Rav Ginzberg's talk on tefillah and tehillim for Aneinu

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Tue, Dec 20 2005, 8:23 am

“Tefillah Is No Small Thing”
(A Tribute to Women’s Tehillim Groups)
By: Rav Aryeh Z. Ginzberg
Chofetz Chaim Torah Center

Recently, an acquaintance was having great difficulty with one of his
children. Upon my suggestion, he went to consult with one of the “Ziknei
Hador” (elder of the generation) during a subsequent trip to Eretz Yisroel
and ask him for advice. He returned disappointed. When I asked him what the disappointing advice was; he responded, “all he said to me was that I should say Tehillim with Kavanah (concentration).”
I have thought often of this “disappointing advice” and realized in those
words lies a profound and an important lesson for each and every one of us.

Tefillah is not only a vehicle of last resort; it’s our first line of
defense as well. When Kllal Yisroel is hurting, whether collectively or
individually, our first response should be to take our Tehillim in hand and
pour out our hearts in Tefillah.

During the worst of the Intafada, a concerned Jew from the United States
went into the private study of the great Gaon Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita and asked him what could he do in response to the terrible situation in Eretz Yisroel? Rav Chaim’s immediate response was brief and to the point,
“Tefillah”! The visitor asked “but is that all?” Rav Chaim answered,
“Tefillah is not a small thing”.

The only reason why our lives are not filled with the proper focus on
Tefillah; and why we are disappointed when the advice we hear is to increase awareness of Tefillah; is because we look at Tefillah as a “small thing”. If we didn’t, how much richer, fuller, and more connected to Hashem our lives would be.

There is no such thing as a failed Tefillah. Every Tefillah is heard and
accepted; even if its response may be delayed for generations. An example of just such a Tefillah is to be found at the very beginning of the Torah itself.

If we were to stop any child from Yeshiva or Bais Yaakov and ask him/her as to what is the best example of a failed Tefillah, a Tefillah that just
didn’t work; they would probably select the Tefillah of Avrohom Avinu for
the city of Sodom. The Torah relates the repeated attempts by Avrohom Avinu to save the city, only to see it destroyed.

However, a deeper look at this story adds a completely different dimension
to this “failed Tefillah”. The Medrash relates that in the zechus (merit) of
Avrohom’s Tefillah, his nephew Lot and his two daughters were saved.
A look into the descendents of Lot’s grandchildren, Amon and Moav, brought Rus Hamoaves, the great grandmother of Dovid Hamelech and ultimately Moshiach Ben Dovid.

And so from what seemed on the surface to be the quintessential failed
Tefillah; in retrospect may have been the most successful Tefillah of all.
The Gadol Hador of the previous generation, the Chazon Ish ZT”L shared
something truly remarkable as well as extremely frightening in a private
conversation with his brother in law Rav Shmuel Greineman ZT”L shortly after WWII ended.

He explained, “Heaven purposely concealed from us the horrific tragedy that befell the Jews in Europe, so we would not be able to try harder to annul the terrible decree through Tefillah”. He then added, “when I heard about the terrible evil of the Germans when General Rommel (called the Desert Fox) was in Egypt and was about to enter Eretz Yisroel. Through my Tefillos, he was stopped in his tracks”.

I truly trembled when I read these words years ago, (see Sefer Darchei
Mussar by the Mussar giant Rav Yaakov Neiman ZT”L page 410 for more details) for two reasons. First, historians have long been baffled by the seemingly incomprehensible decision of the desert fox not to enter Eretz Yisroel, where he could have marched all the way to Yerushalayim literally unopposed.

While the military historians wrestle with this question, the Chazon Ish
ZT”L understood full well, it was the power of his Tefillah.
What should indeed catch out attention even more so, is the fact while the
Chazon Ish ZT”L knew full well of his great “Koach Hatorah” (power of his
learning), his Hasmadah and Yegiah (diligence and effort) and also of his
tremendous Chessed and Midos; yet he had the understanding of Hashem’s ways, that only the depths of his “Koach Hatefillah” could save Kllal Yisroel.

We do so much good, and we bring so much Chessed to the table. Is there
another people who in every community that we live in, rich or poor;
organize a Chevra Kadisha, Bikkur Cholim, Hatzolah, Ohel, etc. etc. We have so much to come to Hakodesh Boruch Hu with and to say, “look at all this, “DEI LATZARASEINU” (enough of the pain)!

Yet the Chazon Ish ZT”L taught us, that the only thing that can stop the terrible decrees against us, that can stop Rommel in his tracks, is the power of our Tefillah.

Tefillah is for everything that ails us. Once a group of women came to the
Chofetz Chaim ZT”L from a neighboring Shtetl, and they began to cry and wail in front of him. They explained in the midst of their tears, that the army had entered their town, and had forcibly taken their husbands to become soldiers in the army. “Please Reb Yisroel Meir” they pleaded, “daven for them and for us”.

The Chofetz Chaim ZT”L gave a huge and painful sigh and said “why do you women come to me, instead go to the Shul and open up the Aron Hakodesh and shed your tears directly to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You should do so in any way you can, even in simple Yiddish. You do not need special prayers from me, you need only to open your hearts and tell him what troubles you”.

The Chofetz Chaim ZT”L often expressed to people who came to him for
Berachos and for his help amidst their tzaros; that they need to do two
things. First to daven. Second, to truly believe in the power of their
Tefillah.

The Gemorah Rosh Hashanah (18B) describes the fate of two people, who were condemned to hang by the king’s court, and both began to daven, yet one was saved at the end, and the other wasn’t. Reb Meir explained the difference between the two Tefillos; that one davened a “Tefillah Sheleima” (complete prayer) and the other did not.

What is meant by a “complete Tefillah”, for how could anyone whose life is hanging in balance not daven a “complete Tefillah”?

Reb Elya Lopian ZT”L explained what the Gemorah means when it refers to a “Tefillah Sheleima”. He says a Tefillah is only complete, when the mispallel understands that this is the only way, the only method to bring about a change. It is not a Tefillah of despair, but rather of hope and confidence that this will bring a change. The same Tefillah by two people in the same predicament spelled the difference between life and death, only because of the belief that one’s Tefillah can really make a difference. No, not can make a difference, does make a difference.

Having just returned from a brief visit to Eretz Hakodesh, I had the
opportunity to visit with many of the Gedolei Hador of all camps;
Ashkenasic, Sephardic, and Chassidic. What they all had in common was that their homes were filled with people from all walks of life asking for
Berachos and Eitzos for all that ails them. While clearly that is important
and very uplifting, in the words of the Chofetz Chaim ZT”L, it doesn’t
compare with what can be accomplished by one’s own heartfelt Tefillah.
We today are not zoche to have the Chazon Ish’s own “Koach Hatefillah”
behind us; however we are zoche to have amongst us a group of “Nashim
Tzidkoniyos: (righteous women) who gather together in homes, Shuls, in
schools and at weddings to complete together Sefer Tehillim on behalf of
“Cholei Yisroel”. These women are not famous, nor do they want to be. They are our mothers, sisters, daughters and granddaughters. All are blessed with a heart of compassion, and a deeper understanding of the great power of Dovid Hamelech’s heartfelt Tefillos.

Who knows how many Rommels were stopped by these women’s Tehillim groups.
How many Cholim were cured, and how many healthy people didn’t become Cholim. While these things are hidden from us, what is not hidden from us is the immortal words of the Chofetz Chaim ZT”L, that there is no force in this world more powerful then the force of women crying out together to the Almighty, and pleading with Him “DEI LATZARASEINU” (an end to our pain).

Our hope and prayer is that in the zechus of these righteous women and those that will join in the ranks, that their collective Tefillos will even
surpass the Tefillah of Avrohom Avinu for Sodom, and truly become the most successful Tefillah of all time.
May it happen speedily in our day.