Parashat Vayishlach - Livin' on a (Jewish) Prayer
For those of us of a certain age, the soundtrack of the 1980s is indelibly embedded into our psyche. Unlike the 1960s where they say that if ‘you remember it, you weren’t really there’, 1986 was a particularly vintage year in my adolescence. It was the time of Paul Simon’s Graceland, when you couldn’t go to a party without hearing it on the Hi Fi (remember those?); watching Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’ video with its then state-of-the-art animation and singing one of the greatest rock anthems that ever ruled the airwaves – Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’.
Who can
forget the catchy refrain?
Written
by Desmond Child, John Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora – once heard, was forever cherished
in our hearts and stored in our minds.
When Richie
asked Jon whether he thought it would be a hit when he was writing it, John
famously replied ’not at all’. They
walked out of the studio where they had just recorded the track and he added, “Eh,
it’s okay. Maybe we should just put it
on a movie soundtrack.” Richie looked at
him and said, “You’re an idiot. It’s
really good.” Jon said, “I just don’t know where it’s going. But it didn’t
have that boom-boom-boom bassline yet, so it sounded more like The Clash.”
Fortunately,
for the rest of us, he was proven wrong, granted that the track was a worldwide
hit and in 2013, achieved 3 times Platinum status in countries like the USA
(where it hit the number 1 spot, selling 3,400,000 copies to date, of which 3
million are downloads) and in the UK where it sold 1,800,000 copies. As of July 2022, it has had over 963,000,000
views on YouTube. Not bad for an ‘OK’
song. I would hazard a guess that when you
consider Bon Jovi’s oeuvre, ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ immediately comes to mind. No surprise as it is viewed as their
signature song.
Jon Bon
Jovi was raised in the Catholic faith emanating from an American-Italian
family, originally from Sicily. Although
not religious himself, he, along with his co-writers, based the song on some
real-life couples (including Richie’s parents) whose life decisions were formulated
from their deep-seated faith. Through
thick and thin, the partners remained together and their abiding religious beliefs
pulled them through the peaks and troughs that mark our journey through life.
This song
comes to mind when I look at the precarious situation that Jacob finds himself
in at the start of this week’s Parasha.
He was
facing the very real threat that his twin brother, Eisav accompanied by 400 men,
would surely exact his violent revenge for what had transpired twenty years
previously over the deception of their father.
Jacob, a man of deep faith was troubled by his own previous behaviour,
which he feared Gd might punish him for.
As per
the commentary in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, Rashi explains the notion that
righteous people like Jacob are ‘never sure of themselves’ and that he may have
‘forfeited his right’ to Gd’s protection.
The Midrash adds that Jacob was frightened by the fact that he was
frightened. In other words, his fear
might have indicated a lack of faith in Gd in the first place.
He
therefore chose a three-pronged approach.
1.
He created two camps, dividing the people travelling
together in their human caravan. He kept
his wives and children together so that (according to the Abarbanel) he was
able to place them in the rear of one camp accompanied by males, maidservants
and cattle so that they could be protected.
Jacob, along with the other people and animals, remained in the first
camp so that, should the worst happen and Eisav attacked them, the second camp
would be able to flee to safety.
2.
He prayed to Gd and asked to be rescued and allowed
to return to Canaan (see Verses 10 to 13).
3. He sent an extremely generous and lavish gift to Eisav consisting of hundreds of goats, ewes, rams, camels, cows, bulls and donkeys.
Jacob’s
life, and those of his loved ones, were in the balance as far as he was
concerned. To survive, he would need to
do more than ‘live on a prayer’. In choosing
to formulate this approach, he demonstrated the Jewish way to face an
existential threat.
It’s like
that old joke, where the man prays to Gd to win the lottery and after forty
years without success, cries out bitterly that Gd is not answering his prayers. Whereupon Hashem visits him in a dream and
says, “I’ll meet you halfway but first of all, you have to buy a ticket!”
There is
a concept in Judaism called Hishtadlut.
The Midrash
in Shir Hashirim Raba (Song of Songs 1.1)
relates the story of a Sage, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa who saw the residents of
his city taking up burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Beit Hamikdash.
He wanted to do the same but was quite impoverished and couldn’t afford to buy
anything that would be worthy of being donated to the Holy Temple. Whilst going for a walk one day, he came
across a beautiful looking stone which he felt would be fitting for the Temple. However, it was too heavy for him to pick up. He tried to enquire how much it would cost to
hire some men to carry the stone for him but again, the price quoted, which was
100 gold pieces was prohibitive. Then,
five workers approached and offered to help him lift the stone for the sum of five
sela, which was very little. They laid down a single condition. He too must be involved in the process by
placing his hands under the stone to assist them in lifting it up. He agreed to this, grasped the stone from
underneath and looked around to see that they had been transported miraculously
to the Temple. The men however, had
disappeared and he was unable to pay them for they had been angels who were sent
by Gd to help this pure-hearted man achieve his goal.
The
question that we ask is, “If these men were angels in disguise, why did they
ask him to put his hands under the stone to lift it? They could have done the work without him?” The answer is that, for Hashem to help us, we
need to do our bit too. That is
hishtadlut.
Jacob could have placed all his faith in Gd to protect everyone. That he incorporated his prayers into his general plan of action tells us that prayer, as important as it is, is not enough. If we want Gd to help us, we must play our part too. We have to buy that lottery ticket; The IDF needs feet on the ground to protect our holy country.
When we
recite the prayer for the State of Israel and Tzahal, we say:
“Put into their hearts the love and fear of You to
uphold it (i.e. the country) with justice and righteousness…Heavenly Father:
remember the Israel Defence Forces, guardians of our Holy Land. Protect them from all distress and anguish
and send blessings and success to all the work of their hands…’
Judaism
recognises that hishtadlut which means ‘human efforts expressing man’s free
will’ must work alongside ‘bitachon’ – faith in Gd, in order to ensure that we
receive the blessings that we hope he will shower upon us.
Returning
to the lyrics of the song, we can relate these to this idea.
With
Hishtadlut, we are half-way there. And if we do our bit, He will help us to
‘live’ on a prayer.
May
Hashem continue to answer our prayers and may we endeavour to play our part in
bringing about our salvation. We need to
remind him and ourselves that before receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai we were
the only nation that pledged to ‘do what He asked of us and listen to His words’
– na’aseh venishmah. It’s not enough to
do without listening to His words. It’s
not enough to listen to His words, without making an effort on our part. In other words, we are ‘livin’ on a prayer’
whilst simultaneously engaging in Hishtadlut.
It is the
perfect partnership and as we’ve seen, through the millennia, it is our proven
recipe for survival.
Shavuah Tov
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