וּבַמִּדְבָּר אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתָ אֲשֶׁר נְשָׂאֲךָ ה’ אֱלֹקֶיךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר יִשָּׂא אִישׁ אֶת בְּנוֹ בְּכָל הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר הֲלַכְתֶּם עַד בֹּאֲכֶם עַד הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה: וּבַדָּבָר הַזֶּה אֵינְכֶם מַאֲמִינִם בה’ אֱלֹקֵיכֶם: (א, לא לב)
And in the wilderness, as you have seen, that Hashem, your G-d, carried you, as a man carries his son, on the entire way that you traveled, until you arrived at this place. Yet in this matter you do not believe in Hashem, your G-d. (1:31-32)
One may say by way of allusion that this is what Moshe said to Israel: “Uvamidbar” – in the sense of dibur (speech). And he meant to say that through the power of prayer, which comes through speech, “asher re’isa” – you have seen in the past how great its power is, “asher” – through it “Hashem your G-d carried you as a man carries his son,” for when you were in the desert, you were several times in distress without water and food, and I then turned to Hashem Yisbarach to plead for mercy on your behalf and I was answered in the merit of my prayer, for Hashem provided for you a well and manna. Likewise, He provided for you everything you needed, like a man who carries his son and takes care of everything he needs. And He continued with these kindnesses “in all the way that you walked until you came to this place.” If so, you must continue to strengthen yourselves in the service of prayer and supplication, and you will continue to see wonders through it.
Indeed, all the holy seforim are filled with teachings about the power of prayer, that through it one can merit to nullify many harsh and evil decrees, and to draw down abundance of blessing and salvations. And when we see at times that a person’s prayer makes no impact, the reason for this is the lack of faith in the power of prayer. It is true that even such a person studies Torah and sees that Moshe’s prayer made an impact, but he does not attribute this to the prayer itself, but rather to the one who prays. That is, his mind tends to think that only the prayer of the righteous, like that of Moshe, is accepted, but there is no proof from this regarding the prayer of an ordinary person.
This is what the posuk continues: “U’vadavar hazeh” – in this very thing, namely the power of speech, which is prayer – “einchem ma’aminim” – you do not believe. You do not believe that this is what benefits you, for in your view, everything depends solely on the decree of “Hashem your G-d,” and sometimes indeed He changes His decree – that is, when a righteous person pleads before Him. And since this is your belief, you do not value your own prayer, and you do not approach the service of prayer properly, and your request is not uttered before your Creator from the depths of the heart. But one who truly believes in the power of prayer and knows that Hashem listens to his prayer and desires to bestow goodness upon him – such a person indeed prays with seriousness and from the depth of the heart, and merits to see blessing in the labor of prayer.
And I will copy for you a passage from the holy sefer Tiferes Shmuel (Parashas Ki Savo), which speaks of the power of prayer specifically when it stems from faith and recognition of its lofty value, and these are his words: “Prayer is a matter of faith, for if not – why does one pray? As the Baal HaAkeidah wrote, and other holy seforim as well, the matter of prayer is a positive commandment from the Torah, as it says (11:13): ’ולעבדו בכל לבבכם’ - ’And to serve Him with all your heart.’ And is it not merely a request for one’s needs? How can this be called a commandment? The explanation is: certainly prayer is a positive commandment, for one believes and trusts in Hashem Yisbarach that He hears his prayer and will help him with abundant goodness. For if not, why would he pray and to whom is he praying? Thus, the essential aspect of prayer is to reach faith and trust, and therefore it is a positive commandment.”
And not only this, but even a great tzaddik, who is on the level of “the righteous decrees and HaKadosh Baruch Hu fulfills,” if he does not believe in the power of his own prayer – that it can have an effect in Heaven – then in truth, he does not accomplish anything with his prayer.
As this matter is explained at length with good reasoning and wisdom by HaRav HaKadosh of Zlotchov, one of the great disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch, in his sefer Orach LeChaim (Parashas Haazinu), and these are his words: “There are tzaddikim who are in a state of humility, and they do not believe in themselves or in their good deeds. All their good deeds and prayers and acts of charity are not considered anything in their eyes, and therefore they do not believe in their own prayers and good deeds that they could have an effect through their prayers. And the reason for this is that when a person truly serves Hashem Yisbarach he is filled after the service and prayer with awe and humility, for he sees the Divine in this service, and he perceives in his mind that he is lacking in the service. Therefore, he is filled with awe and lowliness, and the more he ascends in spiritual level, the more he sees his own lowliness and deficiency in service. But even so, he must believe in his prayer and his deed – that it has an effect Above. And if it appears to him that he is lacking in service, let him fix what he can fix, and what he cannot fix, let him ask for mercy over that known deficiency. But he should not, because of this, cease to believe in his prayer and in his deed. For if he does not believe that he can accomplish Above through his prayer and his speech – then in truth, he does not accomplish. For just as a person stirs below, so does he effect Above. And he should consider himself a small world, and all the worlds of the highest levels are included in him. Therefore, when he examines his deeds and regrets them, he can effect change in the supernal worlds up to the root of his soul. And he can transform the attribute of judgment into the attribute of mercy, and give strength and might Above, as it is said (Tehillim 68:35): ’תנו עוז לאלקים’ - ’Give strength to G-d.’ And if, chas v’shalom, he does not believe in his good deeds and in his prayer, about him it is said (32:18): ’צור ילדך תשי ותשכח א’ל מחוללך’ - ’The Rock who birthed you, you weakened; you forgot G-d who brought you forth’ – that is to say, you forgot that G-d brought you forth from supernal worlds of the highest levels, and that you can effect Above through your prayer and your deeds.” End quote.
In light of his words, it is incumbent upon every person to know that his prayer always makes an impression in the heavens, and draws forth abundance of salvations, and nullifies evil decrees and harmful events. And when he believes in this, indeed his prayer will be with proper intention, and will have the power to bring about wonders. And the Gemara is explicit (Rosh Hashanah 18a) that the efficacy of prayer depends on kavanah (intent), and this is its wording: “It was taught: Rebbe Meir would say – two people who ascended to the bed (sickbed), and their illness was the same; and two who went up to the execution platform to be judged, and their judgment was the same – one comes down [alive] and the other does not, one is saved and the other is not. Why is it that this one comes down and the other does not, this one is saved and the other is not? This one prayed and was answered, this one prayed and was not answered. Why was this one answered and the other not answered? This one prayed a complete prayer – he was answered; the other did not pray a complete prayer – he was not answered.” Rashi explained: a complete prayer means that he had proper intention in the prayer.
However, sometimes, even if his prayer has the power to perform wonders, the salvation is delayed from arriving. For sometimes, a person’s request cannot be fulfilled unless he prays a certain, fixed number of prayers. Therefore, if he indeed prayed from the depth of his heart and still sees that his request has not been fulfilled, he must not despair, but rather should add more and more prayers. And when the measure of his prayers is complete, he will see blessing in his efforts.
As we find that Moshe Rabbeinu prayed that he should enter the Land of Israel, and had he prayed one more prayer, he would have merited to enter, even though it had already been decreed that he would not. And so said Chazal (Devarim Rabbah 2:12): “Rabbi Chiyya Rabbah said: It is written (Tehillim 27:14), קוה אל ה’ חזק ויאמץ וקוה אל ה’’’ - ’Hope to Hashem, strengthen and fortify your heart, and hope to Hashem.’ Pray – and return to pray – and there is a time when they will give to you.”
