I would like to bring your attention to a prayer not printed in your machzor but often recited during this time of the year. We recite it daily towards the end of selichot, and the easy to understand language makes it one of the more graspable tefilot of the Yomim Noraim. The prayer מִי שֶׁעָנָה, He who answered.
The format of the tefilla is simple. It begins:
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְאַבְרָהָם אָבִֽינוּ בְּהַר הַמּוֺרִיָּה-He who answered Avraham our father on Har Hamoriya
הוּא יַעֲנֵֽנוּ- He should answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְמָרְדְּכַי וְאֶסתֵּר בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה- He who answered Mordechai and Esther during the Purim story
הוּא יַעֲנֵֽנוּ- He should answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְאֵלִיָּֽהוּ בְּהַר הַכַּרְמֶל- He who answered Eliyahu during his epic showdown with the idolaters as G-d intervened to prove His oneness
הוּא יַעֲנֵֽנוּ- He should answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְיוֹנָה בִּמְעֵי הַדָּגָה- He who answered Yonah who survived inside the fish and was spit him out onto dry land
הוּא יַעֲנֵֽנוּ- He should answer us.
The prayer continues repetitively, made up of twenty of these refrains: He who answered such and such a biblical character, He should answer us. Tanach students will recognize all twenty; I chose a sample of more familiar stories.
Eliyahu prayed:
| …The prophet Elijah came forward and said, “O L-RD, G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel! Let it be known today that You are G-d in Israel and that I am Your servant… | … וַיִּגַּ֞שׁ אֵלִיָּ֣הוּ הַנָּבִיא֮ וַיֹּאמַר֒ יְהוָ֗ה אֱלֹהֵי֙ אַבְרָהָם֙ יִצְחָ֣ק וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַיּ֣וֹם יִוָּדַ֗ע כִּֽי־אַתָּ֧ה אֱלֹהִ֛ים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וַאֲנִ֣י עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ … | |
He prayed, and he was answered.
Mordechai and Esther prayed. Esther tells Mordechai:
| לֵךְ֩ כְּנ֨וֹס אֶת־כָּל־הַיְּהוּדִ֜ים הַֽנִּמְצְאִ֣ים בְּשׁוּשָׁ֗ן וְצ֣וּמוּ עָ֠לַי… | Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast in my behalf… | |
They prayed, and they were answered.
Yonah prayed. The second perek of Sefer Yonah, which we will be reading on Yom Kippur, relates Yonah’s prayer from inside the fish, beginning:
| וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֣ל יוֹנָ֔ה אֶל־יְהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהָ֑יו מִמְּעֵ֖י הַדָּגָֽה: | And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God, from the belly of the fish. | |
He prayed, and he was answered.
Feel free to peruse through מִי שֶׁעָנָה as we recite it each day of selichot and on Yom Kippur and find the relevant reference in Tanach. Each of these people prayed, and they were answered.
But let us return to the first item on the list:
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְאַבְרָהָם אָבִֽינוּ בְּהַר הַמּוֹרִיָּה הוּא יַעֲנֵֽנוּ-He who answered Avraham our father on Har Hamoriya He should answer us.
We make many references to Akeidat Yitzchak throughout the Yomim Noraim- in the liturgy and of course in the Torah reading. We ask Hashem to recall the merit of our forefathers and we draw inspiration from their commitment and sacrifice.
But this sentence seems inaccurate!
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְאַבְרָהָם?
Hashem answered Avraham?
What did Avraham say that he was answered?
I have heard of a question without an answer, but not an answer without a question. The phrase Hashem answered Avraham implies that Avraham requested something, that he prayed, that he davened. Eliyahu prayed; he was answered. Yonah prayed; he was answered. Esther and Mordechai prayed; they were answered.
No where in the Akeida narrative do we read that Avraham prayed. In fact, Avraham says one word to G-d in the entire story. “Hineini”- Here I am.
G-d calls out to him, and he responds “hineini”, here I am. He wakes up early the next morning and begins the journey. Other than a brief and somewhat ambiguous conversation with Yitzchak, Avraham does not speak again until the end of the story; the angel calls to him “Avraham, Avraham”. He responds? “Hineini”, here I am.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה?
Hashem answered Avraham? All Avraham said was “hineini”! Here I am, ready to perform your will! Is it accurate to say that he was answered if he never said anything?
Avraham silently accepted G-d’s command, never saying anything. But the Talmud Yerushalmi fleshes out the tension Avraham felt inside, staring point blank at a contradiction, a paradox. “Yesterday You told me (21:12), ‘For through Yitzchak will offspring be considered yours,’ and now You tell me to sacrifice him?” Avraham grappled with this irresolvable contradiction, yet marched on with unwavering conviction, saying nothing.
I would like to suggest that underneath that nothing, behind the blaring silence we find in the narrative, lay an inaudible prayer. Unable to grasp G-d’s request but refusing to question it, the heart of a torn Avraham silently called out to Hashem, trusting and hoping for some clarity. Hashem answered his prayers.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְאַבְרָהָם אָבִֽינוּ בְּהַר הַמּוֹרִיָּה
We stand here today on a day of complexity. While not the paradox of the Akeida, the themes of Rosh Hashana seem almost contradictory. After a month devoted to teshuva, we shockingly make no reference to our sins. We gather together for individual judgements, full of confidence and fear, approaching our father but our king. We understand that life is fragile, complicated, and that no printed words can capture each of our unique feelings. Despite a heavy machzor with hundreds of pages, in terms of requests for the coming year, we do little more than putting honey on our food and wishing each other shana tova umtuka. I struggle each year writing a Rosh Hashana drasha not because of a lack of what to say, but because find it difficult to speak to each of us and our varying experiences. Each of us has a unique Rosh Hashana based on his or her unique struggles and challenges.
On Rosh Hashana we attempt to put our deepest emotions and feelings into words and are mostly unsuccessful. But as we recall our forefather Avraham, who also struggled to find the words to capture his feelings at the Akeida, we realize that just as Hashem answered a dumbfounded Avraham, he can answer us as well.
The sound of the shofar is the sound of our wordless prayer, as we admit that we cannot find the right words, but we recall that Hashem answered our forefather’s wordless prayer. May G-d answer all our prayers, both those we can put into words and those we cannot.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְאַבְרָהָם אָבִֽינוּ בְּהַר הַמּוֹרִיָּה הוּא יַעֲנֵֽנוּ
No responses yet