Home
In this issue
May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Jan. 9, 2004 /15 Teves, 5764

What is important in prayer?

By Rabbi Hillel Goldberg

Printer Friendly Version

Email this article



How is a sword a metaphor for prayer?


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | Yonason Alpren of Jerusalem spoke in Denver on Sept. 4, 2003.


Born in Birmingham, England, he practiced law in his native country before moving to Israel in 1980. He is a teacher by profession, but in Jerusalem, he has studied in the Mir yeshiva (rabbinical seminary) for the past 23 years.


Why would a professional spend 23 years studying in a yeshiva? I would venture to say that in virtually any American city this is unheard of. The goal of "Torah study for its own sake" is carried out with much more seriousness in Israel than elsewhere.


  • A physicist, a well respected professor at The Hebrew University, has spent every afternoon studying Torah in the Mir yeshiva for the past 30 years. He is not studying to be a rabbi. He is not preparing to be a teacher. He is not trying to make a name for himself. He already has a profession. Simply, he is buoyed and joyed by daily contact with words of Torah, with the link to G-d they provide.

  • Someone else in Jerusalem, a successful building contractor, attends a one-hour lecture in Torah every weekday morning, no matter what, at 10 a.m. Anyone in business can appreciate the discipline this involves.


It would be impossible to calculate how many people in Jerusalem aspire to study Torah on a serious, steady basis. I refer not to those who study Torah full time, but, as you see, to professionals, from building contractors to professors.


Rabbi Alpren is a lecturer in Torah, but he has not spent half days in the Mir yeshiva for 23 years preparing his lectures. Rather, he increases his general knowledge there; he studies Torah for its own sake. It is during the rest of his day that he prepares his lectures — and a popular lecturer he is. He delivers three lectures weekly for women in Har Nof, Jerusalem, and teaches in several seminaries. He has prepared hundreds of tapes of his talks.


After having heard him in person, I understand why his tapes are popular. He is fluent and concise; his mastery of biblical commentary is impressive; his ideas are stimulating; his stories are pertinent and original.


In Denver, Rabbi Alpren cited Genesis 48:22, from this week's Torah portion. The speaker is Jacob on his deathbed. He addresses his son Joseph: "I have given you Nablus, one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Emorite with my sword and with my bow."


Given the reference to a sword and a bow, Jacob's context might be the military conquest of Nablus by his sons Simeon and Levy (Gen. 34). Rashi cites this as a possibility. However, Rashi goes on to cite a very different possibility, perhaps because Jacob did not participate in the conquest of Nablus and, in fact, strongly disapproved of his two sons' militarism (34:30). So when Jacob referred to this conquest as his own, he did not refer to the conquest of Nablus.


Problem: There is no reference anywhere in the Torah to a battle between Jacob and "the Emorite." Under Rashi's second possibility, "the Emorite" refers to Esau, specifically, to Jacob's acquisition of the birthright from Esau.


This was not a physical battle. What, then, did Jacob mean by taking something from Esau "with my sword and with my bow"?


Donate to JWR


We may profitably consult the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic by Onkeles. Translations expand our understanding. Now Onkeles, next to Ruth, is probably the most famous convert in all of Jewish history. He wrote history's most authoritative translation of the Hebrew Bible. It is printed in many standard editions, right alongside the Hebrew text.


Onkeles translates "with my sword and with my bow" as "with my prayer and with my supplication." Rabbi Alpren explained the link between sword and prayer, and bow and supplication, with a comment by the late Rabbi David Pinkus.


Rabbi Pinkus cited a puzzling yet alluring passage in the Talmud (Berachos 34a). It records two incidents. No doubt, they will be all too familiar to people who have spent time in a synagogue or temple.


The first incident: Someone gets up to lead the prayers and goes on and on — really dragging things out. This occurs in the presence of the sage Rabbi Eliezer. His students lodge a complaint. He responds: Did he prolong the service as long as Moses, who prayed for 40 days and 40 nights, seeking forgiveness for the sin of the Golden Calf? (Deut. 9:25).


The second incident: Someone leads the prayers, and is finished before the proverbial blink of the eye. This, too, occurs in the presence of Rabbi Eliezer and again his students lodge a complaint. He responds: Was he as fast as Moses, who prayed for his sister in a mere five words? ("Please, L-rd, please heal her"; Num. 12:13).


Prayers, too long, too short — what is the point of this exchange? Said Rabbi Alpren in Rabbi Pinkus' name:


An effective prayer is a sword, an effective supplication is a bow. Both of them cut right through. They have a goal, an intention, a purpose. The person uttering the prayer or supplication knows what he wants, knows where's he's going. The power of prayer is a function of its focus.


Rabbi Eliezer meant that prayer, if properly focused, can be short — as short as five words. Or it can be long — as long as 40 days and 40 nights. The point is neither to shorten nor to lengthen one's prayer, but to focus it. If it is focused, it may be incredibly short, or extraordinarily lengthy.


The hazard of prayer is that one can get lost. Lost in the words or lost in the setting. One can lose focus. If so, one can pray at great length — and achieve nothing. A focused prayer, a short prayer — a sword and a bow — can pierce the barrier between man and G-d.


Likewise, one can pray very quickly — and achieve nothing. A focused prayer, a long prayer — bringing into cohesive understanding all of one's burdens and aspirations — can become a sword, a bow, piercing the barrier.


After he concluded his formal lecture, Rabbi Alpren mentioned another proof of the idea that the essence of prayer is focus. In Psalm 142, King David says: "My voice, I cried out to G-d; my voice, I begged to G-d."


The key word in this verse, said Rabbi Alpern, is to. When a person cries out directly to G-d — directly; no confusion, no distraction, no unclarity — this is prayer. A sword and a bow reach their target directly. They are most appropriate metaphors for prayer.

Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Rabbi Hillel Goldberg is executive editor of the Intermountain Jewish News. To comment, please click here.

© 2004, Rabbi Hillel Goldberg