Community Magazine January 2016

18 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE that we need to master, and that is the sense of mah , tola’at and efer – recognizing our lowly stature in relation to Gd. First and foremost, we must approach prayer with this mindset, with the understanding that we rightfully deserve nothing, we are independently capable of nothing, and we depend upon Gd for everything. Learning From Yishmael Why is this so? Why is humility an indispensable precondition for prayer? The answer, surprisingly enough, can be found from the story of the prayers recited by Yishmael, Avraham’s son who was banished from his father’s home. Yishmael journeyed with his mother, Hagar, through the searing desert, until eventually their water rations were depleted. Yishmael nearly died of thirst, but an angel appeared to Hagar and informed her that her son would live, “for Gd has heard the lad’s voice at the place where he is” (Beresheet 21:17). Once again, we have here a situation where Gd answered somebody’s prayer, and it behooves us to understand Yishmael’s “secret,” why it is that his pleas were accepted and he was saved. A fascinating approach to this story was presented by the 13 th -century Spanish Kabbalist Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla, in his work Sha’areh Orah . He notes the famous rabbinic teaching that all prayers we recite ascend to the heavens from the site of the Bet Hamikdash . Even today, our prayers recited in New York do not ascend directly to the Heavenly Throne. They must first cross the ocean, make their way to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and from there they rise and reach the Almighty. For this reason, the Sha’areh Orah comments, prayers recited in the Land of Israel, and especially at the Western Wall, are so much more powerful than prayers recited elsewhere. When one prays in the United States, such that his prayers must travel a long distance before rising to the heavens, many things can happen to the prayers along the way. Prayers are exposed to the various harmful spiritual forces until they safely reach their destination, and thus the longer they need to travel, the higher the chances that they will not accomplish what we want them to accomplish. There is, however, one exception to this rule. Speaking through the prophet Yeshayahu (57:15), Gd declares, “ ve’et daka ushfal ru’ah ” – that He resides among those in distress (“ daka ”) and those who are lowly (“ shfal ru’ah ”). When a person experiences pain or faces a dire crisis, Gd, our loving Father, comes to his side. Indeed, the sages teach us that the Shechinah (Divine Presence) hovers above the bed of an ill patient, and for this reason, a patient’s prayers for his health are far more powerful than the prayers recited by anyone else on his behalf. Thus, when Yishmael was dying from dehydration, Gd was right there with him, and so his prayers did Dedicated inmemory of the pure neshamot of the Sassoon children