Answers To Our Tefillos Achdus And Brotherhood
We all want Hashem to hear and answer our tefillos. The heilige Ropshitzer, in the Likkutim of Zera Kodesh, uses our pasuk to describe a segula for having our tefillos answered. That segula is achdus and brotherhood. There is a tefilla we recite before davening and doing mitzvos called leShem yichud – in order to unify the divine attributes. We ask in that tefilla that our prayers be accepted beshem kol Yisrael – “in the name of all of Klal Yisrael”. Through this achdus, explains the Ropshitzer, our tefillos are answered even if we ourselves are not so righteous. Even if we are unworthy and do not always walk the straight path of Torah observance as we should, nonetheless, if we unite as one body and daven together, beseeching Hashem in the name of Kol Yisrael, it is considered as if we too are among the righteous who do fulfill the Torah properly.
This segula is hinted at by our pasuk. Es achai – when I attach myself to all Yidden, united as brothers, then anochi mevakesh – I beseech of Hashem and ask. Then my prayers are answered, even if I am unworthy and not on the proper level of daas Torah alluded to by the word Dosan.
In the previous pasuk, the Ropshitzer finds an allusion to the idea that achdus leads to answered prayers: “And he sent him from the valley of Chevron” (37:14). The word emek (“valley”) forms the roshei teivos (acronym) – kabbolas ol malchuso – “the acceptance of the yoke of Hashem’s kingship”. Chevron shares the same linguistic root as chibur (“connection”). Through Chevron, hischabrus, then “we all accept the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven upon ourselves from one another and lovingly give each other permission”. (See Birkas Yotzer Ohr of Shacharis)
Reshus (“permission”) equals the gematria of the roshei teivos of the last stanza of the tefilla Ana Bekoach (authored by Rav Nechunia ben HaKana): shavoseinu kabel ushma tzaakoseinu yodeia taalumos, which translates as “Accept our entreaty and hear our cry, O Knower of mysteries”, through which our tefillos are answered. (Reshus = reish = 200 + shin = 300 + vov = 6 + sov = 400. Total = 906. The roshei teivos of the tefilla from Ana BeKoach are: shin = 300 + kuf = 100 + vov = 6 + tzaddi = 90 + yud = 10 + sov = 400. Total = 906). Through Emek Chevron, our tefillos are answered and heard; through hischabrus and accepting the yoke of Hashem’s kingship, we are granted reshus which is equivalent to having our prayers answered, as we find in Ana BeKoach.
Three Segulos - Refua, Shemira And Zera Shel Kayoma
Three Segulos – refua, shemira and zera shel kayoma
The Gedolei Yisrael recommended studying the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh not only as a way to be spiritually uplifted and for success in material matters, but also for its many wondrous segulos:
Once, when Rav Pinchas Koritzer’s son was sick, he ordered him to study a page of Ohr HaChaim each day as a segula for a refua sheleima. (Imrei Pinchos Shaar HaTorah #133)
Rav Avrohom Elimelech of Karlin-Stolin remarked, “Dem lernen Ohr HaChaim das iz a segula zu heintige machlos – that studying the sefer Ohr HaChaim is a segula against today’s diseases.” (Pri Yesha Aharon)
Rav Pinchas of Koritz said that keeping a copy of the sefer Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh in one’s home was a segula for shemira – safeguarding the home. (Imrei Pinchas, Shaar HaTorah #53)
On different occasions, Tzaddikim remarked that the sefer Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh is a segula for zera shel kayoma – healthy children. The segula is to study the sefer on an ongoing basis on every Erev Shabbos, and this segula has been reported to be tried and true. There is also a segula to study on Leil HaSeder the portion of Ohr HaChaim on the pasuk in Shemos 13:8 Vehigad’ta levincha – “and you shall tell your son”, to merit having sons. (Shivchei Ohr HaChaim)
Some connect this segula with the mesora that Tzaddikim said the reason the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh never had children was that he channeled all his creative efforts into his holy sefer to give birth to novel concepts, insights and chiddushim. Since all his power to produce offspring was instead channeled into his sefer, it would make sense that it contains the segula for having children. (Rav Binyomin Mendelson, GAV”D Komemiyus, in the name of Rav Simcha Bunim of Ger – Libom Shel Yisrael)
Last week, after the Ohr HaChaim shiur here in Beit Shemesh, the Maggid Shiur, the son of Rav Nosson Nota Biderman of Lelov-Yerushalayim, told me how recently, two yungeleit here in Beit Shemesh, whom he knows personally, both married for several years with no children, decided to try out this segula. They accepted upon themselves to study together bechavrusa the sefer Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh every day after davening for ten minutes. After having done this for about a year, both of them where B”H blessed with healthy children – zera shel kayoma!
Chanukah Is A Segula For Having Children
On Zos Chanuka, the Porisover Rebbe declared that Chanuka is a segula for having children. He explained that the reason is because peru urevu, the commandment to be fruitful and multiply and have a family, is the first mitzva in the Torah, whereas Chanuka is the final mitzva enacted by Chazal. Sefer Yetzira teaches us that we must connect the beginning to the end and the end to the beginning. There are Keser Mitzvos in total. Keser is 620 in gematria, which includes the 613 biblical commandments and the seven mitzvos deRabbonon. A keser (“crown”) is a circle, where the end and beginning meet. Thus, the first mitzva and the last mitzva meet each other, where the beginning and end of the circle join. (VaYakhel Shlomo BeSofo)
