426. The Prayer of a Righteous, Son of a Righteous, and a Righteous, Son of a Wicked

June 1981

“The prayer of a righteous, son of a righteous is unlike the prayer of a righteous, son of a wicked.”

An act that one does is called the “father,” and the intention in the act is called the “offspring,” meaning that first we do and then we hear.

We should make two discernments in the action: An act of bestowal is called “an act of a righteous,” and an act of reception is called “wicked.” When a person comes to pray to be given the strength to always be able to aim to act for the sake of the Creator, this is called “righteous son of a righteous.” If he prays to be given the strength to aim for the sake of the Creator with vessels of reception, this is called “the prayer of a righteous son of a wicked.”

This is the meaning of the prayer of a righteous son of a righteous being accepted, while the prayer of a righteous son of a wicked is not always accepted, as our sages said, “Not every person is rewarded with two tables,” as our sages said, that for Rabbi, there were Torah and greatness in the same place.

We should understand this, since he said that he did not enjoy this world even with his little finger, so for what purpose did the Creator give him the Torah and the greatness? According to the above-said, we should interpret “Not every person is rewarded with two tables.” One table means that he can bestow in order to bestow, which is called “righteous.” This is called “Torah.” “Greatness” means Gadlut [greatness/adulthood], which is a righteous son of a wicked, when he receives in order to bestow, when all his vessels of reception, called “wicked,” are not for his own sake but in order to bestow.