People love telling stories about great men especially if it’s about a family member of theirs. I am no different. I was fortunate enough to of had a grandfather who was a tzaddik and a real Oved Hashem. He lived most of his life in Morocco as a very successful businessman, and he was the parnas of the local community. He did business with the government and was familiar with many officials. One day, a high ranking government official entered his warehouse along with his family. The officer was noticeably agitated and wore a nasty scowl on his face. He roughly challenged my grandfather asking, “what animal are the Jewish people similar to?” My grandfather answered, “we are like sheep and Hashem is our shepherd.” The officer shook his fists and shrieked. “No, you Jews are all wolves and you eat off other people! I am going now to the king to tell him to throw all of the Jews out of the land.”
My grandfather relates how he put his hand on the mezuzah and started to cry. “Ribono shel olam, this man has very evil intentions against Am Yisrael. Chazal promises us that when all the gates of Heaven are closed, the heavenly gates of tears always remain opened. My grandfather continued to pour out his heart, tears streaming down his face as he beseeched Hashem to stop the hateful official from carrying out his evil plans. The officer arrogantly pulled out of the parking lot of my grandfather’s warehouse and a semi-trailer collided head on with him, crushing him and his family in an instant. “You see,” my grandfather concluded, “never underestimate the power of tears. Be careful and never make your wife cry, because if she would daven with tears you caused, you can be in real trouble.”
Well I tried to listen, I hope.
“Do not delay your fullness-offering or your priestly heave-offering; the first born of your sons shall you present to me” (Shmot 22,28). The Torah explains that when a person receives beracha from Hashem, he should not hold back the proper ma’aser or teruma to express his gratitude for Hashem’s kindness. The same applies to a person’s cattle or sheep; he has a mitzvah of offering the first born to show his appreciation. Additionally, when one has a first born son, he must redeem him through a Kohen.
The Shla Hakadosh translates this pasuk differently. He explains that the word dimacha means “your tears.” This now means that if a person really wants something so much that it will bring them to tears in beseeching Hashem, lo te’acher, Hashem will heed their words without delay.
We see from the ending of this pasuk that this is a segula to have children. The pasuk ends “your firstborn sons you will present to Me”. This means if one davens with emotion and tears, Hashem will answer his tefillah with an opportunity to fulfil the mitzvah of pidyon haben.
May Hashem hear all of our tefillot.
