Chasidut sur Les Nombres 16:4
וַיִּשְׁמַ֣ע מֹשֶׁ֔ה וַיִּפֹּ֖ל עַל־פָּנָֽיו׃
Moïse, en les entendant, se jeta sur sa face;
Kedushat Levi
We will now proceed to explain the verse (21,18) באר חפרוה שרים, “a well that has been dug by chieftains.” According to the sages in B’rachot 34, when the son of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai took sick, his father asked Rabbi Chanina son of Dotha to pray for his recovery. Thereupon Rabbi Chanina ben Dotha placed his head between his knees, and after a short while Rabbi Yochanan’s son recovered. Thereupon Rabbi Yochanan said that if he had prayed in this fashion for a whole day it would have been quite ineffective. His wife, overhearing what her husband said, could not believe her ears, knowing that her husband was the leading scholar of his generation. Rabbi Yochanan explained to her that this did not mean that Rabbi Chanina was a person of greater stature than he was. What it meant was that when Rabbi Chanina prayed his attitude to the Almighty was that of a servant pleading with his master; whereas when he, Rabbi Yochanan prayed, he did so as a chieftain due to his position in the community, and his inability to humble himself sufficiently when asking G’d for a favour interfered with the acceptance of his prayer.
Let us know turn to the daily prayer of Tachanun which is recited while we bow our heads similar to Rabbi Chanina. We have learned from Moses in Numbers 16,4 that when Korach and his group rebelled against him, that Moses threw himself on the earth, face down, as soon as they had finished with their accusations. Clearly, before Moses answered his accusers when he told them in the next verse that they would receive G’d’s answer to their complaints on the following morning, he had prayed to G’d to show the rebels if their case was just. Still, it is strange that Moses had entertained doubts about this so that he had to plead with G’d while prostrating himself.
The Chinuch (Rabbi Aaron halevi) offers some explanation of Moses’ conduct in his commentary by saying that we know that nothing evil originates with G’d Himself. This is an ironclad rule although to us mortals down in our world it may sometimes appears as if the evil that befalls us has originated with G’d Himself. When viewed from a celestial perspective, this so-called “evil,” will eventually be seen to have been for the good of the party or parties who felt themselves struck by it. We must never forget that what appears as harmful to us is meant for our ultimate good. Rabbi Yochanan who had asked Rabbi Chaninah ben Dothan to plead for the life of his son did not do so himself, as he could not free himself of the conviction that if his son were to die it would ultimately prove to have been a blessing in disguise, something that was not manifest at the time. His prayer therefore would be sort of “iffy,” as he could not become sufficiently affected by the element of evil apparent to everyone around him by the fact that his son was suffering, perhaps never to recover. Rabbi Chaninah was able to concentrate in his prayer on the present factual situation which appeared to be an imminent disaster in the lives of his teacher and his teacher’s family. Therefore this aspect of his prayer would be undiluted by ulterior considerations, and it had a better chance of receiving a positive response.
The reason the sages decreed that we are to pray Tachanun by imitating to an extent the position of Rabbi Chaninah’s head between his knees when asking G’d for mercy, is that we should concentrate on the problem as it faces us at the time and not make excuses for G’d at the back of our minds if our prayer is not heard.
This is what the Talmud meant when it quoted Rabbi Yochanan as praying similar to a prominent minister appearing before his king. Such a minister feels that his position of eminence in the king’s kingdom entitles him to special consideration. This, he explained to his wife, would be counterproductive in his case.
Let us know turn to the daily prayer of Tachanun which is recited while we bow our heads similar to Rabbi Chanina. We have learned from Moses in Numbers 16,4 that when Korach and his group rebelled against him, that Moses threw himself on the earth, face down, as soon as they had finished with their accusations. Clearly, before Moses answered his accusers when he told them in the next verse that they would receive G’d’s answer to their complaints on the following morning, he had prayed to G’d to show the rebels if their case was just. Still, it is strange that Moses had entertained doubts about this so that he had to plead with G’d while prostrating himself.
The Chinuch (Rabbi Aaron halevi) offers some explanation of Moses’ conduct in his commentary by saying that we know that nothing evil originates with G’d Himself. This is an ironclad rule although to us mortals down in our world it may sometimes appears as if the evil that befalls us has originated with G’d Himself. When viewed from a celestial perspective, this so-called “evil,” will eventually be seen to have been for the good of the party or parties who felt themselves struck by it. We must never forget that what appears as harmful to us is meant for our ultimate good. Rabbi Yochanan who had asked Rabbi Chaninah ben Dothan to plead for the life of his son did not do so himself, as he could not free himself of the conviction that if his son were to die it would ultimately prove to have been a blessing in disguise, something that was not manifest at the time. His prayer therefore would be sort of “iffy,” as he could not become sufficiently affected by the element of evil apparent to everyone around him by the fact that his son was suffering, perhaps never to recover. Rabbi Chaninah was able to concentrate in his prayer on the present factual situation which appeared to be an imminent disaster in the lives of his teacher and his teacher’s family. Therefore this aspect of his prayer would be undiluted by ulterior considerations, and it had a better chance of receiving a positive response.
The reason the sages decreed that we are to pray Tachanun by imitating to an extent the position of Rabbi Chaninah’s head between his knees when asking G’d for mercy, is that we should concentrate on the problem as it faces us at the time and not make excuses for G’d at the back of our minds if our prayer is not heard.
This is what the Talmud meant when it quoted Rabbi Yochanan as praying similar to a prominent minister appearing before his king. Such a minister feels that his position of eminence in the king’s kingdom entitles him to special consideration. This, he explained to his wife, would be counterproductive in his case.
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