The Midrash in Parashas Toldos teaches us an amazing yesod regarding the pasuk ה›, לו ויעתר היא עקרה כי אשתו לנוכח לה› יצחק ויעתר and Yitzchak entreated Hashem opposite his wife because she was barren and Hashem allowed himself to be entreated by him. Yitzchak and Rivkah each stood in a separate corner and davened to Hashem. Yitzchak said, “Ribbono shel Olam! The children that You give me should be from this tzaddekes,” and Rivkah said, “The children that You give me should be from this tzaddik.”
Perhaps they each foresaw with ruach hakodesh that they would eventually merit children, and they davened that the children would come from this marriage. This is the Torah’s guidance in this matter. Here they were, struggling with the terrible pain of childlessness, and this was their approach: each davened in the merit of the other.
An Unknown Ailment
A powerful story that illustrates the power of davening for another: The Sfas Emes of Gur left This World at the age of 56, following an illness that was unknown to the doctors; they didn’t know how to treat it. Following this, the Avnei Nezer of Sochachov, a friend of the Gerer Rebbe, explained. “In his capacity as a rebbe of thousands of chassidim, the Rebbe saw hundreds of people every day. So many of them confided to him about their illnesses, sicknesses, and ailments—and the Rebbe surely davened on their behalf. Since he had davened for all these illnesses, he could no longer be stricken with those illnesses. It had to be a sickness that wasn’t common...that no one ever heard of... and thus, the Rebbe hadn’t davened for others who suffered from this illness.”
