#2. There was once a lady sittng by her dying child. She was crying
and pouring her heart out to Hashem. She heard that a holy rav had come to town. She asked her husband to
go and get a bracha (blessing) from him. The man got up and went to the rav. After explaining his urgency
to the gabbai (rav's attendant), he was told to sit and wait while the gabbai went into the rav to let him
know. The gabbai knocked and opened the door to the rav's study.
The rav immediately signaled him to leave.
The
gabbai went back to the man and told him to wait. An hour passed. The man again pleaded with the gabbai, telling
him, "my child can already be dead. Please, please help me." the gabbai went back to
the rav's study and was again signaled to wait. The gabbai returned to the man and told him again to wait.
In the meantime, back home, the mother was still pouring her heart out to hashem.
A short time later, the rav's study door flew opened. The rav excitedly came out and
told the man that everything is okay, the child is fine, and that he should go home. The rabbi said, "your
wife's simple tefilos just reached the heavenly throne (kisei hakavod). The man was so startled, he thanked
the rav, and ran home.
The gabbai asked the
rav to explain what just happened. The rav told the gabbai , "I saw up in shamayim that the baby was destined to
die and there was nothing to be done, but because of the mother's simple tefilah, the decree was changed.
Hashem desires our simple faith in him, to believe that he can do anything.
The lady said with sincerity, "please, Hashem, look down at my baby. See how much he is suffering.
Please help him. That simple tefilah changed the decree. The child grew up and lived a long life with Hashem,torah and
mitzvot.
Lichvod Klal Yisrael remeber a simple t'filah
can change the decree.
#3. Yankel Am Ha'Aretz For the gates of heaven never
close for tears
In a little town somewhere in Europe
Just about a hundred
years ago
Lived a simple man his name was yankel
And this is how his story goes
Yankel couldn’t
learn a blatt gemara
Why he barely knew to read and write
Deep in his heart he loved to do the mitzvos
But
somehow he never seemed to get things right
He didn’t know his brachos couldn’t say shma by heart
Hed daven shmoneh esray with his feet spread wide apart
Everyone would laugh and snicker when he passed them by in
shul
Here comes yankel am ha’aretz could there be a bigger fool
All the children would make fun of yankel
Teasing him as if he were a child
But he never ever lost his temper
On his face there was always a smile
Now the rebbi tried to learn with yankel
So the young man would know how to cope
In one ear but then out the other
The rabbi gave up there simply was no hope
His ivreh was atrocious the place hed always lose
Hed show
up on yom kippur wearing shiny polished shoes
Everyone would laugh and snicker when he passed them by in shul
Here
comes yankel am ha’aretz could there be a bigger fool
Stubborn yankel he just kept on trying
They all
told him it’s a hopeless cause
But he kept saying one day ill know how to
Learn the torah and keep its laws
Now one night the rabbi fell asleep in shul
Only to wake up when he heard a sigh
It was yanke by the aron
kodesh
There were teardrops running from his eyes
He was saying master of the world I know you hear my prayer
And I accept my fate in life your judgments always fair
Yet one thing I must ask you where else am I to turn
Could
I not serve you so much more if I knew how to learn
The rabbi sent yankel to learn in yeshiva
They all thought
hed lost his sanity
Hell be back in a week for certain
All the rabbi said was wait and see
Yankels now
a famous scholar it just took a few short years
For the gates of heaven never close for
tears
And everyone stands to shake his hand as he passes them in shul
Here comes yankel
Talmud chacham how could we have been such fools
#4. But
use your tears and learn how to cry!
During a lecture he delivered on Tisha B’av afternoon
a number of years ago, Rabbi Fishel Shechter related a personal story that a woman had related to him:
“A number of years ago one of my children died and I was devastated. I became so depressed that I refused to
leave my house. I was sure that I would never get over it and would never be able to get on with my life. Two months went
by and things did not improve at all; in fact my misery and self-pity only deepened.
“I
was invited to a wedding but I told my husband that I wasn’t going. I simply couldn’t. My husband knew how badly
I needed to get out and, when he saw that he could not reason with me, he literally pushed me out of the house and locked
the door. I banged on the door but my husband would not allow me back in. He called out that my dress and makeup were at a
neighbor’s house and that I had to go to the wedding
“Seeing that I had no choice,
I begrudgingly got dressed and went to the wedding. When I saw everyone dancing happily I became very upset. I felt that they
had no right to be so happy. With a complete feeling of dejection, I walked over to a phone booth and picked up the phone.
Tears streaming down my face, I said, “G-d, I don’t want to be here. Please get me out of here!”
“While I was standing there crying, one of the elderly women who was sitting at the door of the hall collecting
charity noticed me and walked over to me. She placed her arms on my shoulder and gently asked me, “Mein kint, vos
vaynst du- My child why are you crying?” I shot back at her, “You never lost a child!” She gently replied,
“Really? I lost ten children during the war! Why are you crying?” I looked at her in astonishment,
“And you never cried?” “Oh, I cried! But I learned that there is no point of crying over the past. I learned
to take advantage of my tears and to use them to cry for others. Whenever I cry I think about those who need salvation and
I pray for them with my tears.”
Then she put her arms around me and said, “No one
should tell you to stop crying. But use your tears and learn how to cry! Use your tears to pray for everyone you know who
is suffering” Then she walked away.
For a few moments I just stood there lost in thought.
Then I picked up the phone again and began to cry profusely. I thought about everyone I know who is going through a hard time
and I cried for them. I thought about those who were in the hospital when I was there with my child and I cried for them.
I cried for Klal Yisroel and I prayed for the future and for salvation and redemption.
“When
I finished crying I never felt so happy in my life. I stepped into the center of the circle and I danced like I never danced
in my life!”
#5."In a king's
palace there are hundreds of rooms, and on the door of each room there is a different lock that requires a special key to
open it. But there is a master key which can open all the locks. That is a broken heart. When a person sincerely breaks his
heart before Hashem his prayers can enter through all the gates and into all the rooms of the celestial palace of Hashem."
(Or Yesharim
#6
Prayer is for everyone - even if it is your first
time.
Rav Binyomin Pruzansky told the story of a mother who was on a deserted beach in Tiberias watching her
two daughters, aged 10 and 8, playing in the water. As she watched them splashing around, she called out warning them
not to go too far into the water. The older girl took the younger girl by the hand and moved her back away from the
water, but in the process she lost her footing and was tugged by a powerful undertow. Her mother, who did not know how
to swim, watched in horror and started screaming, "Help! Save my daughter!"
She immediately ran
up to the street and stopped a passing car. She begged the driver, a middle-aged man, to save her daughter, who was
drowning in the sea. The man ran toward the water, and started swimming forcefully and steadily toward the girl.
The mother stood at the shore crying and praying, and finally she looked up and saw the man carrying the girl toward the shore.
She breathed a sigh of relief, but was then struck by horror a split second later. This was her younger daughter, who
must have gone into the water to try to save the older girl. The mother thanked the man for saving the younger girl,
and explained that her older daughter must still be somewhere in the water. The man looked around and saw another figure
in the distance. He swam toward her at full speed, and when he finally reached her, he saw that she was barely conscious.
He held her hand and started swimming back to the shore.
As he swam, he heard the mother shouting, "Her head! Her head is still in the water!
Pick up her head!" The man immediately lifted the girl's head, feeling terrible that he had been negligent and
allowed the girl's head to remain underwater.
Hatzalah quickly arrived and brought the daughter to the hospital. The mother tearfully
prayed in the waiting room while the doctors struggled to bring the girl back to consciousness. Finally, the doctor
came out wearing a huge smile.
"You are the proud recipient of a miracle," he said. "Your daughter is
going to be just fine. We just did an MRI and found that her brain activity is perfectly normal. "
The woman was ecstatic.
A few weeks later, the family made a huge se'udat
hoda'ah to celebrate the miracle. The woman
was able to track down the man who had saved her daughter's life, and he attended the event as the honored guest.
As he spoke, everyone
in the audience listened attentively.
"I grew up on a secular kibbutz," he said. "I never really believed in
G-d, and I never really prayed. In fact, we used to laugh at people who prayed. We thought it was all a fairy
tale.
"A
few months ago, I suffered a heart attack, and I was spending some time in Tiberias as part of my recovery. My doctor
had advised me to swim every day to improve my health and get into shape, and I went swimming each day during my vacation
in Tiberias. If I hadn't gotten into such good shape, there is no way I could have been able to swim that quickly to
rescue the girls.
"When I was coming back with the older girl, and I realized that I had allowed her head to remain
in the water, I was devastated. I couldn't believe I could be so negligent, and I felt so guilty. When we got
back to shore and I saw she wasn't breathing, I didn't know what to do with myself. I felt that I caused her to lose
consciousness. I told my wife what happened and how devastated I was, and she tried calming me down, but to no avail.
I decided to do something I had never done before. I got back into my car and drove to the beach, to the spot where
the incident occurred. With tears in my eyes, I looked up to the sky and prayed, for the first time in my life.
I said: G-d, I know I have never prayed to You before, but I need Your help. I promise that if You save that little
girl, I will never stop praying to You for the rest of my life. Afterward, I called the hospital to find out what happened,
and the nurse told me that just a moment earlier the doctors succeeded in reviving her, and they felt she would fully recover.
Hashem heard my prayers, and I will, in turn, keep my promise to continue praying and never stop."
Prayer is for everyone
- even if it is your first time.
#7 keep davening
Rav Leib Pinter once gave a Mashal
of a wise king who, unfortunately, had not been blessed with a child who would inherit his throne, and he wanted to find someone
that would be an appropriate person to succeed him when he passed away. The king decided to make a test that would involve
all of the young boys of his kingdom, and everyone excitedly looked forward to the challenge. After all, who would pass up
the opportunity to be the successor to the king? When the boys had all gathered at the appointed time, the king handed out
a packet of seeds to each boy and instructed him to plant his seeds in a flower pot. The one whose flowers bloomed the fullest
in a certain amount of time would become his successor. Each boy left with his seeds and planted and nurtured them the best
they could. When the time came for the king to judge the growing flowers, everyone went to the palace with their flower pots.
Everyone succeeded in producing a very impressive and colorful array of flowers, and they all happily lined up to show the
king their work. But, for some reason, the king was not happy with what he saw, as nothing seemed to impress him. Finally,
the king noticed one boy who was standing quietly and sadly next to a flower pot that had only soil in it, without any flowers
growing. The king went over to him and asked where his flowers were, and the boy explained that regardless of how hard he
tried, he just could not get his seeds to grow into flowers. He said he changed the dirt, added various fertilizers, watered
the seeds regularly and gave them plenty of sun light, but nothing worked. Through tears he said, “I even Davened that
the seeds should start blooming, but I was not answered.” He said that he knew he wouldn’t win the contest, but
he came to see who the king would chose as the winner. The king began to smile and he said to the boy, “You will be
my son. You will be the one to inherit my throne!” When everyone heard this, they were all in a state of shock. Why
would the king select the one boy whose flowers did not grow?! The king turned to the people to explain his choice, and he
said, “All of the seeds that I handed out had been boiled in water, and they were not able to grow into anything. Therefore,
all the boys who presented me with flowers that they claimed grew from the seeds, lied and cheated. They switched the seeds
I had given them for other seeds, or simply put already blooming flowers in their flower pots. The one boy who maintained
his integrity and was not willing to lie or cheat just to win, was this boy, whose seeds did not grow. He has the seeds of
truth, and because he has the quality of honesty, he will be the one to follow me as king!” This same idea applies with
regard to Yeshuos, salvations from Hashem. We Daven to Hashem for help in every way we can think of, but sometimes it seems
that Hashem does not respond to us. Yet, we continue to Daven, to believe that Hashem will help us, and to hope that our problems
will quickly end. We continue this with the firm belief that salvation can only come from Hashem. If we persist in our devotion
to Hashem and never stop asking for His help, our faith becomes stronger and our commitment will be nurtured— even if
we don’t see flowers beginning to bloom, because we are doing exactly what the King has asked us to do. And ultimately,
our tears and Tefilos will bring about an incredible salvation from Hashem— one that we could never have even anticipated,
because we will be answered as a child of the King!