Believe that your tefillos matter, that they count — and that these tefillos play a role in bringing yeshuas Yisrael

WE

are all troubled by the current danger to Am Yisrael. Given the circumstances, I would make two requests.

First, believe in yourself. Believe that what you do does make a difference. Rav Tzaddok writes (Tzidkas HaTzaddik 154), “Just as a person must have faith in Hashem Yisbarach, so too he must follow this with faith in himself, to believe that his actions matter to Hashem.”

Believe that your tefillos matter, that they count — and that these tefillos play a role in bringing yeshuas Yisrael.

During the era of Nechemiah, the Jews who’d returned to Yerushalayim were threatened by infiltrators who terrorized them. In response, Nechemiah organized the Jews of Yerushalayim and had them build a wall for security. He did this by assigning each family a section of wall that was its responsibility to build.

By dividing the work into personal assignments, Nechemiah motivated the people. He inspired them. Each person knew that without his section of wall, the wall would not be secure. The pasuk (Nechemiah 4:6) relates: “We built the wall… for it was in the hearts of the people to do the work.”

These days we hear expressions of “storming the Heavens with tefillah.” What does it mean to “storm the Heavens”? Does it require gathering in a stadium and calling out together in thundering voices?

To storm the Heavens, each individual Jew must daven his own silent Shemoneh Esreh with added intensity and clarity. He must see the words of the tefillah as pertaining to us, today. The words “magen Avraham” must mean the protection of the descendants of the Avos, today, here and now. “Sim shalom” must be a tefillah for Klal Yisrael, now. “Rivah riveinu” — please, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, fight our battles for us. Today. In Artzeinu Hakedoshah.

When each soldier does his job, together we storm the Heavens. Be part of it.

My second request is that you watch your tongues. Be careful with your language. Don’t speak badly of Eretz Yisrael.

Even under current circumstances, many American bnei Torah (and bnos Yisrael) have the courage to remain in Eretz Yisrael. Others have returned to chutz l’Aretz from Eretz Yisrael or delayed their planned departure from chutz l’Aretz. This is a decision to be made for each person. But to talk of Yerushalayim as a place of danger, a place to be avoided, is inexcusable. If you have fear or anxiety about being in Eretz Yisrael at the current time, don’t go. But don’t speak derisively of The City.

Are you so sure that it is safer in Brooklyn than in Yerushalayim?

An earthquake destroyed Tiveria and Tzfas in the 1800s. In Toras Moshe, the response of the Chasam Sofer is quoted as follows: “Kinas Yerushalayim asesah zos — Yerushalayim’s jealousy caused this.” During that era, Arab residents of Yerushalayim made life difficult for its Jews, and therefore people were forsaking Yerushalayim to live in the more established communities of Tzefas and Tiveria. This troubled the Chasam Sofer. To forsake Yerushalayim?!

Chazal speak lovingly of Yerushalayim as if The City is a living being. They speak of The City as a widow when its people are driven out and they describe its joy upon its people’s return. Chazal criticize lashon hara about Yerushalayim, referring to the Meraglim as “motzi’ei dibas ha’Aretz.” In the Gemara (Pesachim 8a) we find that those going to Yerushalayim should never attribute their stay to its physical benefits without praising the spiritual benefits.

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, speaking during the Six Day War of 1967 — a far more dangerous time — says emphatically (Sichos Mussar, L’regel Hamatzav, Maamar 4), “I say to you who claim that you will return home to chutz la’Aretz and daven from a distance for our brothers; you are speaking falsely. From a distance it is not possible to feel the situation, and it is not possible to truly daven.”

“Sha’alu shelom Yerushalayim,” speak longingly of Yerushalayim. Praise the bnei Torah who learn there and the many who have made the decision to return even after the war’s outbreak.

They will reap the benefits. They will grow by learning in Yerushalayim during a serious, somber period when learning and davening take on a greater significance.

Let us speak of our admiration for them and daven for their welfare, along with that of all Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael.

Because your tefillos do make a difference.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 982)