The Dubno Magid zt'l told the following mashal: A wealthy person sent his five sons to study Torah overseas. One of them, Reuven, became very ill. The doctors determined that only one cure was available, an extremely costly cure. The brothers replied, "Money isn't a problem. We will write a letter to our wealthy father, and he will send us money." This is the letter the oldest brother wrote: "Dear father, kindly send us a large sum because Shimon's eyeglasses broke, and he needs a new pair. Levi's clothes are old and worn, and Yehudah owes 450 dinars and must pay the debt. Also, send money for Reuven because he is dangerously ill, and the treatment costs a fortune." When the father received the letter, he was disappointed. He said, "How did my foolish son confuse the order of this letter? He should have written about Reuven first because that is the more important matter."
The Dubno Magid said that this is how it appears when people daven for many things, and then, as an afterthought, they daven for Moshiach. Davening for Moshiach should be our first and primary tefillah.
The Yaaras Dvash explains that we primarily mourn the destruction of the first Beis HaMikdash. (The second Beis HaMikdash was a respite, a break in the long galus, but the primary destruction was the first one.)
Obviously, at this time, we should daven for Moshiach. This is the most important tefillah.
The Tiferes Shlomo (השני מטה כן י"א ה"ד מסעי) writes, "A person should contemplate how due to our many sins, the holy land is under Arab control. This should break a Yid's heart, and he should shout out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. If Yidden desire the land and the building of the Beis HaMikdash, Hashem will quickly accept their tefillos. The Beis HaMikdash is already built and ready in heaven. We only have to request that it come down. Therefore, the Beis HaMikdash is called ביתך דביר (in the brachah רצה in Shemonah Esrei) from the word דיבור, speech. We have to ask Hashem to build the Beis HaMikdash and this will bring the redemption quicker."
The Mabit (Beis Elokim, Shaar HaTefillah ch.17) writes that our tefillos for Moshiach has greater potential to be answered than the tefillos of generations ago because we are nearer to the time of the geulah. "It is easier for the tefillos of the people of the later generations, who are closer to the time of the redemption, to be answered, more than the tefillos of previous generations," and this is for two reasons:
- We are closer to the geulah, so our tefillos can accomplish more than the tefillos of years ago.
- All tefillos of the past two thousand years are still present and join with our tefillos. So, it isn't solely our tefillos but the tefillos of all the generations that go up before Hashem.
The Yaaras Dvash (Drush 5) teaches that the first Beis HaMikdash was destroyed because people weren't davening. As it states (Tehillim 14:4), קראו לא 'ה, "They didn't pray to Hashem." Furthermore, it states (Eichah 1:2), לחיה על ודמעתה, "Her tears are on her cheek." This pasuk can also be read, "Her tears are because of her cheek." This refers to the tears of the Jewish nation that came because of the Churban. The tears came because of 'cheek,' which represents tefillah (see Chulin 134:). Thus, the bitter Churban was לחיה על because people didn't daven. They didn't daven that the Churban shouldn't occur.
The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni Yirmiyahu 327) says that when the Jewish nation was בבל נהרות על, on the banks of the Babylon River, enroute to galus, Yirmiyahu left them, and everyone began to cry bitterly. They said, "Rabbeinu Yirmiyahu! Will you leave us?" Yirmiyahu told them, "I testify by heaven and earth that if you had cried just once when you lived in Yerushalayim, you wouldn't have been sent into exile."
Even Nevuchadnezzar harasha understood that Yidden had the power to thwart the decree of exile with their tefillos, and therefore, he made attempts to prevent them from tefillah. The Midrash (Eichah Rabba 5:5) states, "The evil Nevuchadnezzar told Nevuzaradan, 'Their G-d accepts teshuvah. If they pray, Hashem will save them. Therefore, don't let them stop walking [as you lead them into galus], not even for a moment, so they won't have the peace of mind to call out to Hashem.'" Nevuzaradan followed Nevuchadnezzar's advice. When he brought the Jewish nation into exile, he didn't let them rest. His soldiers cut off the limbs of anyone who stopped walking.
So, we see that even Nevuchadnezzar harasha understood the power of tefillah, and that it had the potential to prevent the Churban.
We have sources that also the second Beis HaMikdash was destroyed because Yidden didn't daven to prevent it.
Chazal (Taanis 29) teach, "When the first Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, it was erev Tisha b'Av, Motzei Shabbos. The Levi'im were singing shirah. They were up to the words, אלקינו 'ה יצמיתם, "Hashem will demolish them [the enemies of the Jewish nation] " (Tehillim 94:23), but they hadn’t yet said those words and that's when the goyim seized the Beis HaMikdash. The same happened by the second Beis HaMikdash." It seems that had the Levi'im said אלקינו 'ה יצמיתם, "Hashem will demolish them," the two Batei Mikdash wouldn't have been destroyed. Their tefillos would have stopped the Churban.
The Meor Einayim also teaches that tefillah could have prevented the destruction of the second Beis HaMikdash. The Gemara (Gittin 56) tells that Bar Kamtza told the Roman king that the Jewish nation was rebelling against him. To prove it, he advised the king to send a korban and to see whether the Jews accepted it. Bar Kamtza made a blemish on the animal, disqualifying it for a korban. The chachamim in the Beis HaMikdash wanted to sacrifice the king's korban despite the mum (blemish). They said that they should bring the korban for the sake of peace so the king wouldn't be angry with them. But Reb Zecharyah ben Avkulas argued not to sacrifice it because "people will think that a korban with a mum could be brought as a korban."
The chachamim came up with plan B: They would kill Bar Kamtza so he wouldn't be able to tell the Roman king that they didn't bring the korban. Once again, Reb Zecharyah advised against it. He explained, "People will think that whoever brings a korban with a mum is killed." The chachamim accepted his views. The korban wasn’t sacrificed, and Bar Kamtza survived. He reported back to the king, resulting in the churban Beis HaMikdash.
