Posted on 11/12/20
[Ed. Note] Out of the respect and recognition of the impact made by longtime BJL friend and contributor, Reb Shaya Gross, z’l, we will maintain a living memoriam to Shaya through the sweet words and thoughtful insights of his Divrei Torah. BJL readers will remember his weekly column on the Parsha and on various Torah ideas and concepts. These meaningful words will help us remember this special young man who will be sorely missed and for those who did not merit to know him, this will be the most appropriate way for them to become familiar with who he was.
Yitzchak Avinu corresponds to the Mitzva of Avodah [prayer], which is the connection between man and G-d. Yitzchak specialized in a direct relationship with Hashem. In fact, the Torah says that Yitzchak went out 'lasuach bisadeh,' to 'talk to Hashem in the field.' The root of this word, lasuach, is 'seecha,' which generally refers to idle talk or ‘shmoozing.' The Pasuk is teaching us that Yitzchak's shmoozing was with Hashem! He had such a real and direct relationship with Hashem that even his regular shmoozing was with Hashem.
Using the above p'shat, we can now understand why Rivka fell off the camel when she saw Yitzchak. Rivka saw Yitzchak conversing in the field with Hashem, and she was in awe to see someone who had such a genuine and direct relationship with Hashem. [I heard most of the above concerning Yitzchak from my dear friend Rav Yonah YITZCHAK Sklare.]
Perhaps this is why Mincha is the one tefillah of the day where one can just begin Shemoneh Esray, without any lengthy preparations. This is in contrast with Shacharis and Maariv, where we daven Kriyas Shema and Brachos before Shemoneh Esray, and we are forbidden to talk before starting Shemoneh Esray, even to remind people to say Mashiv Haruach and the like. At Mincha though, one is allowed to talk before starting Shemoneh Esray and there is no lengthy preparation. Why not?
Perhaps because Mincha corresponds to Yitzchak Avinu, so at Mincha time we can tap into Yitzchak's strength of being so connected to Hashem that we can go straight into the tefila. We don’t need any introductions and Brachos to get us into the tefila mode, because as descendants of Yitzchak, we have his strength at this time of day to go straight into a conversation with Hashem!
{Reb Baruch Gross: May we all utilize Yitzchak Avinu's strength; and next time that we are in the middle of our busy day and we find a couple minutes to squeeze in a Mincha, let us remember Shaya's lesson and give that Mincha all we got. Let us try hard to push away everything else that is going on in our daily lives, and concentrate in those couple minutes to Whom we are davening to, and may He answer all of our requests for the good!}