Tfillah- More Than Just Words

(True, this is a dvar torah on the parshah which already passed, but it's never too late:)

There is just so much hectic stuff going on in Parshat Shlach, it's unbelievable. You've got the Meraglim, Bnei Yisrael almost form a lynch mob against Calev & Yehoshua, a bunch of Jews who seem to do tshuva and say they want to do what Hashem tells them right away defy Him and Moshe and try to force their way into Eretz Yisrael. Not to mention the chilul Shabbos at the end. What the heck was going through their minds? Well my goal at the moment is not to discuss that question, rather to focus on that which Moshe did right after the Meraglim gave their reports and Bnei Yisrael started to get all upset.

The Torah says that at that moment, as Moshe and Aharon were on their faces and B"Y were going against Calev & Yehoshua, the Schinah came down in the Ohel Moed to all of B"Y. Hashem then speaks to Moshe. And what does Moshe do? He begs of Hashem to not destroy Bnei Yisrael and he davens for them. Now let's take a look at a main component of Moshe's tfillah:

יְדֹוָד אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב חֶסֶד נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וָפָשַׁע וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת עַל בָּנִים עַל שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל רִבֵּעִים

This looks a lot like the י"ג מדות that Moshe recieved from Hashem after Chet HaEgel. Yet, there seem to be a few words missing! The Ramban comments on this is gives a pretty good explanation of why each phrase was omitted.

והזכיר במדות "ארך אפים ורב חסד" ולא הזכיר "אמת", כי במדת אמת יהיו חייבים. ולא הזכיר "נוצר חסד לאלפים", כי לא בזכות אבות נתפלל משה עכשיו ולא הזכיר בתפילה הזאת לאברהם ליצחק וליעקב כלל. והטעם בעבור שהארץ ניתנה לאבות ומהם ירשוה, והם מורדים באבותם ולא היו חפצים במתנה שלהם אשר האבות היו בוחרים בה מאד, והיאך יאמר "אשר נשבעת להם בך וגו' וכל הארץ הזאת אתן לזרעכם" (שמות לב יג) והם אומרים אי אפשנו במתנה זו:

ולא הזכיר "וחטאה", בעבור שאלו מזידים ופושעים. ולא ידעתי למה לא הזכיר "רחום וחנון", אולי ידע משה כי הדין מתוח עליהם ולא ימחול לעולם, לכן לא ביקש רק אריכות אפים שלא ימיתם כאיש אחד ולא ישחטם כצאן במדבר שימותו במגפה, ובעבור שלא בקש עתה אלא אריכות אפים אמר לו "סלחתי כדבריך" שאהיה להם ארך אפים ורב חסד. והזכיר "פוקד עון אבות", לאמר שאם יראה שלא למחות עונם יפקוד עון אבות על בניהם ולארך אפים יקחם, ומזה היתה הגזרה לקבוע להם בכיה לדורות בלילה הזה כי פקד עונם על זרעם:

First of all, one that Ramban doesn't discuss (unless I'm just really bad at reading and missed it) is that normally the 13 Middot usually start "Hashem, Hashem"; here there is only one Shem Hashem. This Shem Hashem (Yud-Key-Vav-Key) represents rachamim. One is before the sin and the other is for after the sin. Here the sin already occured, so Moshe only used the Name which represents rachamim after the sin.

Next, there is no mention of the midda of Emet (אמת). The reason the Ramban says as to Why Moshe didn't say this was because the emet of the matter was that the people had sinned, and were guilty.

Nor did he say the midda of Notzer Chesed L'Alafim (נוצר חסד לאלפים). This is because this is talking about Zchut Avot. Eretz Yisrael was given to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov for their children to inherit. B"Y had just rebelled against there ancestral inheritence. They didn't want it. So how could Moshe say that Hashem should forgive them in the zchut of their Avot?

Lastly, the Ramban writes that V'Chata'a (וחטאה) was skipped because B"Y were "Mezidim u'Poshim," and this midda refers to sin that is unintentional. Also, he writes that he doesn't know why Moshe didn't say Rachum v'Chanun, perhaps because he knew that really the case against them was stronger and he was davening that Hashem should not kill them all at once. And that is what Hashem meant when He said "I have forgiven because of your words," that He will not wipe them out all at once, but will have them die out over the course of 40 years.

I read in Rav Neventzal's sichot that he writes a very fundamental concept about tfillah based on this. Moshe basically "customized" his own tfillah from the 13 Middot. Why didn't he say the whole version as given to him by Hashem? Why did he only apply certain phrases? Tfillah is not something where you say some words and then a miracle happens. Hashem didn't teach Moshe the 13 Middot so that when in distress he could simply cry them out and then all would be forgiven! Davening is something which comes from the heart! Every word has meaning and they all individually matter, (especially and more specifically the 13 Middot). Moshe looked at the situation and saw what he needed to daven for and that is what he did. It came from his heart, b'kavana! He didn't just say a bunch of words without meaning. This is how our tfillot should be as well. When we daven, it should not be reading absentmindedly from a siddur. We need to focus on what we are really saying and make sure it comes from the heart, b'kavana.