When Esav heard that Yitzchak had already given the brachos to Yaakov, he cried out an exceedingly great and bitter cry (Toldos 27:34), and he asked that Yitzchak bless him as well. Initially, Yitzchak told him that he does not have another bracha for him. But after Esav begged and wept, Yitzchak then gave him a bracha (27:38-40). If Yitzchok did not have another bracha, then why did he change his mind after Esav wept?
The Alshich explains that initially, Esav thought that Yitzchak was the source of the bracha. So he begged Yitzchak to also give him a bracha. But when Yitzchak told him there was nothing else he could do for him, Esav realized that Hashem was the real source of the bracha, and that He had given only one bracha to Yitzchak to bestow upon his children, and that bracha had already been given to Yaakov. At that point, Esav cried and begged that Hashem grant a second bracha to Yitzchak. Hashem agreed and gave Yitzchak an additional bracha for Esav.
Why did Hashem agree to give Yitzchak a second bracha? After all, Chazal say that Esav violated the worst sins (see Midrash Rabbah, Toldos, 63:12). He certainly does not seem to be one who was deserving of a bracha! The Alshich suggests that tears can achieve what a regular tefillah cannot. Chazal comment (Bava Metzia 59a) that from the day the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, the gates of tefillah have been closed, but the gates of tears are still open. When Esav wept, his tears penetrated those gates of tears and were accepted by Hashem, and as a result, Hashem gave Yitzchak the power to bless Esav as well.
What do Chazal mean that even after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, the gates of tears have not been closed? And why were Esav’s tears enough for him to merit receiving a bracha? The Beis Hamikdash, the home of the Shechina, is the universal place for tefillah (see Yeshaya 56:7). After the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, it is harder for a tefillah to be accepted because the gates of tefillah are no longer as welcoming as they used to be. But there still is another place where the Shechina dwells even after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, and that is in the heart of every Jew. The posuk says, “They shall make for me a Mikdash, so that I may dwell among them” (Terumah 25:8.) The Alshich (Ki Sisa 31:13) points out that it says “among them”, not “in it” – b’socho lo ne’emar e’la b’socham – to imply that the primary place in which Hashem wanted His presence to dwell was in the hearts of the Jewish people, and from there the Shechina would spread and dwell in the Mishkan as well (see also Nefesh Hachaim 1:4).
The soul of every Jew is an expression of his true essence. Its source is from Hashem Himself, as the posuk says, “He blew in his nostrils the soul of life; and man became a living being” (Bereishis 2:7.) Hashem infused His spirit, so to speak, into man, into his neshama. It is through this neshama, this God-like essence, that a person connects with Hashem. But usually, it is challenging for a person to connect because his soul is covered in so many layers of physicality. When a person cries, he peels away those external layers and he penetrates to his very essence, his soul. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch is quoted as saying that tears are the sweat of the neshama. This means that tears express the innermost feelings of a person. They could be tears of joy or sadness, tears of anger or stress. But they reveal the essence of a person’s soul.
A tefillah accompanied by tearful crying is one that expresses the deepest emotions in a person’s heart. Through a tearful tefillah, one’s neshama can connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the purest way, and that connection allows the tefillah to be accepted.
In the climax of the Selichos of Ne’ilah on Yom Kippur, we say, “I have placed my reliance on the thirteen attributes (of mercy), and on the gates of tears for they are never closed; therefore I have poured out my prayer to Him Who discerns hearts, I am confident in these, and in the merit of the three Avos.” Why are we so confident that Hashem will answer our tefillos just because we cry out to Him? The answer is that our tears reflect our deep heartfelt desire to have our sins forgiven and to connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Since Hashem discerns the hearts of His people and understands the true meaning of our tears, we are confident that He will answer our tefillos favorably.
This perhaps is why Esav’s tears were so effective. Despite the fact that Esav was far from a tzaddik, his tears expressed a sincere desire for Hashem’s bracha. They revealed a part of his neshama, however small, that still wanted to feel a closeness to Hashem. It was that part of his essence which through his tears connected with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and enabled his tefillah to be answered favorably.
Tefillah is not about reciting a formula. It is about connecting with Hashem. When we invest our heart and soul in the process of tefillah, and we cry out to Hashem to draw us close to Him, we can hope that our tefillos will penetrate the gates of tears and that Hashem will respond to us with kindness and mercy.