What is Your Craft? People tend to define themselves by their craft, as they introduce themselves they will tell you: I am a doctor, a lawyer, an artist. What they are telling you is that their craft is something they engage in constantly, to the extent that they identify fully with that craft. As the Jewish people were facing the red sea on one side and the pursuing Egyptian army on the other the verse tells us: Pharaoh drew near, and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold! the Egyptians were advancing after them. They were very frightened, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Rashi explains: Cried out: They seized the craft of their ancestors [i.e., they prayed]. Regarding Abraham the verse states: ‘Abraham rose early in the morning to the place where he had stood before G-d.’ Regarding Issac it states: “...to speak in the field’. Regarding Jacob it states: ‘and he arrived at the place’. (Rashi indicates that the terms “stood”, “to speak” and “arrived” all allude to prayer). Rashi’s commentary presents many difficulties, to name a few: 1: why does Rashi define prayer as a craft, instead of the conventional interpretation that prayer is a request from G-d. 2: the verses which Rashi quotes are verses which merely allude to prayer. Why doesn’t Rashi quote verses which state clearly that the patriarchs prayed and requested that G-d help them? The revolutionary idea that Rashi introduces here, is that prayer is not something we do to achieve a specific purpose or in response to a specific need, but rather, it is our craft. The words of prayer and Torah study are our craft, we constantly engage in them, not for a specific goal, to express a need, or to acquire knowledge, but rather because our relationship with G-d touches us at our core and defines our identity. This explains why Rashi quotes the verses that merely allude to prayer. The verses that state explicitly that the patriarchs prayed, are referring to prayer for a specific need, while the verses quoted by Rashi allude to prayer without identifying the specific purpose of the prayer. These verses demonstrate that the Patriarchs prayed not for a need but because it was their “craft”. You may spend your day as a merchant or a banker; as a volunteer, teacher or philosopher. But, as a descendant of our Patriarchs, your true craft is expressing your relationship with G-d by speaking the holy words of prayer and Torah. Don’t wait for an opportunity or reason to connect, do so today. Express your craft. Express your true core. (Adapted from Likutei Sichos Bishalach 11.1)
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