּס אוֹתָן וְהִתְחִיל מוֹכִיחָן, אָמַר לָהֶם אֶחָד פָּדָה ס' רִבּוֹא בָּעֵגֶל - וס' רִבּוֹא לֹא הָיוּ יְכוֹלִין לִפְדּוֹת אָדָם אֶחָד?! הֲרֵי "וְלֹא נָתַן ה' לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת" (דברים כט:ג).
R. Shmuel bar Yitzhak said: When Moshe was starting to die, and Benei Yisrael didn’t pray for him to enter the land, he gathered them and gave them critique. He said to them: One person (myself!) saved 600,000 people (you!) at the sin of the Golden Calf, but 600,000 people couldn’t help save one person?! It is because “God didn’t give you a lev lada’at (knowing heart)” (Devarim 29:3).
- The pasuk about lev lada’at appears in our parashah. How does R. Shmuel understand what a lev lada’at is, and what it means to be lacking one?
- What do you think of Moshe’s argument, that he prayed for the people, and so they should have prayed for him. Is this fair?
- Sometimes we don’t think about praying for our leaders. Kids might not think that grown ups need their prayers. But maybe they do! We actually do this in a number of places, like in the berakhah for the righteous in the weekday Amidah (see if you can find it!), or in the tefillah called יְקוּם פּוּרְקָן (Yekum Purkan, May salvation arise) that is said on Shabbat before Musaf. Which Jewish leaders might you have in mind when saying these prayers?
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