NOVEMBER 23 • 2023 | 69

open to God that God is most 
fully open to us: 
 “The Lord is close to the bro-
kenhearted and saves those who 
are crushed in spirit.
” Ps. 34:18 
 “My sacrifice, O God, is a 
broken spirit; a broken and con-
trite heart You, God, will not 
despise.
” Ps. 51:17 
 God “heals the brokenheart-
ed and binds up their wounds.
” 
Ps. 147:3
Rav Nahman of Bratslav 
used to say, “
A person needs 
to cry to his Father in heaven 
with a powerful voice from the 
depths of his heart. Then God 
will listen to his voice and turn 
to his cry. And it may be that 
from this act itself, all doubts 
and obstacles that are keeping 
him back from true service 
of Hashem will fall from him 
and be completely nullified.
” 
We find God not only in 
holy or familiar places but 
also in the midst of a journey, 
alone at night. “Though I walk 
through the valley of the shad-
ow of death I will fear no evil 
for You are with me.
” The most 
profound of all spiritual expe-
riences, the base of all others, 
is the knowledge that we are 
not alone. God is holding us 
by the hand, sheltering us, lift-
ing us when we fall, forgiving 
us when we fail, healing the 
wounds in our soul through 
the power of His love.
My late father of blessed 
memory was not a learned Jew. 

He did not have the chance 
to become one. He came to 
Britain as a child and a refugee. 
He had to leave school young, 
and besides, the possibilities of 
Jewish education in those days 
were limited. Merely surviving 
took up most of the family’s 
time. But I saw him walk tall 
as a Jew, unafraid, even defi-
ant at times, because when 
he prayed or read the Psalms 
he felt intensely that God was 
with him. That simple faith 
gave him immense dignity and 
strength of mind.
That was his heritage from 
Jacob, as it is ours. Though we 
may fall, we fall into the arms 
of God. Though others may 
lose faith in us, and though 
we may even lose faith in our-
selves, God never loses faith 
in us. And though we may feel 
utterly alone, we are not. God 
is there, beside us, within us, 
urging us to stand and move 
on, for there is a task to do 
that we have not yet done and 
that we were created to fulfil. 
A singer of our time wrote, 
“There is a crack in every-
thing. That’s how the light gets 
in.
” (“
Anthem” by Leonard 
Cohen) The broken heart 
lets in the light of God and 
becomes the gate of heaven. 
 

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (1948-

2020) was a global religious leader, 

philosopher, the author of more than 

25 books and moral voice for our time.

Have you ever felt the presence of God at a time 
when you were most vulnerable?

Why do you think it is important that we have 
several different forefathers and foremothers as 
role models?

Our Daily Prayers
T

he Talmud interprets 
our opening verse as 
follows: “Jacob enact-
ed the evening prayer, ‘
And 
he confronted the place and 
lodged there;’ the term ‘con-
frontation’ [Hebrew: 
pegiya] refers to 
prayer. This Talmudic 
passage ascribes our 
three daily statutory 
prayers respectively to 
each of our patriarchs. 
In addition to the ref-
erence to Jacob above:
“
Abraham enacted 
the morning prayer, 
‘
And Abraham arose 
early in the morn-
ing toward the place 
where he had stood.’ 
(Genesis 19:27); the 
term ‘standing’ (Hebrew: 
amidah) refers to prayer.
“Isaac enacted the afternoon 
prayer, ‘Isaac went out to con-
verse with the Divine in the 
field before sunset’ (Genesis 
24:63); the term ‘conversation’ 
refers to prayer.’” 
I believe that our sages are 
purposefully identifying each 
of these three prayers with 
the unique personality of one 
of the patriarchs. Abraham is 
identified with the early morn-
ing prayer; Abraham emerged 
at the dawn of Jewish history. 
He was the great path-breaker 
who discovered ethical mono-
theism and began to teach it to 
the world. 
Isaac is the most passive. 
He is taken by his father to 
the akeidah (binding); his 
wife is chosen for him and 
the blessings are wrested from 
him through subterfuge. He 
continues what he inherited, 
the consummate follower 
who represents the masses 

of descendants to faithfully 
follow Abraham’s path. Isaac’s 
prayer comes as the sun is 
beginning to set, at a time of 
day when much has already 
occurred. 
Jacob’s life is more 
tragic than the lives of his 
two forebears. He spends 
many years in exile 
because his brother, Esau, 
has threatened to kill 
him. After working for 
14 years to win the hand 
of his beloved Rachel, he 
mourns her premature 
death in childbirth. He 
then spends more than 
two decades mourning 
the loss of Joseph, whose 
brothers sold him into 
slavery. His life is identi-
fied with the darkness and the 
fear symbolic of night.
Our sages expressed the 
moods of our prayers by cit-
ing, “One must declare God’s 
lovingkindness in the morning 
and His faithfulness in the eve-
ning” (Psalms 92:2). It is easy 
to praise God in the midst of 
one’s success and optimism. 
During times of darkness, 
uncertainty and anxiety, it is 
necessary to grasp onto God, 
but sometimes most difficult.
What does the psalmist 
mean when he speaks of faith-
fulness? The Hebrew word 
emunah is usually translated as 
faith; but what it really means is 
steadiness (Exodus 17:12). Faith 
does not mean that we must 
believe everything will work 
out well in the end as long as 
we pray strongly enough and 
live good enough lives. 

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor 

of Ohr Torah Stone and chief rabbi of 

Efrat, Israel.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi 
Shlomo 
Riskin

Parshat 

Vayetze: 

Genesis 

28:10-32:3; 

Hosea 

12:13-14-10.

