Rabbi's Message

Our Torah reading this week, Toldot, opens with a prayer. Isaac prays to God that his wife Rebecca become pregnant. The Hebrew word the Torah uses here for "And Isaac prayed" is Vayetar. As the 11^th century commentator Rashi explains, this word connotes a prayer that is pleading and persistent. Isaac didn't just pray to God for a child, he pleaded with God. And, interestingly enough, the Torah uses the same word to introduce God's positive response to Isaac. It's as if God responds to Isaac with equal passion and urgency. The next thing we read is that Rebecca becomes pregnant with twins. Isaac's prayer has been answered!  

We too plead with God, both for personal needs as well as needs that affect our community, our country, Israel and our people.  It feels like there is no shortage of things to pray for these days. But our experience is usually different than Isaac’s. Ours prayers don’t always get answered immediately, and sometimes the answer is not the one we hoped for. Our experience with prayer makes us wonder: Does prayer work? Can it change the world? Can it change us? Over my time at TBS, I think I have gotten more questions about prayer – it’s meaning, it’s purpose, it’s efficacy – than any other topic. For this reason, I was excited to find a new podcast out by the Shalom Hartman Institute somewhat ironically called “Thoughts & Prayers”. It is hosted by my friend Rabbi Jessica Fisher who and weaves together personal stories, classical texts and conversations with thoughtful guests about what prayer means and why it matters today.  If you have ever wondered about these questions, then I’d encourage you to click here to check out the podcast.  

Let us know if you are listening, and if you have follow-up questions, or want to talk more about prayer, know that you can always reach out to any of us here at TBS. Prayer is one way that we can recenter ourselves in this complicated and fast-paced world. I hope you’ll check out the podcast, and join us as we pray together for ourselves, our people and our world this Shabbat.