וְעַתָּה הַנִּיחָה לִּי וְיִחַר אַפִּי בָהֶם וַאֲכַלֵּם וְאֶעֱשֶׂה אוֹתְךָ לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל )לב:י(
And now, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn against them... And Moshe pleaded before Hashem his God (32:10-11).
Targum Onkelos translates: “Cease your pleading before Me.” Similarly, Rashi explains: “Let Me alone—We have not yet heard that Moshe prayed for them, and yet Hashem says, Let Me alone. This opened the door for Moshe, informing him everything depended on him. If he prayed for them, they would not be destroyed.”
Rav Abahu said: “If not for the explicit pasuk, it would be impossible to say such a thing. It teaches that Moshe seized Hakadosh Baruch Hu, as a person seizes his fellow by his garment, and said before Him: Ribbono Shel Olam, I will not allow You to go until You forgive them. (Berachos 32a).
This episode teaches us the extraordinary power of prayer. Before Moshe even began to pray, Hashem informed him of the tremendous impact his prayer could have. Through his tefillah, Moshe was, as it were, holding on to Hashem, saying, “I will not let go until You forgive!”
The Tzlach (Rav Yechezkel Landau, the Noda BiYehudah) offers a profound insight:
“These words are metaphorical, yet even so, observe the wisdom in their phrasing. They avoided any suggestion of physicality, using the metaphor of a person seizing his fellow ‘by the garment’ rather than simply ‘seizing his fellow.’
The intention is that garments symbolize a person’s state of mind. For example, in times of joy, one wears festive attire; in times of mourning, black garments, and sackcloth; and in times of war, garments of vengeance, sword, and spear. Likewise, with the Holy One, blessed be He —there is no change in Him. But His attributes, metaphorically referred to as garments, change, as it were, based on the recipients. When mankind follows His will, He dons garments of favor and mercy, so to speak. If they provoke His wrath, He dons garments of judgment and fury, as the pasuk says (Yeshayahu 63:2), מַדּוּעַ אָדֹם לִלְבוּשֶׁךָ - Why is Your attire red? This, too, is a metaphor, describing His attributes as garments. At the time of the sin of the Golden Calf, it was a moment of wrath, and He donned garments of vengeance.
“Moshe, however, metaphorically seized the garments of vengeance, the attribute of harsh judgment, and pleaded, ‘I will not let go until You forgive them.’”
This concept illustrates the immense power of prayer. When a Jew stands up to pray and beseech, it is as though he is grasping the Creator with both hands, refusing to let go until his plea is answered. Conversely, if one fails to pray, it is as though he released Hashem and allowed the decree and wrath to proceed, chas veshalom. Therefore, one must always pray and entreat the Almighty, seeking His mercy and compassion to redeem and save us speedily in our days, Amen.
The Rebbe’s Power of Tefillah
In the previous generation, one of the great tzaddikim of Yerushalayim was the renowned Rav David Tzvi Shlomoh Biederman, zt”l, the Lelover Rebbe. His prayers were legendary, characterized by devotion, self-sacrifice, powerful cries, and abundant tears, in keeping with the tradition of the Lelov dynasty.
The holy Rebbe often traveled abroad, especially to Poland, where he engaged in many activities for the sake of the Jewish people, spending much time on the road.
A reliable individual who once accompanied the Rebbe on his travels recounted staying with him at the same roadside inn. By hashgachah pratis, the man was assigned a room adjacent to the Rebbe’s. In the middle of the night, the man was awakened by the sound of weeping, groaning, and sighing emanating from the Rebbe’s room. Alarmed and shaken, he feared something terrible was happening to the Rebbe. The pure, heart-wrenching cries seemed to come from a soul utterly shattered.
The man quickly got out of bed and rushed to the Rebbe’s door, but it was locked. Peering through the cracks, he witnessed a scene of awe-inspiring sanctity. The Rebbe was lying on the floor, engaged in tremendous and fervent prayer. He was striking his chest forcefully and crying out in anguish: “David Tzvi Shlomoh ben Matil, what will be with you? Oy vey, what will be with you? When will you finally do proper repentance?”
The man stood frozen for a long time, watching in awe until the Rebbe’s tears and prayers subsided. The intensity of that prayer left an indelible impression on him, and he would recount it often to his children and grandchildren, teaching them the immense power of tefillah.
The Poultry Thief
In the Old City of Yerushalayim lived a precious and upright man, the pious Rav Berish Kornblit zt”l. He owned a butcher shop where he sold poultry and meat to the devout residents of the Old City. While working as a butcher, standing for hours a day to serve customers, he was exceedingly careful to guard his holy eyes, refraining from looking at the women who entered his shop. When a woman entered, Rav Berish would immediately lower his gaze, ensuring not to look at her from the moment she entered until she left. He provided all the service without seeing her, placing the meat on the counter and receiving payment, which the woman left on the table.
One early evening, a question arose regarding the kashrus of a chicken sold in his shop that day. Upon investigation, it became clear that the chicken was certainly not glatt kosher, and there was significant doubt as to whether it was kosher at all. Rav Berish remembered selling that chicken to a woman who had visited in the afternoon, but since he had not looked at the customers, he had no idea who she was. He didn’t know who had purchased the chicken or how to contact her to inform her of the issue.
Distraught, Rav Berish was at a loss. How could he find the buyer before she unknowingly ate the chicken? Overwhelmed, he turned to the path of his ancestors. As a God-fearing man, he was terrified of causing anyone to stumble in the observance of kashrus. He locked his shop securely and hurried to the Kosel, from where the Shechinah never departs. There, he prayed fervently, pouring out his heart and beseeching the Almighty that no Jew—man, woman, or child—would come to eat from that questionable chicken. For a long time, Rav Berish clung to the sacred stones of the Kosel, reciting Tehillim with tears streaming down his face. When he finally finished his heartfelt prayer, he returned to his shop and reopened it.
To his astonishment, shortly after reopening, one of the righteous women of the Old City entered the shop. She explained that she had been there earlier in the afternoon and had purchased a chicken. But unfortunately, after placing her basket with the chicken on her windowsill, a large cat jumped up, grabbed it, and fled.
A brief inquiry about the time of purchase and the payment confirmed that this was the very chicken in question. Rav Berish was overjoyed that his prayer had been answered and that no mishap had occurred under his watch. He shared the story with the customer, explaining that he had been looking for her to inform her of the issue, but Heaven had protected her protection from the mistake. He then gave her another chicken free of charge.
This story teaches us the profound power of prayer. In every matter, we must open our hearts in prayer and supplication. As the saintly Rav Pinchas of Koretz zt”l, once said that we say in Birkas Shome’a Tefillah, “For You hear the prayer of every mouth (פה).” Substituting the hard peh with a soft feh, one gets the word feh, emphasizing that even the prayer of someone soiled from being steeped in sins, emitting the foul stench of transgressions, is heard and accepted. As the Gemara states at the end of Berachos (63a) according to the version in Ein Yaakov: “Rabbi Pappa said: ‘This is what people say: A thief in the act of tunneling through a wall prays to Hashem.’” Even the prayer of a thief, despite his sinful intentions, is considered prayer. Truly, “For You hear the prayer of every פה!”
