Prayer Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe from TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Prayer Podcast.

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Good morning, welcome back everybody to the Prayer Podcast. We are in middle of going through the Talmudic and Medrashic sources about prayer. What is the power of prayer? And we start today with the Talmud in Ta'anit and then a Talmud in Sotah. It says the following Ain't Filoso shal adum nishmasa.

00:30
The prayer of a man isn't accepted, meaning mankind, the prayer of mankind is not accepted. Ella imkain masim nafshobikapo. A person's prayer is not accepted till he places his nishama, his soul, like it's in a spoon. What happens in a spoon? It can tip. It can tip, I mean the mercy of the person holding that spoon. If they don't drop me, like you put sugar sometimes you put it and it spills. It spills on the table. What are you going to do now? Sugar is gone. The prayer when we pray we have to feel like we're on that spoon that the Almighty is holding and pray hard enough. We pray with the right focus and make it real. Then the prayer is heard. It means we feel we're at the mercy of the Almighty.

01:28
Now the Talmud in Sotah says a very similar thing. It says Ain't Filoso shal adum nishmasa. The prayer of mankind isn't accepted. Ella imkain masim libo kibasar, only if a person makes his heart like the heart of flesh, not the heart of stone. A person can have a heart of stone where he's just cold hearted. We call it cold hearted or stone hearted. No, no, no, flesh hearted, that we feel that we are vulnerable, we feel that we are limited, we feel humbled by the awesome powers of the Almighty. Nishidatosh failalav ain't filoso nim eses. If someone is humble, his prayer won't be thrown out, his prayer won't be pushed aside, because God loves humility.

02:25
When we pray, what do we do? Which is why some people bow. They stand bowing when they pray, because prayer means I'm humble. Prayer means I recognize that it's not for me. It says that a king, what would a king do? We bow four times in the amida. A king bows the entire amida. He needs to be bowing the entire amida. Why? Because it's very easy for a king to get carried away and think you know, I'm all powerful, I can kill anybody I want at any given moment. I'm the powerful. No, no, no, no. It's very easy to forget that you're just a servant of God. It's very easy to forget what does a king need to do? A king needs to bow the entire amida to remember and keep on reminding himself every single day that he's a servant of God. A constant reminder. Gimel dvaram evatling zeirah kasha.

03:35
There are three things that completely remove a difficult decree, and, of course, one of them is prayer. Now, we mentioned previously in our introductions why is it important for us to pray If God is going to give us what we need anyway, why are we praying for things? We'll offer another idea, and that is it's not because we're trying to persuade God, but we're trying to make ourselves worthy of that blessing. In the process of prayer, we're trying to elevate ourselves and make ourselves worthy of that blessing that we want. So let's say we're asking to win the lottery. God says no, you don't deserve it, you're not worthy of it. God, I'm praying for it. We're not. We don't pray for the lottery, but we should pray for livelihood. We pray for good children. We pray for there are many good things to pray for. We're praying Hashem. Make us worthy of that blessing. We want to get to the place where we're worthy of that blessing. We're asking to win the lottery. We're asking to win the lottery.

04:50
There are three things that a person should always jump to and they'll be saved. And this is something we say in our prayer in Rosh Hashanah, at the highlight, at the apex of our prayers, the pinnacle on Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur, and that is to shuva. To filah Utsedaka, talmud in Yerushalmi says that prayer, sidaka, charity and to shuva repentance are the three keys for a person to be saved of any troubles. Chame Spaletsar, sh'itin Inovlimatavili, balaamala. Talmud in Traktit Yavamot tells us that you need to put your eyes downward, not to be arrogant, not to look up. Like me I'm so, I'm so mighty, I'm so strong, I'm so. Arrogant, but rather humbled Person should put their eyes towards the ground. Their heart, though, should be elevated. Their heart should be facing the heavens and talking to the Almighty.

05:58
It's an important thing for us to realize that our prayers are delicately heard by the Almighty. Every word that we whisper, every word that we cry out, every tear that we shed is very carefully and lovingly held by the Almighty. It's not something we should ever think. Oh well, pray a little bit more, pray a little bit less. Not a big deal, because, you know, everything just is on autopilot. No, no, no, there's no autopilot. The more we put ourselves in the hands of Hashem, the more that relationship grows. And the more we ask from Hashem, the more guidance, the more we will see that guidance.

06:42
If we want to live in an isolated world, god, I'll ignore you, you ignore me. Okay, so that's the way it'll be and that's not a great way to live. Nobody wants to be in a marriage where the husband it lives his life and the wife lives her life and they're just indifferent. You know they're under one roof, they share their expenses. Well, do you want to live together, to be unified as one? You want to do that with the Almighty, to be unified as one? Bring God in you, bring God in. He brings you in.

07:18
The Talmud, in Sanhedrin, someone who prays, he needs to see that he has the presence of the Almighty, the Shchina, right in front of him. As the verse states Shiviti Hashem l'negdi tamidai sh'in. Always envision the Almighty before me at all times. You're praying, pray with the recognition. You're standing in front of the Almighty. Have you Zoyibri Kriyash Mawbetfilo person to be very, very careful with the recitation of the Shema and the Amida and all of prayer.

07:56
Don't make your prayer routine. Don't make your prayer a routine. Eloh Rachamim V'Tachnun El-Fne Amokum. It's very easy I say the words, the same words I said yesterday and the same words I said the day before and the same words I said the day before, and every day. I just say those words, not even realizing what I am saying.

08:19
A person should instead invest like we are hopefully going to continue to do in our classes here is invest in learning what each word of the prayer means. What does it mean, and internalize it and focus on it and invest as much time as possible. This is one of the great rewards that our sages tell us will be bestowed on a person who invests in prayer that the principle is in the world to come and the interest is here. You'll benefit from it here in this world, and in the world to come you'll derive pleasure from that reward. So, our adham l-tahir li-bhukadam atukadam shi'is ba'ala, a person needs to purify his heart prior to praying. What does that mean? What does it mean to purify your heart?

09:13
Our heart can be in many different places. How many times do we have things on our mind, things that are distracting us, things that are not allowing us to focus properly? Before prayer, rid your mind of it all. Rid your heart you have hatred towards someone, erase it before prayer. We want to have blessing in our day. We want to have success as a result of our prayers. We have to purify our hearts from anything that's distracting. Shushuva, osa, mechta. Shuva does half the job. We want to connect all the way to Hashem. Shuva does half the job. We feel the osa, but prayer does the whole job.

09:59
I'm reminded of the story of Rabbi Lazar Ben Durdia, who talks about the man who lived a sinful life and then, at his very last moment well, he wasn't his last moment yet, he didn't realize it was going to be, but in repentance he did so much to Shuva, he did so much repentance and he cried out, which is the prayer part. He cried out to the heavens please, hashem, forgive me, please, hashem. And then a heavenly voice came and said Rabbi Eliezer Ben Durdia, you're welcome to the world to come. Why it wasn't only to Shuva? It gets you far, but only halfway. It only gets you halfway. Prayer gets you the whole way.

10:44
Talmud, the Midrash, says Amr Yusr al, our sages, the Jewish people, said bisman shabbat, samaig deshkaim ha'yunim akhribim karbalim miska'peh. When the temple was standing in Jerusalem, when we had a temple, we'd bring an offering and our prayers would be accepted. We'd bring an offering and we would have an atonement for any of our mistakes. It would be the form of connection with the Almighty, the A'chav ein bey ed eno el tifilo. But today, with the only thing we have, we can't bring those offerings. What do we have?

11:20
We have prayer, we have the ability to talk to God, and perhaps it's a greater connector even than bringing the offerings. You see, there was a time where the connection that you were able to establish with the Almighty was so great you can just go to the temple and you can see the offerings in the temple and you can bring an offering yourself, a sin offering, a thanks offering, a thanksgiving offering. There was a lot of many ways in which you can express your love for God. But you think God doesn't know that there's going to be a generation, 3,335 years after the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, where the Jewish people are going to be living out in Yehupetz or out in Houston, texas, and they're going to be so far from Jerusalem, 8,000 miles from Jerusalem, and they're going to feel disconnected. God says I'm going to give them a tool that can connect them even more than bringing offerings, and that's prayer. It's an unbelievable power that each of us possess the ability to talk to God.

12:25
Ritzonchel Leida Akokha Shatfil, you want to know the power of prayer. If prayer doesn't do everything that you ask for, at least half you'll see. At least half of what you want, of what you're requesting, you will get. That's what the Midrash tells us. Now. We said that prayer is even greater than offerings.

12:55
So the Medish Tanchuma says, from the fact that prayer is greater than offerings, just the mere fact, even if a person is not worthy of his prayers being answered, and for the kindness to be bestowed upon him, he says since the person is advancing in his prayers. A person is Marbe betatchunem, he's tachlunem, he is saying prayers and praying and praying. I'm going to do acts of kindness with him, even though he is not deserving of it. Then he brings a verse to back this up from Psalms all the ways of Hashem are kindness and truth.

13:56
Kindness or truth are opposites. Kindness means I give you even what you don't deserve. I'm kind, you don't deserve it. I'm going to give it to you anyway. What is truth? Truth is yes, yes, no, no. You deserve it, you get it. You don't deserve it. You don't get it. That's the way it is. Kindness and truth don't really get along, but the Almighty brings them together. He says you know what the truth is. You don't deserve it, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. I'm going to give you the kindness K'esheim sh'avodas, mezbeach kri'avoda.

14:31
Just as the service in the temple was called service kacht philo kri'avoda, so too prayer is called prayer service. It is a service. It's as if we're bringing the offerings at the temple, the same way in which they brought the offerings on the temple when it was standing. So too, and it was a service of Hashem, so too our prayer is a service of Hashem. Tsarich odum lahashkim. Let philo person shall wake up early for prayer. She'en lachok dolem in atphilo, because there's nothing greater than prayer.

15:08
The Mediashon to Hilim says bishoshat to omidum ispala, at the moment that you stand to pray, yelib chosameach, your heart should be happy. Why? Because it says ivdu eshashem besimchah, serve Hashem. What is service Prayer? Serve Hashem, besimchah with joy. And what does it say after? To bow lifon of Birnana, come before him with gladness. If you take the first letters of those following words bow lifon of Birnana, it's belave with heart. We have to come to Hashem with our heart filled with joy, filled with gratitude and thanks. Elbishoshadum, omid betphila, yesameach sh'ovid, lelokah she'en kamosa ba'olam. When a person is praying, he has to pray with an absolute joy, that he is praying to the Creator of heaven and earth, that there is nothing that comes close to God, there is nothing that is as great as God. Ve'alti hinoyik bekalus rohsh lifonov. And don't act with lightheadedness in front of the Almighty Synagogue is not a time for a kiddish club that you can do outside the sanctuary, inside the sanctuary. This is the place of Hashem. This is the place where we talk to God. It's not a place to schmooze with our friends. It's not a place.

16:43
I remember I was once in a synagogue where the rabbi stopped in the middle of the Torah reading. The Torah reading is not always exciting for everyone. Many people can't read the Hebrew. They hear the, the Laning, they hear the reading of the Torah, but they don't understand what's going on. They can even follow along, but they don't know what's going on. It's just a time to catch up with my friends.

17:09
The rabbi stopped the reading of the Torah. He says my dear friends, I just want to put something into perspective. He says what are we doing now? We're reading the words of Hashem in his Torah. Hashem is talking to us. Hashem is telling us, giving us guidance from his Torah. It's not a time to be talking while God's talking.

17:34
I thought it was a very important perspective. It's sometimes we're talking to God in prayer and we're going to be talking to our friends. That's total disrespect. They're great powers, they're great gifts that are tangibly ready and available for a person who accepts upon themselves not to talk in truth. There are so many stories of people who had terrible illness and doctors said there's no hope, and they accepted upon themselves not to talk in truth and they benefited from absolute, 100% healing. It's really a very powerful omen to declare that one is not talking to synagogue. Oh, but, rabbi, I don't know what I'm saying. Anyways, I might as well just make it meaningful that I'm there with my friends. That's great.

18:26
Do that outside, inside, even if a person doesn't understand anything, to just sit and contemplate. I'm standing in the house of Hashem, kishahayah Sha'ul and David B'Mu'arra. When King Saul and David were in the cave Yodavarra, they knew and they saw She'in, adam omade. Lo be Mamoanav, lo be Chachmasav, lo be Gvurasa.

18:54
A person doesn't stand with his money or with his wisdom or with his courage, but you know what stands for a person, tfilaso. His prayer, his prayer, your money can only do that much. Your charisma, your courage, your character can only do that much. Your wisdom can only do that much. Your prayer, they can do everything. Kiskyl David, v'yodah, the omar, she'in Tov lo el Tfilah. King David saw this and that's why he composed one of these Psalms Maskyl Lidavid.

19:34
I've come to the understanding. King David says that only prayer is my power. The only thing that I have is prayer. So now, in conclusion, after all of these different phrases, words of inspiration from the Talmud, from the Midrash, we conclude, after all of these things, that we learned from our sages kama hovo alaynu letakinis tfilasaynu shiyyu kamo shehin ru'uyis liyoz, how important it is for us that our prayers be properly placed, with the right decorum, with the right dignity, that we have our prayers with proper respect. La nigashim lifnei melech malchay am lachim. We are going to approach the king of all kings, creator of heaven and earth, and talk to him directly. Ve'in sufek shalimud besochan anusach sh'inikvah besidrat filoz halimud bebir amilim, that when we look into the sea and inquire about each word of our prayer and understand them yawilul, l'olakhtur, l'omkhan, bulachavin, beyeser, hadslachan It'll give us tremendous ability to have kavana, focus and intention in our prayers. Lachayntov, lilmo, divre, tfilah. Therefore, it's very important for us to take the time to study prayer and to invest in understanding every word of what we're going to say. We're saying mo de'ani, we're saying the blessings, the hundred blessings a day. It shouldn't just become rote. We're just saying thank you. It should be a unique, special thank you. I say this to my children. I try to implement this myself.

21:31
When you're a guest in someone's home, I think the worst compliment you can give the hostess is the compliment of saying thank you for everything. What do you mean? Thank you for everything, thank you for everything is just one blanket. I don't want to owe you anything. I don't want to be in debt in saying thank you, but to really give proper thanks is to recognize the bread that you bake the khala was delicious, and the fish and the table was so beautifully set. And the dinner we're, and the wine and the fish and the soup, the main course and everything that was the dessert, each and everything. I love the little mint leaf that you put on top of the dessert, every detail. That's a whole different thank you. So, yes, would it suffice if someone just said Tashem, hashem, thank you for everything. I love you, hashem, thank you.

22:33
Or if we stop and we give thanks and say to Hashem, hashem, thank you for my eyesight, thank you for giving me the ability to hear. Thank you for the pleasure of being able to smell delicious aromas, to smell coffee, to taste delicious foods, to be able to talk, to sing, to be able to see a beautiful world, to be able to walk from place to place, to experience great joy, to go into each of these things. And recognizing and giving thanks. It's saying not only thank you for everything, it's thank you for this and thank you for that, and thank you for this and thank you for that.

23:12
And to take every moment that we have on this earth to never take it for granted, to never take it as a given. Oh, it's just, this is the way it is, this is what everyone experiences. So why should I have to give special thanks? No, take the moment, take the time out of your day and give a special thanks Hashem, thank you for this. You have a special experience, you have something unique that comes up. Hashem, thank you for this oh, thank you for everything. No, no, no, that doesn't suffice. That's releasing you of debt, it's not building your relationship. Hashem should bless us all that we should merit to utilize our prayers as a tool, as a vessel through which we continue to connect to God on the greatest level possible, and all of our prayers, god willing, will be accepted lovingly in front of the Almighty Amen.