He will be Answered First
In this week’s Torah reading, Avraham (Abraham) located to a new place, to the province of Grar. Sara, his wife, was taken to become the wife of Avimelech, the king of the region, who did not realize that she was Avraham’s wife. Avimelech, along with his household, were afflicted with an abnormal medical condition, which prevented them from giving birth. God then told him to return Sara to her husband, Avraham. God added that Avraham will pray for him to be healed.
The next episode in the Torah discusses the fact that Sara conceived a child, after being returned to Avraham. To explain the reason for this juxtaposition, Rashi quotes a passage from the Talmud (Bava Kama 92a) that says that we learn from this that if one prays for his friend, while he needs the same thing for himself, he has his own request granted first. Avraham was longing to have a child with his wife, Sara. Avraham was granted his request of having his wife Sara conceive, before Avimelech and his household were healed and able to give birth again.
A Challenge Tailor-Made for Merit
The Ohr Hachaim adds a fascinating insight to this interpretation. The verse says (Bereishit 21:1), “And God addressed Sara as He had promised.” What is the verse adding by saying, “As he had promised?” This seems to be superfluous. Says the Ohr Hachaim, the verse is telling us that because God had promised a child to Avraham and Sara, God orchestrated the whole event with them and Avimelech. The point of this experience was for Avraham to be in a position where he would pray for Avimelech, in order that he should have the merit to have his own request granted first!
The Ohr Hachaim says that this is a general practice of God. When God wishes to grant a person blessing, God orchestrates to have the person be put in a position where he will have the opportunity to perform a mitzvah (good deed), which will give him the merit he needs to deserve the blessing.
The Prosperous Deal
Isaac and Aryeh (I know them personally) were good friends, and were both going through a financially challenging time. They made a deal with each other that they would pray for each other to have their finances improved. Lo and behold, within a month, Isaac was hired for two new part-time jobs which he loved. These new jobs assisted greatly in supplementing his income.
Now, for a couple of years, Aryeh had an investment property which was causing him a lot of headache, and contributed greatly to his financial distress. He was losing thousands of dollars over it every month. But not long after he started praying for his friend Isaac, Aryeh finally passed the inspection he needed, and the property began producing significant income.
Let’s Tap into Opportunity for Merit
It is always a good idea to pray for others, and doing so is a great merit. But there is a broader lesson here as well. We don’t realize how much we may personally be benefitting by being entered into a challenging situation, and utilizing it for mitzvot we wouldn’t be doing otherwise. It could very well be this merit which we require in order to receive our own salvation, as happened to Avraham. A challenging situation which provokes us to do more mitzvot, such as increasing our prayer and assisting others, may be exactly what we need in order to obtain our own blessings from Heaven.
By Rabbi Yitzchok Aryeh Strimber torah4every1@gmail.com
