Parshas Vayeitzei - The Secret of Divine Abundance and Cleaving to the Letters

"And he encountered the place"

Rebbe Nachman says (Likutey Moharan, Torah 83) regarding the verse "And he encountered the place," that the Shmoneh Esrei (the Amidah prayer) is this "place." When you reach the Shmoneh Esrei prayer, you have arrived at the right place. When a person stands for Shmoneh Esrei, he is standing at the Even HaShetiyah (the Foundation Stone), he is currently in the Beis HaMikdash (the Holy Temple), he is in the King's palace. When arriving at such a place—at prayer—at that moment, a person is not in this world at all; he does not exist, and there is nothing here but the King Himself. He only sees that the whole earth is filled with His glory, he only sees Hashem, he sees absolutely nothing besides Hashem, may He be blessed.

If you have reached the Shmoneh Esrei prayer, if you have encountered this place, this is where the salvation is, this is the million-dollar jackpot, you have arrived at the right place! Why are you running away? Start praying letter by letter, word by word. You are in the King's palace; at the very least, stand for twenty minutes, dedicating one minute to each blessing. You reached "Refa'einu" (Heal us)—here is the healing! "Barech Aleinu" (Bless for us)—here is the parnassah (livelihood)! You reached "Hashiveinu" (Return us)—here is the teshuvah (repentance)! If you pray slowly, you will see that you will be saved with all types of salvations!

The Secret of Divine Abundance in the Shmoneh Esrei Prayer

There are eighteen blessings corresponding to the eighteen vertebrae of the spine. The Tikkunei Zohar explains that the divine abundance descends from the upper worlds to the lower worlds through the Shmoneh Esrei prayer. Do you want the abundance to flow through? The abundance of healing, the abundance of parnassah (livelihood), the abundance of intellect, the abundance of the mind—it must pass through eighteen worlds, which are the eighteen blessings. Are you skipping over the Shmoneh Esrei? Did you say it too quickly? The spiritual channels remain blocked, and the abundance cannot descend.

The time for Minchah (the afternoon prayer) has arrived! Why are you running away? Where are you rushing to? Stand for Minchah like a proper human being. Minchah is meant to be prayed for forty minutes, so you too should pray for forty minutes. What is the matter, do you need to finish the prayer first? You are not the shliach tzibbur (cantor)! The shliach tzibbur needs to finish first, but you can stand in Shmoneh Esrei for even an hour. Rebbe Nachman revealed that within prayer lies every salvation. You have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about; your enemy will turn into your friend. Are you afraid of what will happen with your child? What will happen with your parnassah (livelihood)? Stand and pray Shmoneh Esrei, and you will have every salvation.

A Lack of Intention Stems from a Lack of Faith

Why does a person not pray properly? Because he does not believe in the power of prayer. Anyone who does not pray properly does so only because he lacks faith. Why does a person not pray slowly and with intention during prayer? Because he thinks he does not need prayer. Thank Hashem, everything is working out wonderfully for him without prayer; he is a millionaire without prayer.

The reason a person does not pray with intention is simply that he has lost his faith, living like the nations of the world who live without faith. For certainly, if he had complete faith, he would pray every letter and every word with deep intention. If he had just a drop of humility and would make himself small, diminishing his own intellect and his pride, he would begin to pray with intention.

If a person had complete faith and truly believed that Hashem, may He be blessed, stands over him, hears every single utterance that leaves his mouth, and listens to the voice of his prayer, then he would pray properly. Hashem is waiting for your prayer. He wants to give you everything, He wants to bring us Mashiach, He is simply waiting for one prayer with intention! One prayer with a broken heart, one prayer word by word, letter by letter—He is simply waiting for it, yearning for it. And this is essentially our problem. Because if we were to pray just one prayer with true intention, Mashiach would come today, at this very moment and in this very second.

Gathering Roses: The Secret of the Letters

"When a person stands to pray and speaks the words of prayer, he is gathering beautiful blossoms, flowers, and roses" (Likutey Moharan 65).

When a person walks in a field, he sees anemones, cyclamens, and daffodils, and he wants to pick the entire field. He cannot bear to leave the field; he goes and gathers more roses, more cyclamens, and more beautiful daffodils, and his soul is restored to him. This is exactly how prayer should be. Every letter is like an anemone, like a cyclamen, because every single utterance is an entire world. When a person stands to pray and speaks the words of prayer, he is gathering blossoms, flowers, and roses.

A person needs to enter into the teivah (the word), into the Shmoneh Esrei, into the letters, because every letter tells you stories; it wants to give you all the gifts in the world. Every letter wants to give you all the divine abundance in the world. Through each and every letter, another portion of a person's soul is added to him. Rebbe Nachman says that the speech itself comes and begs you, pleading with you, "Why are you rushing? Why are you running? I will give you everything you want. Whatever you want, I will give you."

Every letter grabs hold of a person, wraps around him, embraces him, and says to him, "Do not leave me! Why are you running? Why are you fleeing?" With each and every letter, a person draws down upon himself all the divine abundance in the world, and he can channel that abundance to others and to all generations. This is just like Rebbe Nachman, who channels abundance to all generations, to the days of Mashiach, and to the Resurrection of the Dead, because he stood in the Shmoneh Esrei prayer for several hours. He prayed every prayer slowly, feeling that every letter was grabbing hold of him, and therefore he merited to complete his entire life's mission by the age of 38 and a half.

A Faithful and Merciful Healer

As soon as the first letter of the prayer emerges, such as the letter Beis in the word "Baruch" (Blessed), it begs and pleads with the person, "Do not part from me! Say the word 'Baruch' slowly. I will give you everything. How can you part from me?" "Baruch" contains all the blessings in the world; from the word "Baruch" alone, the soul should already expire from the sheer intensity of dveikus (cleaving to Hashem). The letter Beis says, "How can you walk away from me? I do not understand. Stand beside me, say me for a few seconds, stand patiently for a few seconds. Say 'Baruch' slowly, and you will receive an apartment, you will receive healing, you will receive everything you need. Why are you running away? I love you, I want you to say me slowly. Do you not see my beauty, my splendor, my radiance, my glory? I will give you whatever you want, just be faithful to me. Do not part from me so quickly, because of the immense connection and love that exists between us."

Reb Noson used to pray, "May I have the strength to disconnect from the letters," because the letters grab hold of a person to such an extent that he cannot detach himself from them. Up until the age of twenty, a person thinks he is truly living, he thinks he is navigating his own life; until the age of twenty, he is not punished from Heaven. But after the age of twenty, he suddenly becomes sick, his wife becomes sick, his child becomes sick. Every day he has to run to the emergency room, and he does not grasp what they are hinting to him from Above. Start praying! Stand for Shmoneh Esrei with intention, say "Refa'einu" (Heal us) slowly, and draw down healing for everyone, for the entire Jewish nation.

"For You are God, King, a faithful and merciful Healer." What? Is the doctor at the health clinic faithful?! Does he really care about you?! Even if he is the most careful, the most precise, it is only for his own career; that is what interests him. He is neither faithful nor merciful! But Hashem, may He be blessed, is a King, a faithful and merciful Healer. He cares for you with absolute devotion. He does not need your money or your honor, nor does He need to fill out some report that He treated another patient in order to get a promotion. Have you reached "Refa'einu"? You will receive all the healing in the world. Stand like a proper human being, say it word by word, letter by letter: "Refa'einu Hashem v'neirafei" (Heal us, Hashem, and we shall be healed)—heal me, heal me. God, a faithful Healer.

For every Jew, all the miracles and all the wonders are prepared. Everything is ready for him; Hashem is only waiting for him to open his mouth.

In the Light of the King's Face: Shattering the Illusion of This World

"We did not come into this world just to have a full refrigerator, even though these material things are necessary. Under no circumstances did we come into the world for that. We came to shatter the illusion called 'this world.' We came here on a mission, we came here for one thing—to receive this great and immense light of 'Ein Od Milvado' (there is none besides Him). A Jew cannot live without a connection to Hashem. If, God forbid, a Jew were forced to worship idols, he would be ready for mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice). That is how Hashem created him! Even if it is difficult for him to overcome his animal soul because of a lust for food or all sorts of other desires, he still has the strength in his Godly soul to die al kiddush Hashem (for the sanctification of God's Name), because that is how Hashem created him—with this inner strength.

"What is my life worth if I must now transgress a sin of 'let him be killed rather than transgress'? If a person transgresses this, it completely severs him from his connection with God. So why would he even want to continue living if he is disconnected from God? This reality, that a person is connected to Hashem, is a reality that exists within every man, woman, boy, and girl, and it is entirely impossible to explain.

"The moment a person has the desire to reach this true purpose, to recognize this absolute truth that we call 'Ein Od Milvado,' then he can truly stand firm and endure in this school of life. Even when he once again faces humiliation, once again gets angry, once again fights windmills, once again wants to knock down walls and goes looking for the faults in others—in truth, there is nothing here, there is no one else here. Who did this to you? 'Ein Od Milvado.' The moment a person remembers this, he calms down, he returns to himself, and everything becomes much easier."

Torah Tidbits: Yaakov's Ladder

"And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set earthward and its top reached heavenward" (Bereishis 28:12).

The letters of the word "sulam" (ladder)—says Rabbeinu Yaakov, the Baal HaTurim—have the same gematria (numerical value) as "mamon" (money) and also "oni" (poverty), all of which equal 136. This is because one brings a person low, and the other lifts him up. Indeed, just as a ladder is made of rungs and steps, and people "ascend and descend on it," the same applies to the influence of money.

Sometimes money lowers a person to the lowest level, until he is in the aspect of "set earthward," and sometimes money elevates a person to the highest heights, until "its top reaches heavenward." However, a person must remember at all times that money, much like a ladder, is nothing more than a means to climb from rung to rung and reach a high and respectable standing in life, but it must never be made into a goal in and of itself.

It is said in the name of the Rebbe, Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin: The word "sulam" mentioned in Yaakov's dream alludes to the seudah (festive meal) of Melaveh Malkah (the fourth meal eaten after Shabbos). Due to our many sins, this is a "ladder set earthward"—as people are not sufficiently careful with this custom, and sometimes improperly neglect the meal of David Malka Meshicha (King David the Mashiach). But the truth is that "its top reaches heavenward"—the value and spiritual virtue of this custom reach the highest heavens, and praiseworthy is the one who adheres to it properly every Motzaei Shabbos (Saturday night).

Stories of the Parashah: The Stones of the Place and Rachel Imeinu

"And he took from the stones of the place and put them around his head" (Bereishis 28:11).

Rashi explains: "The stones began quarreling with one another. This one said, 'Let the tzaddik rest his head upon me,' and that one said, 'Let the tzaddik rest his head upon me.' Immediately, Hashem made them into one stone."

Rabbi Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum, who served as the rabbi of the city of Marmarosh-Sighet, suffered greatly from his many opponents in the community. They did not settle for merely hurling insults at the Rav, but even resorted, God forbid, to raising their hands against Rabbi Yom Tov and his household. One day, the Rav was sitting in his room with a group of close followers from the town, discussing words of Torah with them, when suddenly a large stone was thrown into the house, nearly striking the Rav's head.

One of the attendees picked up the stone, weighed it in his hands, and cried out in anger: "How massive this stone is, enough to endanger a person's life! And how wicked are these people who intentionally threw this stone at our Rebbe!"

"God forbid we should cast aspersions on kosher Jews!" Rabbi Yom Tov interrupted the speaker. "The Jewish people are not suspected, heaven forbid, of throwing such large stones. It must be that the people threw small stones at us, and those stones began quarreling among themselves, each one saying, 'I will rest upon the head of the tzaddik'—and as a result, all the small stones were turned into one large stone..."

"And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and He opened her womb" (Bereishis 30:22).

Our Sages taught that Rachel Imeinu (our Matriarch) said to Hashem: "Master of the Universe, it is revealed before You that Your servant Yaakov loved me with an extraordinary love, and he worked for my father for seven years for my sake. When those seven years were completed and the time for my marriage to my husband arrived, my father plotted to switch me for my sister, and this was exceedingly difficult for me. For I became aware of the plot, and I informed my husband, giving him a sign so he could distinguish between me and my sister, preventing my father from switching me. But afterward, I reconsidered, suppressed my own desires, and took pity on my sister so she would not be put to shame. In the evening, they substituted my sister for me, and I handed over to my sister all the signs I had given my husband, so he would think she was Rachel.

"And not only that, but I hid under the bed where he lay with my sister. He would speak to her and she remained silent, while I answered him to every single thing, so he would not recognize my sister's voice. I did this kindness for her, I was not jealous of her, and I did not expose her to disgrace. If I, who am but flesh and blood, dust and ashes, was not jealous of my rival and did not expose her to shame and disgrace—then You, the living, eternal, and merciful King, why are You jealous of idolatry, which has no substance? Why have You exiled my children, let them be killed by the sword, and allowed enemies to do with them as they please?"

Immediately, the mercy of Hashem was aroused, and He said: "For your sake, Rachel, I will return Israel to their place." As it is written (Yirmiyahu 31:14-16): "Thus said Hashem: A voice is heard on high, wailing, bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, for they are gone. Thus said Hashem: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your accomplishment, declares Hashem, and they will return from the enemy's land. And there is hope for your future, declares Hashem, and the children will return to their border"—speedily in our days, Amen.

A Prayer for the Poor

Master of the Universe, living and enduring, whose glory fills the entire earth, Holy of Holies, from whom no purpose can be withheld, stronger than all the strong, mightier than all the mighty, more victorious than all the victors. Grant me the merit to have proper intention in my prayer with every letter and utterance, and to believe with complete faith that You watch over me and stand over me every single second, and listen to every letter and every sound that comes out of my mouth.

And You want to bestow upon me all the good in the world, and You have infinite sorrow from the fact that You cannot bestow it upon me, because You are full of mercy, and You are entirely and exclusively full of compassion. We have no comprehension whatsoever of Your infinite mercy, that You want to bestow abundance infinitely and boundlessly, but only through the letters of prayer. Therefore, from now on, may I merit to have intention with all my heart and with all the fibers of my soul in every single letter of prayer, and not utter any letter or any word without intention.