A Most Important Prayer to Save Us from the Satan

In our Maariv prayers, we make a very important request of Hashem. “V’haseir Satan mil’faneinu u’mei’achareinu – Remove the Satan from in front of us and from behind us.” The simplest explanation of this petition is that we ask that when the Satan stands in front of us, attempting to block us from doing good, and when he stands behind us pushing us to do bad, he should be thwarted from his machinations and we should be saved from his intentions.

I would like to point out that there are many layers to this all-important prayer. One of the chief methods of the Satan is to make a person feel that he’s so far gone that it doesn’t even pay to start doing good. For example, if a person grew up acting rotten to his parents, the Satan tries to convince him that he’ll never be able to overcome his history and so it doesn’t even pay to try. Similarly, a person who never picked up a sefer to learn feels, in his older years, that it’s just too late to start. He thinks he’s missed the boat. Many people burdened by guilt from their past throw in the towel and don’t try to reform in their later years.

The Torah tells us that about Sarah Imeinu it says, “Shnei chayei Sarah,” repeating that “These are the years of Sarah.” Rashi explains this is coming to inform us that all her years were equally good. The Das Zekeinim miBaalei haTosefos notes that, later on, it says the same phrase by Yishmael, “Shnei chayei Yishmael,” and of course, all his years were certainly not equally good. After all, Avraham had to send him out of the home because he was a mitzacheik who did idolatry, immorality and bloodshed. So, how can this phrase equally apply to Sarah Imeinu and Yishmael?

The Das Zekeinim answers with a remarkable idea. Later in life, Yishmael did teshuvah. He became reborn like a ger who is misgai’er, who is considered k’katan she’nolad dami, like a child who is newly born, and his early sins were discounted. The Riva goes one step further and says that since Yishmael did teshuvah mei’ahavah, repentance out of love, his sins were converted to zechuyos, to merits. Thus, all his years were all considered as good. So, rather than being burdened by guilt, one should realize that they should look ahead and they certainly can convert the past into a positive. This is another understanding of “V’haseir Satan mil’faneinu,” to remove the Satan from in front of us when he attempts to burden us with feelings of guilt.

We should also not underestimate the powers that the Satan has to try to thwart us from doing good. It says that before the Akeidah, the Satan disguised himself as an old man who tried to convince Avraham not to do the Akeidah. When that failed, the Satan then appeared like a raging sea trying to block Avraham’s path. After Avraham plowed ahead before the Akeidah, he took the precaution of hiding Yitzchak in a box so that the Satan wouldn’t try to make a blemish in Yitzchak in order to disqualify him from the Akeidah. So, when we say, “Remove the Satan from before us,” we must realize how much license the Satan has to try to thwart us from our service of Hashem.

When Sarah Imeinu died, it says that Avraham cried. The Torah writes the word livkosah with a small kof to indicate that his crying was somewhat minimized. The commentators give many reasons for this, such as Sarah was old or that she was completely righteous and going to a better world. However, many explain that Sarah died from the shock of the Satan giving her the news about the Akeidah. Thus, Avraham deliberately avoided shedding copious tears in order that no one should think he regretted taking Yitzchak to the Akeidah.

This is another important meaning behind the request to remove the Satan mei’achareinu, from afterward. We ask Hashem that the Satan should never succeed in causing us to regret having done a mitzvah. Examples of this could be a person who gives a quarter to tzedakah and then later doesn’t have a quarter to put in the meter. Or, in a much more serious vein, a person who spends years learning Torah and then, when he isn’t able to make a living, the Satan tries to make him regret the years he spent learning Torah and not learning a trade.

After the Akeidah, Avraham returned back to Yishmael and Eliezer. (Yitzchak might have been in Shamayim to be healed or he might have already gone to the yeshiva of Sheim v’Eiver.) The Torah states, “Vayeilchu yachdav – They went together.” The Brisker Rav, zt”l, zy”a, explains that this is to convey that just as Yishmael and Eliezer, who didn’t do anything lofty, were not feeling pride, so too Avraham Avinu, who had achieved the magnificent success of the challenge of the Akeidah, did not feel any personal hubris. This is yet another meaning of removing the Satan mei’achareinu, from afterward. When we succeed in overcoming temptation and we achieve levels of greatness in learning, prayer or charity, Hashem should remove the Satan from afterward, who tries to trip us up with feelings of haughtiness and pride.

In the merit of this wonderful prayer, may Hashem bless us with long life, good health, and everything wonderful.

Transcribed and edited by Shelley Zeitlin.