God’s mercy is moved by character TB Taanit 25

If I had to pick one liturgical song that the entire congregation knows on Yom Kippur that prayer would have to be the last line of Avinu Malkeinu. Today’s daf Taanit 25 tells of the origin of that prayer. There was a drought. Rabbi Eliezer recited the necessary 24 blessings in the Amidah, but rain only fell when Rabbi Akiva prayed his short prayer of Avinu Malkeinu.

“There was another incident involving Rabbi Eliezer, who descended to serve as prayer leader before the ark on a fast day. And he recited twenty-four blessings, but he was not answered. Rabbi Akiva descended before the ark after him and said: Our Father, our King, we have no king other than You. Our Father, our King, for Your sake, have mercy on us. And rain immediately fell. The Sages were whispering among themselves that Rabbi Akiva was answered while his teacher, Rabbi Eliezer, was not. A Divine Voice emerged and said: It is not because this Sage, Rabbi Akiva, is greater than that one, Rabbi Eliezer, but that this one is forgiving (מַעֲבִיר עַל מִידּוֹתָיו), and that one is not forgiving.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman edited the series Prayers of Awe. One whole volume contains essays of almost 40 contributors from all the Jewish denominations and from around the world which seek to understand the prayer Avinu Malkeinu. I would like to share a selection from Rabbi Elie Kaunfer’s essay entitled “Prayer and Character: the Story Behind Avinu Malkeinu” which analyzes the above sugiyah.

Ma’avir al Midotav (מַעֲבִיר עַל מִידּוֹתָיו)-A Curious Phrase

“The use of the word ma’avir (from the root avar, meaning ‘to pass’) coupled with midah (‘attribute’), however, points clearly to Exodus 33:19-34:7, where God tells Moses, ‘I’ll make all my goodness pass (a’avir) before you. God then does indeed pass before Moses, as promised, calling out the 13 divine attributes (midot) that the rabbis associate with God’s mercy (a possible literary link with the 13 fasts [during an extended drought-gg]. Rabbi Akiva, who shares some traits with Moses elsewhere (Menachot 29b) mirrors the actions of God. Both ‘pass’ over there difficult midot-perhaps a reference to the harsher, more judgmental character traits that Rabbi Akiva (and God) is able to overcome but Eliezer cannot (see how harshly Rabbi Eliezer speaks to the community when rain does not fall in the immediately preceding story on our daf-gg).

“Rabbi Akiva therefore acts like God, or more precisely, like the God he wants to see in the world. But there is more. The character and actions of Rabbi Akiva and God interchange in more ways than one. The telltale verb avar ‘to pass’ is regularly used by the Rabbis to signify ‘passing before the ark,’ the equivalent of ‘going down before the ark’ (in our story) and a description of leading prayer. The Rabbis therefore interpret God’s passing before Moses as God’s taking on the role of a prayer leader-exactly what Rabbi Akiva will do during the drought.

“‘God passed before him and proclaimed’ (Exodus 34:6). RabbiYochanan said Were not written in the Torah, one could not say this: the Holy One, Blessed be He, wrapped himself in a tallit like one who leads prayer and showed Moses the order of this prayer. When Israel sins, let them recite the same order of prayer and I will forgive them.’ (Rosh Hashanah 17b)”

“The parallelism of human and divine action is not meant to lead to an equation of the two. Rather, Rabbi Akiva’s human action on earth evokes similar action by God by unleashing the way God is meant to act: it allows God’s mercy to overcome God’s justice. God too must ma’avir al midotav: ‘May it be my will that my mercy will conquer my anger, and my mercies should override my attributes, and I will behave with children to the attribute of mercy.’ (Berakhot 7a)

Ultimately, Rabbi Akiva’s Avinu Malkeinu is not just a powerful turn of the phrase that manages to work because of what the words objectively mean in their own right. They work because they reflect Akiva’s own character, as observed in the relationship to his teacher (Rabbi Eliezer) and to God-both of whom, he calls ‘my father’.” (pages 105-106)