11 Nov 18 Ways To More Effective Prayer (Part 7)
Let us return to our crash course on more powerful prayer.
Effective Way Number Ten:
In the beginning of the Torah, we are informed it did not rain yet upon the earth for “V’adam ayin laavod es ha’adomah – There was no man yet to work the ground.” This is perplexing. What does working the ground have to do with rainfall? Rashi explains that the work the Torah is referring to is the work of the heart, namely prayer, for rainfall comes in response to human prayer. (As an aside, this teaches us the important lesson that when we go to shul, we are not going there to sit back and relax. Rather, we are going there to work, to purge our minds from all distractions and invest effort in concentrating that we are talking to the Almighty. Rabbi Wein, shlit”a, writes that when he furnished his shul in Monsey, he deliberately avoided making the chairs too comfortable. He didn’t want his congregants to lean back. He wanted them to sit up and get to work.) In a metaphorical sense, geshem refers to gashmius, our material success, and it conveys the lesson that our parnassa, our livelihood, also comes about through proper prayer.
This is a cardinal belief. Quality tefillah can greatly enhance one’s take-home pay. The Mabit, in his seminal sefer on prayer Beis Elokim, writes that one can find people who can barely see, get better and start seeing again. So too, those who are mute can start to talk. But, rarely, he informs us, does someone who is a shoteh, who is institutionally deranged, become sane and normal. He explains the reason. The one who can’t see desperately prays to Hashem for sight. The one who is mute intensely pleads to Hashem for the ability to speak. The one who is deranged doesn’t pray to Hashem because he thinks he’s normal so he doesn’t pray for help – and everything depends on proper prayer.
In a quasi-humorous way, the Toliner Rebbe shared the following witticism. He and the Rachmastrivska Rebbe, shlit”a, are brothers. He was once asked why his brother has many wealthy chassidim while he has mostly a poor constituency. The Toliner Rebbe answered as follows. “My brother has a large chassidus. Each chossid gets very little time to spend with him. Thus, they don’t feel confident with the short time he provides them, so they pray to Hashem and therefore they are successful. I have much fewer chassidim and I spend much more time with each one. Therefore, they put their faith in me instead of focusing on Hashem. That’s why they’re all poor.”
In bentching, we say, “V’na al tatzricheinu, Hashem Elokeinu, lo lidei matnas basar v’dam, v’lo lidei halva’asom; ki im liyod’cha ham’lei’ah, hapesuchah, hakadoshah v’har’chavah – And please Hashem may we not need to take gifts from flesh and blood and not take loans; rather, we should be supported from Your Hands that are pure, open, holy and bountiful.” For many, this prayer seems to almost be hypocritical. They are supported by their parents, they live in their house and drive cars solely because of bank loans. The Siach Sarfei Kodesh makes this prayer more palatable by rendering the request as follows. “We should not need gifts from flesh and blood or their loans, except if we realize that they are really coming from Hashem’s Hand which is full, open, holy and bountiful (interpreting the words ki im as a conditional statement).
May it be the will of the Hashem that we realize what a great impact our baruch aleinu, our shma koleinu, and our sim shalom can make in our livelihoods and in that merit may Hashem bless us with long life, good health, and everything wonderful.