Parashat Va'etchanan: The Secret of True Prayer

A student noticed his friend walking through the university hallways and called out in surprise.

"You study here too?"

"Yes," his friend replied.

"What are you studying?"

He smiled.

"I'm studying words. After that, I'll move on to sentences."

The joke reminds us that words alone are not enough. What gives them meaning is how they are used. The same is true of prayer. We all know the words, but how do we transform them into heartfelt supplication?

Why Did Moshe Choose the Word Va'etchanan?

When Moshe describes his plea to enter the Land of Israel, he says:

"And I pleaded (va'etchanan) with Hashem at that time..." (Deuteronomy 3:23)

The Ohr HaChaim asks a fascinating question.

The Hebrew language contains several different expressions for prayer. Why did Moshe specifically choose the word va'etchanan, which means heartfelt supplication?

To answer this, the Be'er Moshe points to a teaching about Rabbi Elazar.

The Gemara tells us that before every prayer, Rabbi Elazar would first give a coin directly to a poor person and only afterward begin to pray.

Why did he insist on giving it specifically to someone in need, rather than simply setting money aside for charity or giving it to a collector?

A Promise Made on the Road to Belz

The Be'er Moshe illustrates the answer with a moving story about Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch of Liska.

As a young man, he longed to spend Shavuot in Belz with the famed Rebbe, the Sar Shalom.

Lacking money, he walked for days until he reached Lemberg. By then, his feet were swollen and he could go no farther.

He found a wagon preparing to leave for Belz, but the driver refused to take him without payment.

The fare was sixty coins.

Desperate, the young Rabbi Tzvi began asking shopkeepers for charity.

Instead of money, several gave him small items to sell: thread, a button, a needle.

When he entered another shop, the owner asked what he needed.

Unable to hold back his emotions any longer, he burst into tears.

The shopkeeper listened to his story with compassion. Without hesitation, he opened his cash box, counted out the full sixty coins, and urged him to hurry before the wagon departed.

Years later, after Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch had become a renowned Rebbe, a poor man came seeking help to marry off his daughter.

The Rebbe immediately handed him the entire amount he needed.

When one of his chasidim wondered why he had given such an enormous sum to a single person, the Rebbe shared his story from Lemberg.

As he sat on that wagon years earlier, he had quietly resolved that if he ever had the means, he would spare others from the desperate search he himself had endured.

Then he smiled and revealed something astonishing.

"The person I learned this from," he said to his chasid, "was you. You were the shopkeeper who helped me that day."

Praying Like Someone in Need

The Be'er Moshe explains that Rabbi Elazar wanted to experience something before every prayer.

A poor person depends entirely on another person's kindness.

He cannot demand.

He cannot insist.

He can only ask.

By giving charity directly to someone in need, Rabbi Elazar reminded himself what it feels like to stand before Hashem with complete humility and dependence.

This, says the Ohr HaChaim, is why Moshe chose the word va'etchanan.

He did not approach Hashem with demands or claims.

He came only with sincere supplication.

More Than Words

The verse continues:

"And I pleaded with Hashem at that time, saying (leimor)."

Usually, the word leimor means that a message is to be passed on to others.

But whom was Moshe asking Hashem to tell?

Perhaps the answer is that Moshe was speaking to us.

Through his own prayer, he teaches every generation what genuine prayer looks like.

There is a difference between reciting words and pouring out one's heart.

Prayer spoken out of habit remains only words.

Prayer offered with humility, longing, and sincere dependence on Hashem becomes something far greater.

Moshe's va'etchanan reminds us that the power of prayer lies not only in the words we say, but in the heart with which we say them.

May we all merit to pray with true sincerity and heartfelt supplication, and may Hashem answer our prayers with kindness and compassion.