Rabbi Tuvia Steinhardter recounted how a class of elementary boys recently got off the bus, and amongst many of the boys, one of them was holding a siddur. The odd thing was that the boy was in primary school, and much too young to read by himself.
“Yossi,” called out one of the teachers, “what are you up to?”
“I’m davening Rebbe!”
The Rebbe was moved. “You know how to read from a siddur?”
“No...” replied Yossi. “But I do know many of the letters and I know the tunes. So, I’m saying some of the letters out loud to some tunes, and I’m davening!”
With these letters put together, Yossi’s words certainly traveled to the heavens.
Such a recent story is a throwback to a story of a few hundred years ago, when Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev noticed a farmer who had come to shul on Rosh Hashanah. He had no idea how to daven, and yet he still opened and prayed from a siddur.
When asked what he was doing, he replied, “I don’t know how to read the words, but I do know the aleph-beis. And so, I am reciting the aleph-beis, and telling Hashem, ‘Please take all the letters I am reciting and combine them together to create words that will be favorable to You.’”
These words of this simple farmer averted a harsh decree which had been written in Heaven, said Rav Levi Yitzchak.
A story of hundreds of years ago hasn’t stayed as a story of the past. It has found its way into our Jewish world from our Jewish children. Truthfully, we all carry this ability. Wherever we are and whoever we are, what we say—no matter what it might be—reaches the highest of Heaven.
Reprinted from the Parshat Vayigash 5784 edition of The Torahanytimes.com Newsletter as compiled and edited by Elan Perchik.
