Dvar Torah for Parshat Chayei Sarah

Based on Likutey MoHaran II, Lesson #11

"Yitzchak went out lasuach (to meditate) in the field..." (Genesis 24:62-63).
"Lasuach means prayer" (Rashi).
" Winter is pregnancy, summer is birth" (Sichot HaRan #144).

The day is winding down. Hopefully, much has been accomplished. Even if that 'muchÓ has only been on a microcosmic scale, within your own daled amot (literally, four ells; colloquially, little corner) that are true, real, and valuable accomplishments. Nonetheless, you're tired, your energies have been pretty much spent.

You are in winterland. You want to hibernate. And even if events have part of you wanting to hide from life, you know you can't; you know that God is really just prodding you on to some greater good, to some insight or intimacy with Him. You are ready to enter pregnancy, as both mother and child.

Pregnancy is a contradictory time, both for the child and the mother. The child is enveloped in a physically dark place"but an angel teaches him Torah and with that light he sees from one end of the world to the other. He is in place that is totally nourishing, where all he does is take and gives nothing in return"nothing but the promise of a new life full of promise. The child is extremely fragile and utterly defenseless. Yet this helpless weakling makes the most fantastic leap of progress: from non-existent to human being.

For the mother as well, there are contradictions. She must be protector just at the time her strength is taxed. She must share everything she has and her being when she herself needs to take more and be nurtured. She must watch others around her move forward, 'do,Ó while she herself seems to be inactive, when in fact her inactivity makes the greatest contribution possible"a human being who can recognize the Creator.

We must fulfill the maternal role, protecting and nourishing ourselves, so that our fetal self will develop as fully as necessary.

Yitzchak Avinu (our Patriarch) had spent his spiritual energy"he had literally put his neck on the line to do God's will. Now he had to be re-born, to enter a state of growth that would enable him to carry on his task of founding a people dedicated solely to the mission of bringing glory to God's name"the Jews. So he went off to the field to pray. As he did, he saw the camels arriving, bearing his future wife, Rivkah Emeinu (our Matriarch), the finishing touch to his birth, to his ability to recognize the Creator.

Rebbe Nachman writes:

Be aware that when a person goes out to pray in a field, all the flora joins and assists his prayer. They add strength to it. This is why prayer is called siach (bush; see Genesis 2:5). This is what is meant by the verse, "Yitzchak went out lasuach in the field" This prayer/meditation was assisted and built on the strength the flora gave him.

Thus, one of the curses is, 'nor will the earth provide her yevulÓ (produce; Deuteronomy 11:17). Everything the earth produces must supply its energy into prayer/meditation. Whenever it cannot, it is an instance of 'nor will the earth provide her yevul.Ó For even when one does not actually pray in a field, the earth's produce, namely, anything which nourishes a person, like, his eating and drinking, etc., assists his prayer. It is just that when one is in a field, when one is even closer physical proximity to the flora, then all the flora and produce contribute their energy to his prayer.

Thus, in Hebrew the word YeVUL is an acronym for the verse, 'Yitzchak went out to meditate in the fieldÓ"for all the produce prayed with him....

From all that the earth produces, from everything that nourishes us, we must coax out a prayer. We must use our maternal selves to make this world as womb-like as possible for ourselves and others, so that we may recognize our Creator to the utmost when the world is born again with the coming of the Mashiach.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!