The Mekhilta adds a further proof that the Hebrew root "pegiyah" means prayer, citing the prophet Jeremiah: "Let them now pray (yifgu na) to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which remain in the house of the Lord..." (Jeremiah 27:17). Here the word is used directly and unambiguously as an appeal to God — confirming that when Jacob "vayifga" at the sacred place, he was praying.
The Mekhilta then pivots to a verse from Isaiah that captures the essence of Israel's relationship to prayer in a single unforgettable image: "Fear not, O worm of Jacob, men of Israel" (Isaiah 41:14). The comparison seems insulting at first glance. A worm? But the Mekhilta explains: just as a worm smites a cedar only with its mouth — a tiny creature that can fell a massive tree using nothing but the power of its bite — so too Israel has recourse only to prayer.
Israel possesses no natural military advantage. Against the empires of the world — Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome — the Jewish people are a worm facing a cedar. But the worm's mouth is more powerful than it appears. It can bore through the hardest wood, topple the tallest tree, reduce the mightiest fortress to sawdust. That mouth is prayer.
The image redefines weakness as a form of power. Israel does not need armies, chariots, or iron weapons. Its mouth — the words it speaks to God — is sufficient to overcome any enemy. The Israelites at the Red Sea, facing <strong>Pharaoh's</strong> chariots with nothing but their voices, were the living embodiment of the worm that fells the cedar.