Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz [6 Sivan 5520 (the same day as the Baal Shem Tov's passing!) - 11 Iyar 5587] became the rebbe of many thousands of chassidim. He was noted for his sharp wit and humor and his elusive sparkling aphorisms. Some of his teachings are collected in his works, Zera Kodesh, Ayalah Sheluchah, and Imrei Shefer. Many stories about him appear in the book, Ohel Naftoli.
HIS SEGULOS:
Answers To Our Tefillos Achdus And Brotherhood
We all want Hashem to hear and answer our tefillos. The heilige Ropshitzer, in the Likkutim of Zera Kodesh, uses our pasuk to describe a segula for having our tefillos answered. That segula is achdus and brotherhood. There is a tefilla we recite before davening and doing mitzvos called leShem yichud – in order to unify the divine attributes. We ask in that tefilla that our prayers be accepted beshem kol Yisrael – “in the name of all of Klal Yisrael”. Through this achdus, explains the Ropshitzer, our tefillos are answered even if we ourselves are not so righteous. Even if we are unworthy and do not always walk the straight path of Torah observance as we should, nonetheless, if we unite as one body and daven together, beseeching Hashem in the name of Kol Yisrael, it is considered as if we too are among the righteous who do fulfill the Torah properly.
This segula is hinted at by our pasuk. Es achai – when I attach myself to all Yidden, united as brothers, then anochi mevakesh – I beseech of Hashem and ask. Then my prayers are answered, even if I am unworthy and not on the proper level of daas Torah alluded to by the word Dosan.
In the previous pasuk, the Ropshitzer finds an allusion to the idea that achdus leads to answered prayers: “And he sent him from the valley of Chevron” (37:14). The word emek (“valley”) forms the roshei teivos (acronym) – kabbolas ol malchuso – “the acceptance of the yoke of Hashem’s kingship”. Chevron shares the same linguistic root as chibur (“connection”). Through Chevron, hischabrus, then “we all accept the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven upon ourselves from one another and lovingly give each other permission”. (See Birkas Yotzer Ohr of Shacharis)
Reshus (“permission”) equals the gematria of the roshei teivos of the last stanza of the tefilla Ana Bekoach (authored by Rav Nechunia ben HaKana): shavoseinu kabel ushma tzaakoseinu yodeia taalumos, which translates as “Accept our entreaty and hear our cry, O Knower of mysteries”, through which our tefillos are answered. (Reshus = reish = 200 + shin = 300 + vov = 6 + sov = 400. Total = 906. The roshei teivos of the tefilla from Ana BeKoach are: shin = 300 + kuf = 100 + vov = 6 + tzaddi = 90 + yud = 10 + sov = 400. Total = 906). Through Emek Chevron, our tefillos are answered and heard; through hischabrus and accepting the yoke of Hashem’s kingship, we are granted reshus which is equivalent to having our prayers answered, as we find in Ana BeKoach.
