To Each Their Own Struggle

Yitzchak Avinu and Rivka Imeinu remain childless for the first twenty years of their marriage. Undoubtedly, they both davened pretty hard for the blessing of a child. The passuk explicitly points out that Hashem answered Yitzchak Avinu's teffila and granted them children. [ see Bereishis 25:21]

What about Rivka Imeinu's teffilos ?

The gemara [yevamos 64a - quoted by Rashi ad loc.] explains that the prayers of a tzaddik who is also the son of a tzaddik are greater than the prayers of a tzaddik whose father was wicked. Rivka's father, Besuel, was wicked, while Avraham - Yitzchak's father - was righteous.

But why should that be the case ? Doesn't the gemara teach us that a sincere Baal Teshuva is possessed of such a high level of holiness that even a completely righteous individual may not stand in his place ? The teffilos of a tzaddik ben rasha should be higher !

It's true, that the tzaddik ben rasha has made great strides in his personal development. The road from the household of sin to the halls of righteousness is certainly long and arduous. But that's just it - it's arduous - but also obvious. While the baal teshuva guards himself against relapse - the tzaddik ben tzaddik must guard himself from an even deadlier foe - complacency.

How easy would it have been for the son of the greatest righteous man of the generation to simply content himself with living in his father's household and being "just a good boy" ? How many FFB's are just happy with status quo ?

Yitzchak Avinu wasn't.

He was a sincere tzaddik in his own right. And having risen up, despite the most powerful yetzer hara of stagnation and complacency, certainly accounts for why his teffilos carried special merit.

And us ?

We must ask ourselves - are we also fighting complacency and the lethargy to resign ourselves to our religious status quo ? Could we fight harder ?