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Share(סג) וַיֵּצֵ֥א יִצְחָ֛ק לָשׂ֥וּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶ֖ה לִפְנ֣וֹת עָ֑רֶב וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּ֥ה גְמַלִּ֖ים בָּאִֽים׃
(63) And Isaac went out lasuah in the field toward evening and, looking up, he saw camels approaching.
In corpus linguistics, a hapax legomenon…is a word or an expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written record of an entire language, in the works of an author, or in a single text.
(יד) וַיֵּצֵא יִצְחָק לָשׂוּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶה לִפְנוֹת עָרֶב, אֵין שִׂיחָה אֶלָּא תְּפִלָּה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים קב, א): תְּפִלָּה לְעָנִי כִי יַעֲטֹף וְלִפְנֵי יקוק יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ, וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר (תהלים נה, יח): עֶרֶב וָבֹקֶר וְצָהֳרָיִם אָשִׂיחָה וגו'.
(14) “Isaac went out to have some words [lasuaḥ] in the field toward evening” – siḥa is nothing other than prayer, as it is stated: “The prayer of a poor man, when he feels overwhelmed and pours out his prayer [siḥo] before the Lord” (Psalms 102:1). Likewise it says: “Evening and morning and noon, I pray [asiḥa]…” (Psalms 55:18).
יִצְחָק תִּקֵּן תְּפִלַּת מִנְחָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר ״וַיֵּצֵא יִצְחָק לָשׂוּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶה לִפְנוֹת עָרֶב״, וְאֵין ״שִׂיחָה״ אֶלָּא תְּפִלָּה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר ״תְּפִלָּה לְעָנִי כִי יַעֲטֹף וְלִפְנֵי יקוק יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ״.
Isaac instituted the afternoon prayer, as it is stated: “And Isaac went out to converse [lasuaḥ] in the field toward evening” (Genesis 24:63), and conversation means nothing other than prayer, as it is stated: “A prayer of the afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint [siḥo] before the Lord” (Psalms 102:1). Obviously, Isaac was the first to pray as evening approached, at the time of the afternoon prayer.
שיחה תקרא התפלה, בשם משתתף עם צמחים ואילנות, שנקראו שיחים, על הפרחת הנפש בכחות חדשים, המסתעפים באפן טבעי ע"י רגשת הנפש בעבודה שבלב. זה ראוי ביותר לעת מנחת ערב, שהאדם קרוב להסיר מעליו את הטרדות, ואז תוכל נפשו להתרומם בטבעה, ורגשי הקדש הטבעיים, האצורים בתוכה, לדבקה באלקים חיים ולהתגבר באהבתו ויראתו הטהורה, יוסיפו פרי תנובה וישלחו בדים ופארות להיות כדמות אילן רב ואחד השיחים. ההפרחה הטבעית הזאת מתוך יושר הנפש היא שרש להנהגת הדין, אל הנוטה מנתיב יושר של ארחות חיים...
Prayer is called sichah (conversation), sharing a name with the plants and trees which are called sichim, due to the blossoming of the soul with new powers, which branch out naturally through the excitation of the soul in the service of the heart. This is most fit to the time of the evening offering, (see Tehillim 141:2) when one is close to casting off their troubles. Then their soul can elevate her nature, and the natural holy emotions stored up in her, to join to the living God and overflow with His pure love and awe, increasing fertile fruit and sending out shoots and branches, taking the likeness of a mighty tree - one of the sichim. This natural blossoming from within the rightness of the soul is the root of the judgment which is passed upon the one who turns aside from the straight path of life....
(א)לשוח. ללכת בין השיחים:
(1) AND ISAAC WENT OUT TO MEDITATE. The word la-su’ach (to meditate) means to walk among the trees.
(א) ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה - כדכתיב: וכל שיח השדה כלומר: לטעת אילנות ולראות ענייני פועליו ואז בהיותו בשדה ראה גמלים באים והלך לקראתם לראות אם הם גמלי אביו שהוליך העבד.
(1) ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה, the word לשוח is basically the same as שיח השדה, “the plants that grow in the field,” (Genesis 2,5). Yitzchok went out to plant useful vegetation, trees, etc., and to check the work of his employees. While he was thus occupied he happened to espy גמלים באים, camels approaching. He came closer to see if per chance they were the camels belonging to his father which the servant Eliezer had been leading.
…the person who is alone in front of nature and all its mighty features might instead turn in another direction. He is liable to shake off society's chains and morals, and join a wild world where only the strongest survive and everything is subject to considerations of personal benefit. This is true not only at the behavioral level but also at the conceptual level: in such a reality, a person may think that he is solely in control of the world, which is all material and disconnected from the sublime.
What emerges…is a portrait of Isaac imprinted with the deep death-knowledge of his Binding, face turned toward the dying of the light, darkly narrating his story to God. The field in which Isaac walks he transforms into the language of prayer.
Arguably…something even deeper is going on here. Isaac has just come from a terrifying encounter with God’s mysterious, uncompromisingly demanding side. Much of what had guided him has been called into dramatic and excruciating question: Who is Abraham, a father who declares his presence to Isaac and yet agrees to sacrifice him? And who is the God who demands such behavior of Abraham?
