Parshas Vayeitzei
Why Yaakov's establishing of Maariv, the third of the daily tefillos, sits last in the order even though the day is supposed to begin at night, and how two different sides of davening answer to two different sequences.
Part of Bereishit
Works through the apparent contradiction between the pasuk listing tefillah as erev, boker, and tzohorayim, and the fact that Yaakov, last of the Avos, established the last tefillah, Maariv. Resolves it by splitting davening into its bittul component, tied to the order of kodashim where night follows day, and its bakashas tzarchei component, tied to maaseh bereishis where day follows night, so Maariv is correctly both first and last depending on the angle.
Audio Transcript
A word from the Rebbe on this week's parshah, Parshat Vayeitzei. In the beginning of Vayeitzei, it says, \"讜讬讬驻讙注 讘诪拽讜诐\", that Yaakov Avinu met up with a place. But Rashi says, \"专讘讜转讬谞讜 驻讬专砖讜 诇砖讜谉 转驻讬诇讛\". Our Chachamim say that this means he davened there. And Rashi adds, \"讜诇诪讚谞讜 砖转讬拽谉 转驻讬诇转 注专讘讬转\". This teaches us that Yaakov Avinu established this mitzvah of davening Ma'ariv. Now, since he was the third from the Avot, and he established Ma'ariv, that means it comes after the first two. Avraham established Shacharit, Yitzchak established the mitzvah of davening Minchah, and Yaakov established the mitzvah of davening Ma'ariv. But the question is, we know that usually, the day comes after the night. So really it should be the opposite. Ma'ariv should be the first. Ma'ariv is from the night. And actually, there's a pasuk that the Gemara brings concerning davening, \"注专讘 讜讘讜拽专 讜爪讛专讬讬诐\", that davening is in evening, morning, and afternoon. That means it taka starts from the evening. So Ma'ariv should be the first tefillah, and after that comes Shacharit and Minchah. But nevertheless, we see here that Ma'ariv is the last one.
So the Rebbe says that they're both true. Depends from which angle. Davening has two things in it. On one hand, davening is a time when you communicate and you connect to Hashem. It's a time when you you m'vatel yourself to Hashem. That's why we find that when Yaakov saw the ladder, it says, \"住讜诇诐 讝讛 爪诇讜转讗\", it says in Zohar, that the ladder represents davening where you go up. It's a time when you go up, get closer to Hashem. You're m'vatel, you get rid of your ego of your metziut, and you become batel to Hashem. That's the inyan of davening. That's why the Gemara refers to davening as 注讘讜讚讛 砖讘诇讘. It's a service of the heart when you feel closer to Hashem. On the other hand, the simple p'shat of davening is a time of bakashat t'rachav, it's a time when you have to ask Hashem for your needs. If someone needs health, he has to ask for health, if someone needs money, ask for money, whatever a person needs in his physical life or any type of thing, but it's all his personal needs, that's the time to daven. So, that seems like two opposites. On one hand, it's a time to get rid of your metziut, of your ego, of your things that you need, it's not you, it's about getting closer to Hashem and getting rid of yourself, of your own ego, and on the other hand, it's a time when you care about your own self, about your metziut, and you ask for your needs. And the answer is this davening has both angles to it. Davening is a time when you, on one hand, you get closer to Hashem, but at the same time, there's a inyan in davening that is connected to your metziut.
Now, the Gemara tells us that when it comes to ma'aseh bereishit, which is the creation of the world, and the things of the world, then, 讛讬讜诐 讛讜诇讱 讗讞专 讛诇讬诇讛, the day goes after the night. But when it comes to kodashim, to korbanot, to sacrifices, which is kodashim in the Beit HaMikdash, there the halachah is that the night comes after the day, because whenever you could bring the korban, the time you could eat it is the day and then the night after, etc. Anyway, the night goes after the day. And these are the two things here. The part of davening that is a bittel to Hashem, that's the part of kodashim, so therefore, the night goes after the day, so then Ma'ariv is the last one. Cuz this is the davening that part of the davening you connect to Hashem. But then the other part of davening, that you care about your metziut, and that's a mitzvah, the mitzvah is to care about yourself and ask Hashem for your needs, from that angle, Ma'ariv is the first, because it comes to ma'aseh bereishit, the Gemara says, to worldly matters, there the day goes after night. And therefore, Ma'ariv is the first. So there are these two aspects, and the question is only how do the two fit together, they're and Chassidut explains how they two fit together, but this is the point of the two ways we consider Ma'ariv as the first tefillah of the day or the last tefillah of the day.