ויעתר יצחק ל־י־ה־ו־ה לנכח אשתו כי עקרה הוא ויעתר לו י־ה־ו־ה ותהר רבקה אשתו And Yitzchak prayed to Hashem (G-D) opposite his wife because she is barren and Hashem answered him and his wife Rivka became pregnant. Rashi tells us that both Yitzchak and Rivka prayed for children. However, Hashem answered Yitzchaks prayers and not Rivkas prayers. The reason for this, Rashi explains, is that the prayers of a tzaddik (righteous person) ben (the son of a) rasha (wicked person) can not be compared to the prayers of a tzaddik the son of a tzaddik. The question on this Rashi is - why is it that the prayers of a tzaddik ben tzaddik are more powerful? If anything, the power of the prayer of a tzaddik ben rasha should be stronger! They went through more difficulties to to obtain their level! [This question is made even stronger in light of a previous Rashi that states the praise of Rivka. Rashi explains that Rivka, despite the fact that Rivkaa father, brother, and environment were all wicked, still did not learn from their evil actions.] Perhaps the answer to this question is as follows. Both Yitzchak and Rivka toiled hard to reach the spiritual heights that they reached. However, at the end of the day, Yitzchak was on a higher spiritual plateau. The reason for this is because he had someone to learn from, which placed him at a higher starting point spiritually. Rivka, on the other hand, had to fight hard just to reach the spiritual level on which Yitzchak started out. Therefore, the prayers of a tzaddik ben tzaddik are loftier than the prayers of a tzaddik ben rasha (provided that they put in equal amount of effort towards their spiritual growth). Its possible that there additional aspect to this answer . Rivka grew up in a horrible environment. Despite this, she overcame these obstacles and became a spiritual giant. However, if she would have been in a more spiritually conducive environment she would have reached a much higher plane. The bad environment not only hampered her spiritual growth, but it also had a negative effect on her (on a minute level). As a result, her prayers were not as powerful as Yitzchaks. In our daily lives there are many times when we are either positively or negatively affected by our surroundings. We should try to learn from the positive as much as possible since our environment still affects us regardless;.[Someone that says Oh, dont worry, it wont affect me, is making a very big mistake.] May Hashem place us in the best environment possible and may we grow the most in whatever environment in which we are placed.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 20:48:55 +0000
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