Praying in the Present Tense

1The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 63:5) on “opposite his wife” [Bereishis 25:21]: This teaches that Yitzchak lay prostrate in one place and she lay prostrate in another. He said, “Master of the world, may all the children You give me be from this righteous woman.” She too said, “May all the children You will give me be from this tzaddik.” Their prayers differ: Yitzchak spoke in the present tense, “You give me,” while Rivkah spoke in the future, “You will give me.” This can be explained through Rashi on the verse “With praise I call upon Hashem, and I am saved from my enemies” (Tehillim 18:4). Rashi writes: “With praises I call upon Him and pray before Him always. That is, even before the salvation I praise Him, because I am confident that I will be saved from my enemies.” So too Yitzchak Avinu, a believer and the son of a believer, was so great in faith that even while he prayed, before the salvation came, he was confident that he would be saved. That is why he said “You give me,” as though the salvation were already here. Rivkah, who was not the daughter of a believer, spoke in the future tense: “all the children You will give me.”