Parshas Chayei Sarah tells the story of
Yitzchak meeting his soulmate, Rivka. Avraham sends his servant, Eliezer, to
Charan, where his family lived, to find a girl for Yitzchak to marry. The
pesukim tell the story of the incredible Hashgacha Pratis, Divine Providence,
that accompanied Eliezer on his journey. With every step he took, Hashem was
there putting the next piece in place for Eliezer to find Rivka, and bring her
back to Yitzchak.
When Eliezer arrives, the pasuk says that
Yitzchak was there to greet them. “וַיֵּצֵא יִצְחָק
לָשׂוּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶה לִפְנוֹת עָרֶב וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה גְמַלִּים
בָּאִים”
“Yitzchak went out to converse in the field towards evening and he raised
his eyes and saw, and behold! camels were coming.” (Bereishis 24:63). The
gemarah in Brachos (26b) explains that Yitzchak established the tefillah of
Mincha, said in the afternoon, and had gone out into the fields to pray when
the caravan arrived. Chazal further explain in Brachos (6b) that you should be
more careful to have proper concentration during Mincha since it is a time when
prayers are answered.
The Kli Yakar explains
how we see this from our parsha. He begins with a question: We know that
Avraham and Yaakov established the tefillos of Shachris and Maariv to be said in the morning and evening, respectively. So how
come it is Mincha which is given this extra warning by Chazal to have proper concentration? He answers that unlike by
Shachris and Maariv, we see that Yitzchak was answered immediately by
Mincha. We can assume that since Eliezer had left to go find him a wife,
Yitzchak was most likely davening for his successful mission. While he was
davening, he probably had his eyes closed or focused downwards, in order to
improve his concentration. When the pasuk says “וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו
וַיַּרְא” “He raised his eyes and saw”, he had just lifted his
eyes from his tefillos and lo and behold, here is Eliezer, together with his
bride! From here we see that prayers said by Mincha are answered directly.
What is special about
this time of day that Hashem answers these tefillos more than any other time? Chazal
teach us that the Satan only tries to accuse us
at night. Maariv, which is said at night, and Shachris which is said just after
night, still have some lingering effects of his late-night accusations. Mincha,
however, is in the middle of the day, far away from the both the previous and
coming nighttimes. Therefore, it is the best time to submit a plea to Hashem.
This is an important message for us to
take as we go on our day to day schedules. Mincha comes at a very inopportune
time for many people, right in the middle of the day when everyone is busy
working and running around. It is very easy for us to hurry to Shul, grab a
Minyan, and continue on with what we were doing. We learn from here that Mincha
is our best opportunity of the day to make our tefillos heard! How can we waste
such an opportunity simply because we are “busy”? What can be more important
than this! We must realize that what we think is our most inconvenient tefillah,
is really our biggest opportunity. And maybe that’s exactly the way
Hashem wants it. By taking out time from our schedules at the hardest time of
the day to concentrate on him, we can show no greater love than that.
Shabbat Shalom!
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