Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, the great Chasidic master, was once visiting a town. He came to the community’s synagogue but refused to enter. The townspeople were astounded. Why was he refusing to cross the threshold of their House of Prayer? they asked. “The synagogue is too crowded,” he replied. The townspeople looked at one another in confusion. But the synagogue was empty! Then the Rebbe explained. “The synagogue is full of prayers, there is no room for us. When one prays with the proper attitude, the prayers ascend to heaven. However, in this synagogue, people have not prayed with the proper intentions. Their prayers are all trapped inside the building. The have not ascended to heaven, so there is no room for us in the synagogue.”

What was missing from the prayers of the people in this community? Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl explains. Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical equivalent. The first letter, alef, has the value of “one”, the second letter, “bet” has the value of “two” and so forth. Tradition teaches that the Torah contains 613 commandments. But the word “Torah” has a numerical value of only 611! These 611 commandments were given by God through Moses. However, the first two commandments were given to the Israelites directly by God. (611+2= 613). The first commandment, “I brought you out of Egypt” represents the command to love God. The second commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” represents the command to fear God. “Fear” in this instance means cultivating an attitude of awe, reverence and trepidation in approaching God. Without the ingredients of both love of God and “fear” of God our prayers cannot rise to God. The performance of all mitzvoth must contain these two ingredients.