Yaakov told Yosef that he took Sh’chem by his sword and bow. The Targum explains this “sword and bow” to mean spiritual weapons, “with my prayer and asking”. Prayer and asking – are they not one and the same? Why did Yaakov count them as two?
It would appear from this that prayer and asking are two essentially different functions, a surprising fact to many of us. What indeed are these different functions? Asking is requesting something from Hashem, that part is pretty clear. T’fillah, prayer, means having an audience with Hashem. Will we gain some benefit by it? Sorry. The issue is not relevant. Our business is having a talk with Hashem and also connecting up with all the great basic truths we believe in; that Hashem hears us, that He cares about us, and that He involves himself in the affairs of this world. Any benefit, and we certainly do benefit, just as Yaakov did, is entirely incidental.
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