tefilah without negiyos

1) Last week I posted that Hashem did not stop Moshe from davening 515 tefilos even though he could have told Moshe right off the bat that he was not going to allow him to enter Eretz Yisrael because the yesod of tefilah is dveikus with Hashem, connecting to Hashem, irrespective of whether you get what you want.

My son beat me to expanding on this idea with the question of the Sefas Emes: Rashi writes that Moshe's tefilah was a model tefilah of how tzadikim should daven because rather than invoke his zechuyos, Moshe asked Hashem to give him what he wanted as a matnas chinah, a free gift.  How we we know, asks Sefas Emes, that this is the ideal tefilah?  Aderaba, perhaps had Moshe asked to be heard in the merit of his zechuyos he would have gotten what he wanted?

In the Sichos of R' Noson Tzvi Finkel he quotes R' Chaim Kamil who answered based on this same yesod of what tefilah is.  The measure of effective tefilah is not whether or not you get what you want.  The measure of effective tefilah is whether it brings you to greater dveikus to Hashem.  There was no one who came closer to Hashem than Moshe Rabeinu.  Therefore, it is his tefilah, even though his request was denied, which serves as a model for how to daven.

2) Va'Eschanan el Hashem ba'eis ha'hi -- when exactly was the "eis ha'hi" when Moshe offered this prayer?  One would expect that Moshe davened immediately after the sin of Mei Meriva, as soon as Hashem told him that he would not enter Eretz Yisrael, which is in fact how the Tur and others learn our parsha.  The problem is that in the parsha of Mei Meriva the Torah never mentions any such prayer.  Rashi and most other meforshim therefore read "ba'eis ha'hi" as occurring at the same time as the conquest of the lands of Sichon and Og that we read about at the end of last week's parsha.  Rashi writes that Moshe thought that if he was able to enter the lands of Sichon and Og, perhaps Hashem will allow him to enter Eretz Yisrael as well.   

Ramban takes a slightly different approach.  The end of last week's parsha closes with Moshe recounting his appointment of Yehoshua to lead the conquest of Eretz Yisrael.  In our parsha Moshe gives us the background to that event.  He tells us that at that time, when he was told of his impending death, he offered two prayers: 1) he requested to be able to enter Eretz Yisrael; 2) he asked Hashem to appoint a good leader for Klal Yisrael if he could not continue on.  In Parshas Pinchas, when these events occurred, Moshe never told us of this first prayer because Hashem vetoed his request.  He reveals it now as necessary background to Yehoshua's taking over.

The Ishbitzer in Mei HaShiloach (vol 2) addresses the issue of the timing of Moshe's prayer and in a deep comment flips Ramban's approach on its head.  Instead of Moshe's prayer and Hashem's veto being recorded as background to Yehoshua's appointment, Mei HaShiloach says that it is Yehoshua's appointment which sets the stage and is the background for Moshe's tefilah.  The biggest obstacle to tefilah which, as we've learned, is all about connecting to Hashem, is our negiyos -- we stand to get something out of it.  We have a vested interest, and so prayer becomes about our interests instead of about G-d.  Moshe's tefilah is a model of what prayer should be.  Moshe tells Klal Yisrael that he davened "ba'eis ha'hi" after relinquishing control to Yehoshua, after proving that I have absolutely no vested interest, that I am not asking because I want to continue to be the head honcho, then I davened to be able to enter Eretz Yisrael.  Then I was able to offer a true tefilah.