{"id":99460,"date":"2022-11-20T17:45:09","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T15:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=99460"},"modified":"2022-11-20T22:41:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T20:41:38","slug":"prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA prayer of the poor man when he is wrapped in entreaty, and pours forth his supplications before Hashem: Hashem, hear my prayer, and let my cry reach You!\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Tehillim<\/em> 102:1-2)<\/p>\n

Rashi explains that the poor man<\/em> refers to Am Yisrael, an impoverished nation.<\/p>\n

The Malbim<\/em> asserts that prayer<\/em> is the outpouring of the soul before Hashem on behalf of the public, while supplication<\/em> is when a person cries out for his personal salvation.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Chama b\u2019Rabbi Chanina says (Berachot <\/em>32b) that if a person finds that his prayers were not answered, he should continue to pray, as the pasuk in Tehillim<\/em> (27:14) states, \u201cHope to Hashem; strengthen yourself and He will fortify your heart, and hope to Hashem\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Gemara (Berachot<\/em> 33a) relates the following account: A pious man was praying on the road when he was met by the governor. The governor greeted him, but he did not return the greeting. The governor waited until the man ended his prayer. Then he told him, \u201cDoes it not say in your Torah, \u2018Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul,\u2019 and, \u2018But you shall greatly beware for your souls\u2019? When I greeted you, why didn\u2019t you return my greeting? If I were to cut off your head, who would avenge your blood?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease allow me to explain myself,\u201d the devout man replied. He then asked the governor, \u201cIf you were standing before a human king and your friend were to pass by and greet you, would you return the greeting?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you did return the greeting, what would happen to you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy head would be cut off with a sword,\u201d was the governor\u2019s immediate reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that were the case regarding a king of flesh and blood, who is here today and gone tomorrow, how much more trepidation should I feel toward the King of kings, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Who lives forever!\u201d<\/p>\n

The governor was appeased and sent the pious man on his way with blessings of peace.<\/p>\n

You must know that prayer is the expression of the soul\u2019s yearning for Hashem and its submission to Him, as it exalts Him and glorifies His Name, casting its burden upon Him (Chovot Halevavot<\/em>, Cheshbon Hanefesh<\/em> III, 9).<\/p>\n

In order for a person to receive sustenance from G-d, he must first motivate himself in G-d\u2019s direction and turn to Him to request his needs (Derech Hashem<\/em> IV, 5).<\/p>\n

The Maharal expounds (Netiv Ha\u2019avodah<\/em> 2): There are those who ask the following: If a person finds that Hashem gives him the thing that he requests, why is it necessary for him to pray for it? And if he does not deserve that thing, will he get it merely because he prayed for it? Moreover, why is it necessary to pray with words? Hashem knows man\u2019s thoughts. Why isn\u2019t it enough to merely think of one\u2019s needs?<\/p>\n

The purpose of prayer is to perfect a person in the area in which he is deficient. Consequently, Hashem accepts his prayers and fulfills his request. Man\u2019s power of speech is what qualifies him to be called \u201cMan.\u201d When a person refrains from praying for his needs, he is not a fitting vessel, for everyone seeks that which he is lacking.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA prayer of the poor man when he is wrapped in entreaty, and pours forth his supplications before Hashem: Hashem, hear my prayer, and let my cry reach You!\u201d (Tehillim 102:1-2) Rashi explains that the poor man refers to Am Yisrael, an impoverished nation. The Malbim asserts that prayer is the outpouring of the soul […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":26622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}