Bereishit 25:21 – And Isaac prayed to the Lord opposite his wife because she was barren, and the Lord accepted his prayer, and Rebecca his wife conceived.

According to Gemora Yevamos 64a it should have said that the Lord accepted “their” prayers. Why does it say that the Lord accepted “his” prayer? To teach that the prayer of a “righteous person” who is the child of a “righteous person” is more listened to than the prayer of a “righteous person” who is the child of an “evil person”.

This teaching has always struck me as being counter intuitive. Shouldn’t the prayer of a righteous person who is the child of an evil person be listened to at least as much as that of a ‘tzaddik ben tzaddik’, a righteous person who is the child of a righteous person?

As Rabbi Aryeh Klapper pointed out in his emailed Dvar Torah last week, “Faith in Torah compels the belief that there is a morally acceptable way of reading the Torah’s narratives. It does not guarantee that we will find that reading, and if we look for shortcuts, we’ll end up cutting the Torah to fit our measure. But…it is necessary to search, and fair to treat moral comfort as a ‘plus factor’ when choosing among plausible interpretations. “

In that sense, the above Gemora is counter to our “modern” ears. Or maybe it is just counter to a sensitive person’s sensibilities? This is why I’m thrilled to see that the Torah Temimah points out that this Gemora does not reflect the full range of Torah teachings on this issue.  

First, the Torah Temimah points out that the Taz disagrees with this teaching. The Taz notes that “God desires the heart”. So, when searching for a prayer leader, one should search for the best person, no matter what their family background. (See Taz on Orach Hayim Section 53.)

Additionally, the Torah Temimah notes that a proof to the Taz’s point of view can be brought from the Gemora Taanit 25b which relates a story about Rabbi Eliezer who led the congregation in prayer, but nevertheless rain did not fall. Rabbi Akiva then led the prayers and subsequently it rained. The [other] rabbis were murmuring concerning the slight that had occurred to the honor of Rabbi Eliezer since his prayers were not answered. Suddenly a voice rang out from heaven and stated: “It was not because this person (Rabbi Akiva) is greater than this person (Rabbi Eliezer) but rather it is due to the fact that Rabbi Akiva has conquered his natural tendencies while Rabbi Eliezer has not needed to conquer his natural tendencies.” Behold, it is well known that Rabbi Akiva is the son of converts. Thus, in relation to him, Rabbi Eliezer is a “righteous person, the son of righteous people”. Nevertheless, it was Rabbi Akiva’s prayer that was answered because of the personal struggles and characteristics that he had which Rabbi Eliezer did not have.   

The moral of the story for me is that the “Torah’s ways are ways of pleasantness”. When I feel that is not the case, it means that I need to study the issue more deeply.