The interpreters asked about the verse, “And Jacob was very frightened and distressed.” After all, the Creator showed him in the vista of the ladder that He showed him, promised him to keep him wherever he may walk, as it is written, “And behold, I am with you and I will keep you wherever you walk, I will be with you.” So why did he need to pray, “Save me please from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau”?
The Zohar interprets the angels’ saying to Jacob, “And he is also walking toward you and four hundred men are with him.” It asks, “Why did they tell him so?” It replies, “because the Creator always wants the prayers of the righteous and is crowned with their prayers,” meaning that the Creator craves the prayers of the righteous (Yevamot 64a).
Baal HaSulam interpreted why the Creator does not give the created beings abundance without prayer, but rather wants them to ask of Him, and then bestows upon them. As our sages said, “More than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to nurse” (Pesachim 112). However, there is a rule that there is no light without a Kli [vessel]. A Kli is called “desire,” since there is no coercion in spirituality because it is impossible to feel the taste of pleasure from something one does not want, since the sensation of pleasure depends primarily on the yearning and desire for the matter. Hence, the Creator does not bestow unless the creatures have a desire and yearning.
Man’s desire is formed specifically by prayer, since by feeling the lack, a person begins to pray. By this, his prayer grows and multiplies until it comes to a level where he is fit to receive the upper abundance. For this reason, the Creator longs for the prayer of the righteous, for only by this can they receive His abundance.
It is known that we always discern two discernments in His abundance: Ohr Makif [Surrounding Light] and Ohr Pnimi [Inner Light]. Ohr Makif means that which a person is destined to receive, but he is not yet ready to receive the abundance. Ohr Pnimi means that a person is receiving in the present, meaning that the abundance comes inside of him.
According to what we said above, that we must precede everything we receive with a prayer, so as to have a Kli to receive the abundance, it follows that even after the Creator promised him in the vista of the ladder, it is regarded as Ohr Makif.
But when he met Esau, he needed salvation in the present. He had to pray and show the desire, regarded as the Kli for salvation, since without a Kli, it is impossible to receive Ohr Pnimi. The promise is regarded as Ohr Makif, but when we come to carry out the promise, we need a prayer. The Ohr Makif is an awakening from above, and the Ohr Pnimi comes by an awakening from below.