Praying For Unity

In Parashat Va’etchanan (Deut. 3:23–7:11), Moses reveals how he pleaded with HaShem to let him see “the Good Land.” He reminded the people of the Waters of Meribah—when he hit the rock instead of speaking to it, as commanded. The humility Moses displays in this admission is striking.

He describes how he implored HaShem repeatedly. This confession deepens our understanding of prayer—how one may pray with both deep humility and tenacity, like Moses but but also like Jacob who refused to release the angel until he received a blessing. There are other, similar examples of such petition in Torah:

Isaac’s prayer life reveals a quiet intimacy, cultivated in the solitude of nature, yet his prayer for Rebecca to conceive occurred while they were together.

And like Abraham’s prayer for Avimelech, we are taught to pray first for the needs of others.

When Moses pleads with HaShem, when Abraham argues for Sodom, when Isaac quietly prays for children, and when Job intercedes for his friends—none of these prayers “change” God, but they deeply transform the one praying. As Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi taught, true prayer makes space within the human soul for the Divine Presence to dwell. Through prayer, we become vessels—refined, humbled, and attuned to the sacred.

God desires our prayers—not because He needs them, but because of what they do for us. One of the Hebrew words for prayer, lehitpalel, is reflexive—it literally means “to judge oneself.” Prayer, then, is not only a plea, it is an act of self-assessment. It invites us to confront our inner lives with honesty and to reset our spiritual compass.

The sages taught,“There is no discourse except prayer,” meaning that prayer is the highest form of soul-expression—a conversation with God.

Rabbi Yitzḥak, in the Talmud (Yevamot 64a), taught that prayer is like a pitchfork (eter), used to move produce, effective prayer can turn strict justice to compassion. We can shift self-interest to humility. The metaphor of a pitchfork may also imply that prayer, when specific and heartfelt, pierces straight to the core of our plea.

This understanding of prayer is not abstract.

Prayer becomes even more powerful when spoken aloud.

The gematria of kol (voice) is 136—the same as sulam (ladder), referring to Jacob’s dream in which angels ascended and descended a heavenly staircase. It is also the gematria of the phrase “ve’ha-kohanim” (“and the priests”), suggesting that our prayers are akin to the daily service of the kohanim in the Temple.

Prayer is likened to the ketoret—the holy incense that, when properly prepared, would rise in a smokey column, straight to heaven. Similarly, when the name Yisrael is pronounced Yashar-El, it means “straight to God,” reflecting the soul’s pure ascent through prayer.

In this portion of the Torah, Moses draws powerful connections between Prayer, the Presence of God, and the utter Unity of the Creator, who took no form at Sinai. In fact, he takes care to remind the people that they saw no image—only heard the voice of the Creator amid roiling flames and thick smoke: a majestic and terrifying display underscoring the singular power of God’s voice—an epic scene as described by Moses:

“These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly in the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a great voice which was not heard again. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone, and delivered them to me.” - Deuteronomy 5:19

The above uses an arresting Hebrew phrase, ‘Vulo yasaf’ which can be understood that HaShem never spoke words of Torah again in that setting. It can also imply that He spoke without a pause, in One long magnificent Utterance. Rashi tells us that the verse implies that the time and place were unique for God’s declaration.

Oneness of the Creator is a foundational principle throughout Torah. Moses repeatedly warns Israel not to stray after false gods or imitate the idolatrous practices of surrounding nations:

“You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides Him, there is no other.”

Appropriately, only a few verses later, Israel is commanded to utter the Shema—the eternal pledge that marks them as a people whose highest calling is to bear witness to the unity of God before all nations:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.” — Deuteronomy 6:4

For centuries, scientists have searched for a unified field theory, yet the most profound unifying truth has never been hidden—it resounds in the Shema. A day will come when the air of Jerusalem will tremble with the voices of Israel, issuing from a House of Prayer for all peoples, joined in worship of the Creator—the singular, infinite, all-embracing Presence.

Unity is a force so immense that when the Jewish People fully embrace it, they will transform the world.