The Three Tiers of Torah and Prayer
In troubled times we seek refuge in entertainment. Torah and Tefilah (prayer) are the ultimate refuge because they can relate to us on every level.
Enter the Box!
The Ark, Noach built that saved humanity and the rest of the earth’s inhabitants from extinction, is referred to in the Torah as a Teivah, which literally means a box or a word. A Teivah is a container. A box can contain objects and a word contains an idea, and the Ark contained representations of all parts of creation.
The Ba’al Shem Tov taught that the Teivah is also a reference to the words of Torah and prayer. These words are the ultimate container, for they contain much more than ideas. The words of Torah contain G-dly truths and the words of prayer convey the language of the G-dly soul and the means through which we can communicate with G- d.
The analogy of the Ark to Torah and prayer has been taken a step further. Just as Noach’s Ark saved the world from the devastating flood waters, so too, the words of Torah and prayer protect us from the destructive influences that surround us all the time.
One can take this analogy yet one step further. The Ark, the Torah relates, consisted of three stories. The Torah refers to them as: “Bottom, second and third [stories.]” The Talmud, cited by Rashi, describes the purpose of these three tiers: The upper tier was for humans, the middle one for animals and the bottom one was for the refuse.
Torah and prayer can likewise be said to consist of three tiers. Let’s begin with Torah:
Guide for Life
Torah, on its most basic level is a day to day guide that instructs us how to live our lives; how to be civilized in an uncivilized world; how to deal with the most degenerate of people and situations. It is analogous to the function of the bottom of the Ark in that it must relate even to those aspects of life that are likened to refuse. This level of Torah is relevant in every segment of society, including even its most uncouth and uncivilized members. This is the Torah that commands us not to commit murder and adultery along with the more lofty precepts.
The Blueprint
On a higher level, Torah is a heavenly teaching that is the blueprint of the universe. In the words of the Zohar:
“G-d looked into the Torah and created the world; similarly, a person studies Torah and sustains the world.”
The Torah is more than just a guide for life it is the very source of life. Nothing in life can possibly be inconsistent with Torah since Torah embodies the Divine energy that created life and is what sustains it.
This approach to Torah study assists us in dealing with the “animal” or the natural forces within us.
One of the greatest challenges to sustained devotion to our highest ideals is the erroneous perception that the Torah’s demands can be at odds with our needs and desires that we perceive as being part and parcel of our nature. How often do we hear people responding to a challenge to grow up and maintain a different moral standard? “I can’t change; this is who I am…” In other words, we find our human nature to be in conflict with the ideals of the Torah.
In effect, this second level of Torah relates to our nature. Torah dictates that the entire universe—macro or micro—is animated by the Torah and will ultimately conform to the Torah’s ideals. There can be no inherent conflict between Torah and nature because Torah is the very source of nature.
G-d’s Delight
There is yet a third and higher level of Torah: Torah that is G-d’s wisdom and delight. It transcends the heavenly as it does the earthly. It is beyond even referring to it as the source of all of existence. Just as G-d is more than a Creator, so too, Torah in its essence is more than merely a G-dly force within creation.
Just as G-d transcends His creation so does the Torah.
This level of Torah is its highest tier and only the G-dly soul within man can appreciate this level. This is the level of Torah that has no purpose and function other than to experience unadulterated Divine wisdom.
This is the level of Torah that expresses unmitigated Divine delight.
In troubling times, people take refuge in entertainment because it touches their sense of pleasure and delight and blocks out the sadness and misery.
Torah, as the ultimate source of delight is therefore the ultimate refuge.
Three Tiers of Prayer
According to the Chassidic Master, Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl, there are three tiers within prayer that parallel the three tiers of Noach’s Ark.
Bottom Tier: Getting out of the Quagmire
The bottom tier of prayer is the one that emanates from those who find themselves in a spiritual quagmire. They feel that they cannot get close to G-d because they are so far gone; they have degenerated to the very abyss. This individual, therefore, will cry out to G-d in anguish: “Please have mercy on my soul that has strayed so far! Without Your help I am lost. Please save me!” This heartfelt plea is prayed with a broken heart and a humbled spirit. This individual makes no pretenses to be worthy of anything. He or she simply throws himself or herself at G-d’s mercy and pleads for Him to “schlep” him or her out of their self-made morass.
King David alluded to this form of prayer in his Psalms as the “Prayer of the Poor.” It is the prayer from a broken spirit; from one that is humbled and shattered. It is represented by the bottom level of the Ark that contained the waste products.
David’s Prayer
The second level of prayer is alluded to in the Psalms as the “Prayer of David.” It is the prayer of those who are engaged in the struggle between their G-dly nature and the pull of their animal nature. It is the level of prayer in which we beseech G-d to give us the moral strength to overcome the trials in our lives to enable us to conform to G-d’s ideals and not succumb to the temptations created by the material world in which we are situated.
This is the prayer of a person who is struggling with his or her animal nature.
Moses’ Prayer
The highest tier of prayer, however, is the one referred to in Psalms as the “Prayer of Moses.” His was not a prayer of a broken spirit and from one who is distant. And it did not emanate from a state of spiritual impoverishment. Nor was it a prayer that expressed a struggle with his nature.
Moses’ prayer was one of spiritual wealth. Moses’ prayer was a request to experience even higher levels of G-dly light than those to which he had been exposed in the past.
Moses prayed to “show me Your glory.” Moses’ final prayer was for him to enter the Holy Land so he can attain even higher levels of observance of the Mitzvot and G-dly awareness. Moses also prayed for others who were in need of forgiveness and assistance. Moses did not have to pray to shore up his defenses and strengthen his nature. Moses’ prayer was on the highest tier: to experience the highest levels of G-dly light.
Three Tiers of the Bais Hamikdash
The Ark is also a model of the Bais Hamikdash, the Holy Temple. There too we can find three tiers which correspond to its three primary sections.
The outer courtyard featured the Altar upon which sacrifices were brought. One of the functions of the sacrifices was to bring atonement for those who were sinking in the quicksand of sin. The Altar was placed outside the Sanctuary proper to indicate that it was intended for even those who were outside their soul’s choice location.
The second section was the actual Sanctuary which housed the Inner Altar for incense, the Menorah and the Table. This section was intended for those “insiders” who engaged in an inner struggle.
The third section is the Holy of Holies which housed the Ark that contained the Tablets. This innermost sanctum paralleled the innermost dimension of Torah and prayer, where the only dynamic was one’s unification with G-d.
Three Tiers of Moshiach
Among all of our prayers, the one in which we pray for Moshiach contains elements of all three levels of prayer:
Moshiach will bring Jews from all remote places back to Israel. The meaning of remote in this context is not just geographic, but also in terms of their spiritual location. Even the most degenerate or alienated and assimilated Jew will return in the Messianic Age. No matter how far one has strayed from the ideals of Judaism, morality and decency, he or she will be brought back.
Moshiach will also be the spiritual role model and mentor that will help reveal our G-dly soul’s light so that we can overcome all of the temptations of our animal soul. Ultimately, in the later stages of the Messianic Age, we will experience the cessation of all forms of evil. We will deal evil a final blow and the war against evil will be won.
And finally, the Messianic Age will introduce us to the most sublime manifestations of the Divine. We will climb the heights of holiness and our challenge will not be with evil, but with the challenges of greater achievement.
In effect, when we pray for Moshiach we are combining all three tiers of the Ark. and is therefore the most complete form of prayer.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Noach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
