The stone on the well and the struggle for prayer

בפסוק והאבן גדולה ע"פ הבאר.

On the verse "and the stone was large upon the mouth of the well" (Bereishis 29:2).

The Sefas Emes opens on the scene Yaakov encounters: a great stone covering the mouth of the well. He will read the stone, the well, and their meaning as a parable about prayer and the yetzer hara.

והול"ל ואבן גדולה.

And it should have said "and a large stone" (without the definite article).

A grammatical precision: the verse says "ha'even," the stone, with the definite article, as if referring to a known, particular stone — implying it represents something specific and universal.

ויתכן לרמוז כי האבן מכשול שהוא היצה"ר הוא נמצא בכל מקום אבל עפ"י הבאר הוא גדול ביותר.

It may be hinted that "the stone" — the stumbling block, which is the yetzer hara — is found everywhere, but upon the mouth of the well it is especially large.

"The stone" is the well-known even negef, the stumbling block of the yetzer hara, which lies in every place. But over "the mouth of the well" — the wellspring of holiness, as he will explain — the yetzer hara musters its greatest strength.

והוא שאינו מניח לפתוח הפה בתפלה שהיא עבודה שבלב שהיא בחי' הבאר תורה שבע"פ שהיא תפלה וע"ז מבקשין ה' שפתי תפתח.

That is, it does not allow one to open his mouth in prayer, which is "the service of the heart" — which is the aspect of the "well," Torah she'b'al peh (the Oral Torah), which is prayer — and concerning this we request, "Hashem, open my lips" (Tehillim 51:17).

The "well" is tefillah, the avodah she'b'lev, which is also the aspect of Torah she'b'al peh — the "mouth." The yetzer hara's great stone is precisely what blocks a person from opening his mouth to daven. That is why we must plead, "Hashem, open my lips," asking Hashem Himself to roll away the stone.

וכל מגמת היצה"ר לעכב התפלה כידוע לכל עובד ה' וכדאיתא מאן דנצח לחוויא לנסוב ברתא דמלכא.

And the whole aim of the yetzer hara is to obstruct prayer, as is known to every servant of Hashem, and as it is stated: "whoever vanquishes the serpent may take the king's daughter" (cf. Zohar).

Every oved Hashem knows by experience that the yetzer hara's chief campaign is against tefillah. The Sefas Emes cites the teaching that one who defeats the "serpent" (the yetzer) wins "the king's daughter" — the prize of true prayer and connection to Hashem.

והאמת כי אין עצה להתפלה.

And the truth is that there is no (direct) stratagem for prayer.

There is no shortcut or trick that produces genuine tefillah. One cannot simply will the stone away by some clever device.

רק כפי עבודת האדם בכל מעשיו כך הוא יכול לפתוח פה בתפלה.

Rather, according to a person's avodah in all his deeds, so is he able to open his mouth in prayer.

The ability to truly daven is earned through the totality of one's avodah all day long. Prayer is the fruit of a whole life of service; the mouth opens in tefillah only to the degree that one has served Hashem in everything.

לכן קראוה עבודה שבלב שתלוי בהשתוקקת הלב בכל היום בכל מעשיו.

Therefore they called it "the service of the heart," for it depends on the heart's yearning throughout the whole day, in all of one's deeds.

Prayer is named avodah she'b'lev precisely because it flows from the heart's constant histokekus (longing) cultivated all day, through every action. The davening of the mouth is the overflow of a heart that has yearned all day.

וזה הרמז ונאספו שמה כל העדרים שזה תכלית הנולד מכל העבודות.

And this is the hint of "and all the flocks were gathered there" (Bereishis 29:3) — that this is the goal born from all the (other) avodos.

The flocks gathering at the well represent all of one's deeds and avodos converging. Tefillah is the tachlis, the culmination, "born" from the gathering together of all one's other forms of service.

וביעקב כתיב ויגל דרשו כמעביר הפקק מעל פי החביות.

And of Yaakov it is written "and he rolled (the stone)" (Bereishis 29:10), which they expounded as one who removes the stopper from the mouth of a barrel (Bereishis Rabbah 70:12).

Yaakov rolled the stone away effortlessly, "like removing a cork from a barrel." This image reframes the stone: not as a mere obstacle, but as a stopper that serves a protective purpose.

הרמז כי הצדיק יודע ומבין כי זה האבן הוא טוב לשמירה מעולה כמו שהחביות צריך פקק לשמור מהפסולת.

The hint is that the tzaddik knows and understands that this stone is, in fact, an excellent guard — just as a barrel needs a stopper to protect it from spoilage.

The tzaddik perceives the deeper truth: the very stone that seems to block the well is actually a fine shemirah, a protection — like the cork that keeps a barrel's wine pure, the obstacle guards the wellspring from contamination.

והעומד בחוץ נדמה לו כאלו ח"ו משמים מעכבין אותו.

And to the one standing outside, it appears as if, God forbid, they are obstructing him from Heaven.

From the outside, to one who has not yet attained the tzaddik's understanding, the difficulty in davening looks like Heaven itself is barring his way — as if Hashem is preventing him from drawing near.

ומשימין אבן על לבו.

And that they are placing a stone upon his heart.

He feels as though a heavy stone has been set upon his heart, choking off his ability to open his mouth in prayer.

אבל הוא רק לטובה.

But it is only for the good.

In truth the very obstacle is for his benefit. The "stone on the heart" is a protective covering, part of the avodah that ultimately purifies and guards the wellspring within.

וכתיב ויגש יעקב יתכן לרמוז כמ"ש במדרש ויגש אברהם לג' דברים פיוס ומלחמה כו' כמ"ש בוא וקרב ע"ש.

And it is written "and Yaakov drew near" — it may be hinted, as the Midrash says regarding "and Avraham drew near" (Bereishis 18:23), that "drawing near" (vayigash) is for three things: appeasement, battle (and prayer), as it says "come and draw near" — see there.

The word vayigash ("he drew near") is expounded by the Midrash on Avraham as encompassing three approaches: piyus (appeasement), milchamah (battle), and tefillah (prayer). The Sefas Emes applies this to Yaakov's approaching the well, hinting at multiple modes of "drawing near" to Hashem.

והרמז לג' התפלות בכל יום שמסתמא הם ג' מיני תפלות בפיוס ובמלחמה כו'.

And the hint is to the three prayers each day — that presumably they are three kinds of prayer: in appeasement, in battle, and so forth.

These three modes correspond to the three daily tefillos — Shacharis, Minchah, and Maariv. Each is its own kind of "drawing near": one of appeasement, one of battle, and so on, varying ways of approaching Hashem to roll away the stone.

ובכל אלה הג' עדרי צאן יכולין לגלול האבן:

And through all these three flocks of sheep one can roll away the stone.

The three flocks at the well correspond to the three daily prayers. With all three modes of avodah and tefillah together, a person gains the strength to roll the great stone off the wellspring and release the living waters of true prayer.

Summary: The great stone on the well is the yetzer hara, whose chief aim is to block tefillah — the "service of the heart" and wellspring of holiness — so that we must beg, "Hashem, open my lips." There is no trick to prayer; the mouth opens only in proportion to one's avodah and the heart's yearning throughout the entire day, the culmination of all one's deeds. The tzaddik recognizes that the very stone is a protective covering, like a cork guarding a barrel; what looks from outside like Heaven obstructing is truly for one's good. And through the three daily prayers — modes of appeasement, battle, and supplication — a person gathers the strength to roll the stone away.