Three years ago, a bachur from a large yeshiva wasn't acting appropriately. His bad ways were negatively influencing other bachurim of the yeshiva. After much deliberation, at a meeting, the rabbanim of the yeshiva decided that the bachur must be expelled from the yeshiva.
A year ago, the rosh yeshiva met up with this bachur. It wasn't a planned meeting, but by hashgachah pratis, they happened to meet, and the rosh yeshiva saw that the bachur was now dressed and behaved like a true ben Torah. The rosh yeshiva was pleasantly surprised to see him this way.
The bachur told the rosh yeshiva that the credit goes to one of the magidei shiurim of the yeshiva. All the time he was out of yeshiva, the magid shiur would call him a couple of times a week to hear how he was doing. The bachur said, "The magid shiur's concern warmed my heart. His calls made me feel important. I made a cheshbon hanefesh, weighing what is truly important in life, and I chose a life with Torah and yiras Shamayim. Recently, I was accepted into Beis Medrash Govoha in Lakewood."
The rosh yeshiva called the magid shiur to tell him that his efforts had borne fruit, and the fantastic progress this bachur has made. The magid shiur replied, "It's true that I called him a couple of times each week, but he didn’t answer the phone, and he never called me back, either!"
Apparently, when the bachur saw on his phone that the magid shiur called him, he knew the magid shiur was thinking about him and cared about him, and that warmed his heart. That gave him the strength to make the right decisions.
How important it is to give people the feeling that you respect and care about them. As in this story, this can turn people entirely around.
In addition, this story teaches us a lesson in tefillah. This magid shiur called every week, and he thought the efforts weren't accomplishing anything, when actually his attempts were accomplishing a lot. The same is with tefillah. Sometimes, we daven day after day, and we don't see results. We wonder what happened to the concept that Hashem listens to פה כל תפילת, to every person's tefillah? But do not despair. The time will come when you discover how much your tefillos accomplished.
Teβillah
A wife told her husband, "Our wall isn't soundproof. Our neighbors hear our conversations. We don't have privacy. We need a new wall."
The husband replied, "There is nothing to worry about. The wall is soundproof. No one hears us from the outside."
Just then, there was a knock at the door. It was the neighbor. He came in and said, "Your husband is right. You don't need to construct a thicker wall. I don't hear anything."
The yetzer hara tells us, "Hashem doesn't hear anything. Your tefillos aren't heard." When the yetzer hara tells us that, we know that Hashem does hear out tefillos.
Just think about it. Why does the yetzer hara disturb us from davening? Whenever we want to daven, the yetzer hara distracts us with various thoughts and takes away our concentration. Why? Because the yetzer hara knows the power of our tefillos. The fact that he disturbs us when we daven is our greatest proof that Hashem listens to our tefillos.
Hashem told Moshe (8:16) והתיצב בבקר השכם פרעה לפני, "Arise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh." Why was it necessary to come so early in the morning to Pharaoh? The Midrash explains that Hashem wanted Moshe to get to Pharaoh before Pharaoh davens because Hashem listened to Pharaoh's tefillos, too. If Moshe would get to Pharaoh after he davened, Hashem would save Pharaoh. Therefore, Hashem told Moshe to come to Pharaoh early in the morning.
We see that Hashem listens even to the tefillos of Pharaoh. We can all take a lesson from this and an awareness that Hashem will certainly listen to us when we turn to Hashem in prayer.
The Rayatz of Lubavitch zt'l says, "People think that all they need to do is to wait for Moshiach, but they forget that in Mitzrayim, tefillah was needed, too, and only then were they saved."
It states (3:15) אלקי אברהם אלוקי אבותיכם אלוקי 'ה דור לדור זכרי וזה ...יעקב ואלוקי יצחק, "Hashem the G-d of your fathers: the G-d of Avraham, the G-d of Yitzchak, and the G-d of Yaakov... This is how I should be mentioned in every generation." The Ramban writes that this means, "In all generations when one says יעקב ואלקי יצחק אלקי אברהם אלקי Hashem will answer his tefillos." This is the reason we begin Shemonah Esrei with these words. When we say them, Hashem listens to our tefillos, since He loves the Avos.
When saying these words in Shemoneh Esrei, one should think about our unique privilege to be descendants of the holy Avos.
A grandson of a chassidic Rebbe was waiting for his turn to speak to the Beis Yisrael of Gur zt'l. As he waited, he said to the gabbai, Reb Chaninah Schiff, z'l, "When you bring me to the Gerrer Rebbe, tell him who my grandfather is."
The gabbai replied, "We aren't accustomed to doing that."
