Lessons from Asa

We are continuing with Pesukeh Bitachon from Divreh Hayamim. King Asa is fighting a war, and he cries out to God and says, ( perek יד pasuk י) אֵין עִמְּךָ לַעְזוֹר בֵּין רַב לְאֵין כֹּחַ Hashem, It's not to You to help (which means it’s no difference to You), whether there are a lot of people, or someone with no strength at all. עָזְרֵנוּ ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ כִּי עָלֶיךָ נִשְׁעַנּוּ These are similar to the words of yesterday's pasuk- כִּי נִשְׁעַנּוּ אלוקי אבותיכם As we have said in the past, Mish’an really means like a cane. If you take the cane away, the person will fall. וּבְשִׁמְךָ בָאנוּ עַל הֶהָמוֹן הַזֶּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ אַתָּה אַל יַעְצֹר עִמְּךָ אֱנוֹשׁ: And with Your name we come, on this multitude of people. Hashem our God, let no human muster strength against You. In this context, the Radak says Atzar means to gather strength. The word Enosh is used here, says the Mesudot, which has the root of the word Anush, which is to be weak. That's one of the terms of man, because it connotes man as weak and vulnerable. And sure enough, the next pasuk says, וַיִּגֹּף ה׳ אֶת הַכּוּשִׁים And God causes the Kushim to be beaten… The Gaon of Vilna explains the two terms that Asa is using: We relied on You and We call out in Your Name: He says that when it says We rely on You, that's the concept that God's called Elokei Yisrael/You're our God. And when We call out, that’s the concept that we constantly mention God's name. The Midrash Aggadat Bereshit perek יב discusses this concept of God's name. In Az Yashir we say, Hashem Ish milchama, Hashem Shemo/ God is a Man of war, Hashem is His name. This means God makes war with His name. The depth of that is that God doesn't need to fight with any weapons or any tactics. God is responsible for all of creation. His name is the name of Yud and Heh and Vav and Heh, which says Mehave Kol Havayot He brought everything into existence. So it's a different kind of war. God doesn't have to come outside. It's a war from within, like the computer viruses that come from within the system. Those are the best wars, such as when Israel attacks a nuclear reactor, not with planes, but with some type of computer virus, like famous computer virus, the Stuxnet, a malicious computer worm that was used against the Iranian uranium reactor. This is fighting from within, and that's what it means that Hashem Ish milchama, Hashem Shemo. God fights with His name. God fights from within. We see this throughout history. David Hamelech says to Goliath, אתה בא אלי בחרב You come against me with a sword, ואנכי בא אליך בשם ה' צבאות And I came against you with the name of Hashem, Master of the hosts, that we are victorious with Shem Hashem. And that, says the Midrash, is what it means that the nations of the world will see Ki Shem Hashem Nikra Alecha/The name of God is upon you. They’ll be afraid of You. What is the name of God upon you? The Gemara says it’s the Tefilin on head of a Jewish person. The name of God that's upon us is all that's written in the parshiyot of the Tefilin. Yetziat Mitzrayim, and all those wonders that were Hashem Shemo- God fighting with the plagues and everything happened from within. There were no external weapons. The splitting of the sea, turning from flowing water into ice blocks and back, is all coming from within. God sent in the computer worm to change water into rocks and back again. And that, says the Midrash, is what Asa was saying in this prayer. That's one very important lesson. The second important lesson says Rav Sadik HaKohen, in his Sefer Resiseh Leila, is that when it comes to prayer, המדריגות הם כפי החסרון כמו שמובא בזוהר The level of prayer depends on how lacking you feel, and he quotes the Zohar that discusses the prayer of the poor. Similarly, Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai talks about the prayer of the servant versus the prayer of minister, or the man that learns compared to the minister. The person that can pray is the servant. The one that feels himself less, and is more needy, his prayer is from the depth of his heart and is more powerful. And he says that's what it means when Asa said, אֵין עִמְּךָ לַעְזוֹר בֵּין רַב לְאֵין כֹּחַ God, to You it doesn't make a difference. If anything, it's the opposite. The less power the person has, the more powerful he is, because the less power he has, the more heartfelt his prayers. These are both important lessons from the story of Asa’s prayers. Have a wonderful day.