Tunneling Beneath the Throne: Praying in the Avos' Merit

1The Midrash Rabbah on this parshah (Bereishis Rabbah 63:5) says on “Yitzchak entreated (vaye'tar) Hashem opposite his wife” [Bereishis 25:21]: R' Yochanan and Reish Lakish differ. R' Yochanan said that he poured out prayers in abundance. Reish Lakish said that he overturned the decree, which is why a pitchfork, which turns over the threshing floor, is called atra. “And Hashem let Himself be entreated by him”: R' Levi said, this is like a king's son who was tunneling toward his father to take a pound of gold. One was tunneling from inside and the other from outside. For in Arabia they call a tunnel atirta.

2To explain the Midrash, let us begin with Chazal's words (Yevamos 64a). R' Yitzchak said: “Why were our forefathers barren? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, longs for the prayers of the tzaddikim.” And R' Yitzchak said: “Why is the prayer of the tzaddikim compared to a pitchfork¹ (eser)? Just as a pitchfork turns the grain over from place to place, so the prayer of the tzaddikim turns the attribute of anger into the attribute of mercy.” The holy Avos are a chariot for the Throne of Glory, a vehicle for Hashem's will. Because Hashem longs for the prayers of the tzaddikim, He brings about circumstances that lead them to pray. That is R' Yochanan's point: Yitzchak poured out his prayer in abundance, not for his own needs but truly for the needs of Heaven, to fulfill the will of Hashem, who longs to hear his prayer. Reish Lakish said that he overturned the decree. He holds like R' Yitzchak's other statement in Yevamos, that their prayer is like a pitchfork that turns over the threshing floor. If, Heaven forbid, a decree has been issued, their prayer cancels it and turns anger into mercy. Such a prayer is “a prayer of the poor man” [cf. Tehillim 102:1], offered in humility, since it is for his own need: to remove the anger from himself and draw mercy onto himself.

3a“R' Levi said: It is like a king's son ... one tunnels from inside and the other from outside.” R' Levi holds like Reish Lakish and brings a proof. According to R' Yochanan, there is no need for a tunnel to receive the prayers of the tzaddikim. Their prayers come “to You with strength,” to fulfill Hashem's will, and any prayer that is not for one's own needs but truly for the needs of Heaven needs no guarding. But Reish Lakish holds that their prayers are for their own need, to turn the attribute of anger into the attribute of mercy. If the accusers lay out in order all of a person's faults, they will not let his prayers rise before the Throne of Glory. Then Hashem, in His great mercy, hides the prayer under His wings and digs a tunnel for it, to guard it from the accusers. The added humility before and after prayer is the finest guard. That is the meaning of “tunneling from inside.”

3bHow, then, does one merit to pray and be answered through this tunneling, with an awakening of great mercy, when asking for children, life and sustenance, which “depend not on merit but on mazal” (Moed Katan 28a)? Chazal taught us in their saying “Ein mazal l'Yisrael” (Shabbos 156a), which can be read, “Ayin, nothingness, is the mazal of Israel.” Through self-nullification, becoming truly nothing, a person can awaken the supernal mazal, the flow from the highest level, which is called Ayin, as the holy books bring. So the holy Zohar says on this parshah [cf. Zohar I:137a]: “‘Yitzchak entreated’: he prayed a prayer and dug a tunnel on high for children, for children depend on that place, as it is written, ‘Chanah prayed al Hashem’ [Shmuel I 1:10].” And Chazal said, “Children, life and sustenance do not depend on merit but on mazal” (Moed Katan 28a). This means they come from the three highest levels, which are called “al Hashem,” above Hashem's Name. As the holy Zohar says at the end of Parshas Acharei [cf. Zohar III:79a]: “We have learned: it is written of Chanah, ‘She prayed al Hashem,’ precisely al, above, because children depend on the holy mazal.”

4aYitzchak Avinu did not fear the accusers, so that he would need a tunnel. All the angels and seraphim longed for his holy prayer, and he was confident that it could rise higher and higher with nothing to hold it back. Still, his prayer was for the generations. As the holy Zohar says on this parshah [cf. Zohar I:137b]: “The Holy One, blessed be He, desires the prayers of the tzaddikim when they pray before Him for what they need. Why? So that holiness may grow and increase for everyone who is in need, through the prayers of the tzaddikim.” The Zohar means that whoever will need salvation in the future should include his prayer in their prayers and in the gates of mercy they opened for us.

4bIn later generations there will be people poor in understanding, for the troubles and darkness of exile confuse a person's mind. On their own they will not be worthy of being answered and saved through their prayer. Then the merit of the Avos and their holy prayer will be awakened, and Hashem will dig a tunnel for them beneath the Throne of Glory to receive their prayer. So Chazal say of Menashe (Sanhedrin 103a; Vayikra Rabbah 30:3), who had set up an idol in the Sanctuary. Even so, “he prayed to Him, and He let Himself be entreated by him (vayei'aser lo)” [Divrei HaYamim II 33:13]. What is vayei'aser lo? R' Elazar son of R' Shimon said: “In Arabia they call a tunnel atirta”: Hashem dug him a tunnel beneath the Throne of Glory to receive his teshuvah. This is what Chazal mean by “The Avos instituted the prayers” (Berachos 26b). The prayers they prayed then set right our prayers that we pray now.

5This is what Rashi writes [on Bereishis 25:21]: “‘He let Himself be entreated by him,’ and not by her, for the prayer of a tzaddik the son of a rasha is not like the prayer of a tzaddik the son of a tzaddik. Therefore, by him and not by her.” The prayer of a tzaddik the son of a tzaddik is prayed with added humility and complete self-nullification. He remembers how holy and pure his fathers were, how they served Hashem in holiness and purity. He sees the great distance between himself and them, and that all his own avodah is without life. He is surely ashamed, and always sees his own shortcomings. This is what David HaMelech said: “I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant” (Tehillim 116:16). A servant by nature tends to be proud, but the son of a maidservant is used to submitting. So too, a tzaddik the son of a tzaddik is used to humility, and so he asks only in the merit of his righteous father. David HaMelech also said, “For I am a sojourner with You, a settler like all my fathers” [Tehillim 39:13]. Even though “I am a sojourner,” as the Midrash explains (Midrash Tehillim 119), like a stranger who knows nothing of Torah or of the Creator's greatness, still my prayer is in the merit of my fathers. That is “a settler like all my fathers”: I have the merit of the Avos, for my father was a tzaddik and a servant of Hashem. But a tzaddik the son of a rasha sees himself as better than his fathers, and so he credits everything to his own good deeds.

6aYitzchak Avinu, in his holy righteousness, considered himself of no account at all next to Avraham's holiness, and credited everything to his father's merit. Chazal say (Berachos 10b): “Whoever relies on his own merit is made to depend on the merit of others, and whoever relies on the merit of others is answered in his own merit.” So it was all in his own merit. This is why Rashi concludes, “Therefore, by him and not by her.” In truth Rivkah Imeinu was worthy of being answered in her own merit. But “this was from Hashem” [cf. Tehillim 118:23], for all that happened to the Avos is a sign for their children [cf. Ramban on Bereishis 12:6]. Hashem wanted later generations too to be answered and saved in the time of darkness. Even when we have no merit of our own for our prayer to be accepted, if they cry out to Hashem in the merit of their fathers, He will answer them and hear their prayer, just as Yitzchak Avinu prayed only in his father's merit and was answered.

6bThat is Rashi's “therefore”: her prayer was deliberately not the one accepted. Had Hashem answered her prayer then, the memory of these wonders would have remained in that mode too, prayer answered in one's own merit. Then a person with no merit of his own to rely on could not pray and awaken Rivkah's prayer, since his prayer is not like hers. So Hashem, with His attribute of “gracious and merciful,” listened to the voice of Yitzchak's prayer, who credited everything to his father's merit. As a result we too, though we have no good deeds, and “the light of my eyes, they too are not with me” [Tehillim 38:11], the tzaddikim who know how to direct their prayers, can still pray for everything in the merit of the Avos. This is what is meant by Yitzchak's coming from the side of darkness: his task was to light up the darkness. In truth, if a person thinks about and pictures the great holiness of our holy forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, as the verse says, “Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hollow of the pit from which you were dug” (Yeshayahu 51:1), how could he dare to pray in their merit? But the humility that comes from reflecting that he is of the seed of the holy Avos, and how lowly he is next to them, itself awakens the merit of our holy forefathers, so that our prayer rises with favor before the Master of all.