It states (Devarim 26:7) אבותינו אלקי 'ה אל ונצעק קולנו את 'ה וישמע , "We shouted to Hashem... and Hashem heard our voices." The Torah doesn't say תפילתנו את 'ה וישמע, that Hashem heard our tefillos; rather, קולנו את 'ה וישמע, "Hashem heard our voices."
The Chofetz Chaim zt'l (Al HaTorah, Ki Savo) explains that the pasuk expresses the special quality of shouting out to Hashem. "We have to shout...when there is an eis tzarah, and Hashem will answer immediately. There are times that Hashem only answers our tefillos after a few days... The Midrash (Midrash Shmuel 4) states, 'There are tefillos that are answered after several years...' But צעקה, shouting out to Hashem, is answered immediately."
The Zohar (vol.2, p.20.) states, "The greatest [form of tefillah] is צעקה, shouting from the heart, as it states (Eichah 2:18) 'ה אל לבם צעק, 'Their hearts shouted out to Hashem.' ... And it states (Shemos 22:22) אלי יצעק צעק אם כי צעקתו אשמע שמוע , 'If he shouts out to Me, I will certainly listen to his shouts.' Reb Brachyah says that when Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Shmuel (Shmuel 1, 15:11), שאול את המלכתי כי נחמתי למלך , 'I regret that I have made Shaul king...' הלילה כל 'ה אל ויזעק לשמואל ויחר, 'This distressed Shmuel, and he shouted out to Hashem all night.' Shmuel left everything, and he took himself to shouting to Hashem because our shouts are closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu than anything else. As it states (Shemos 3:9) עלי באה ישראל בני צעקת ועתה, 'And now, behold, the shout of Bnei Yisrael has come [near] to Me.'"
Everyone's Tefillah
Some people feel they are unworthy to daven, but everyone must know that Hashem listens to פה כל תפילת, whoever turns to Him in prayer.
Rebbe Pinchas Koritzer zt'l once said to a Yid who had several children dying young, "My friend, I plead to you: Why do you allow your children to die? Don't you believe that when one davens sincerely to Hashem, even if he is the greatest rasha, he will receive anything he wants from Hashem" (Imrei Pinchas, Toras HaAdam 50)?
The name of this man was Avraham Cohen. Rebbe Pinchas Koritzer understood he wasn't davening sufficiently for his children's health because he didn't think his tefillos would help. Reb Pinchas Koritzer explained that Hashem listens to everyone's tefillos, even the tefillos of the greatest rasha, and Hashem will grant him his requests. And just as Hashem listens to everyone's tefillos, Hashem will save even the reshaim of the Jewish nation when we daven for them.
The Zohar (vol.1 106.) discusses the differences between the tefillos of Noach, Avraham, and Moshe Rabbeinu. "Who is a compassionate father like Avraham? When Hashem told Noach that he should build a teivah because He was about to destroy the world, Noach was silent. He didn't say anything. He didn't daven. But when Hakadosh Baruch Hu told Avraham about the sins of Sedom and that He is contemplating destroying them, immediately (18:23) ויגש רשע עם צדיק תספה האף ויאמר אברהם , 'Avraham came forward and said, 'Will You also stamp out the righteous along with the wicked? ...
Reb Alazar says, "Avraham also didn't daven with perfection. Noach didn't daven at all. Avraham davened that there should be justice and that the innocent shouldn't die together with the guilty. But he didn't finish. He didn't request that whether they are worthy or not, Hashem should save them. Who davened correctly? Moshe Rabbeinu. When Hashem told him (Shemos 32:8) מהר סרו לו וישתחוו מסכה עגל להם עשו צויתם אשר הדרך מן , 'They have strayed quickly from the way that I have commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf and bowed down to it.' Moshe davened for them immediately, as it states (Shemos 32:11) אלקיו 'ה פני את משה ויחל, 'Moshe pleaded before Hashem his G-d...' and he said that if Hashem doesn't forgive them, his name should be erased from the sefer Torah. He didn't stop davening until Hashem said, כדבריך סלחתי, that He will forgive them. But Avraham's prayer was dependent on the tzaddikim, and if there weren’t tzaddikim, he didn't ask that they be saved. So, there wasn't a person who protected his generation like Moshe Rabbeinu, for he was a loyal shepherd."
