21 Jan PARSHAS VAEIRA: TEFILLAH

A wife told her
husband, “Our wall
isn’t soundproof, and
our neighbors hear
our conversations. We
don’t have privacy.
We need a new wall.”
The husband replied,
“There is nothing to worry about. The
wall is soundproof. No one hears us
from the outside. You are imagining
things.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
It was the neighbor. He came in and
said, “You don’t need to construct a
thicker wall. I don’t hear anything.”
The yetzer hara tells us, “Hashem
doesn’t hear anything. Your tefillos
aren’t heard.” When the yetzer hara
tells us that, we know that Hashem
does hear.
In fact, why does the yetzer hara
disturb us from davening? It is because

he knows the power of our tefillos. His
disturbances and his attempts to have
us believe that Hashem doesn’t answer
our tefillos are our greatest proof that
Hashem hears all of our tefillos.
Hashem told Moshe (8:16) “Arise
early in the morning and stand before
Pharaoh.” The Midrash says that
Hashem wanted Moshe to get to
Pharaoh very early, before Pharoah
davens, because Hashem would listen
to his tefillos and save him, and then
Hashem wouldn’t bring the makos.
So, we see that Hashem listens even to
the tefillos of Pharaoh, and everyone
can take from this awareness that
Hashem will certainly listen to him
when he turns to Him in prayer.
The Rayatz of Lubavitch zt’l says,
“People think that all they need to do is
wait for Moshiach, but they forget that
in Mitzrayim, they needed tefillah, too,
and only then were they saved.”
We begin Shemoneh Esrei with the

words Elokei Avraham Elokei Yitzchak
V’Elokei Yaakov. Saying these words
is a segulah for our tefillos to be
answered. It states (3:15) Hahsem
Elokei Avoseichem Elokei Avraham
Elokei Yitzchak V’Elokei Yaakov…
V’Zeh Zichrei L’Dor Dor. “Hashem
the G-d of your fathers: the G-d of
Avraham, the G-d of Yitzchak, and the
G-d of Yaakov… This is how I should
be mentioned in every generation.” The
Ramban writes that this means, “In
all generations when one says Elokei
Avraham Elokei Yitzchak V’Elokei
Yaakov Hashem will answer his
tefillos.” Because of Hashem’s love for
the Avos, when we say these words,
Hashem will listen to our tefillos. When
saying these words in Shemoneh Esrei,
one should think about our unique
privilege to be descendants of the holy
Avos. A grandson of a chassidic Rebbe
was waiting for his turn to speak to the
Beis Yisrael of Gur zt’l. As he waited, he
said to the gabbai, Reb Chaninah Shif,
z’l, “When you bring me to the Gerrer

rebbe, tell him who my grandfather is.”
The gabbai replied, “It isn’t our custom
to do that.”
But the bachur insisted, so when Reb
Chanina Shif brought him before the
Beis Yisrael, he said, “He wants you to

know that he is a grandson of the this-
and-this tzaddik.”

The Beis Yisrael replied, “I should
know? He should know!”
The same is regarding the Avos. We
should know our yichus. We should
know that we are descendants of the
holy Avos. This awareness should
fill our hearts with pride and joy, and
in their merits, our tefillos will be
answered.