The Red Button at the Sickbed
This can be likened to a sick person, R”l, who was hospitalized in a very serious condition. He is so very weak; he cannot even speak. But we show him the little red button at the side of his bed. All he must do when he needs help is press the button, and someone will come to help him. A bystander will ask, “Why did they need to make this button? Why don’t we tell him that when he needs help, he should get off the bed and approach the doctor?!” What would we tell him? “This is a hospital. The patient is sick, and can’t get out of bed. If you understand this, you will understand that the only way to help him is to give him this button to press.”
Similarly, the Ribbono shel Olam placed our neshamos in This World—a world that is mostly evil, a world that is filled with problems and distractions, a world of aveiros and impurities and klipos. At the same time, He has given our neshamos the ability to speak with Him. If we would only be able to speak to Hashem after doing teshuvah, and going to the mikvah, and giving tzedakah and fasting an entire day... it wouldn’t work out very well—for this is not the reality of This World. This is complicated world in which we fall and get back up... we break and then we strengthen ourselves once again.
The Ribbono shel Olam specifically gave us the ability to speak with Him at every time and in every state. It’s like the red button! Tefillah was instituted specifically in such a way that a person will be able to “press the red button” at any time and speak to HaKadosh Baruch Hu—even when he is spiritually injured and weak. Yes, you have problems. They didn’t disappear. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t speak to the Ribbono shel Olam in that state. If you understand what you need to do... if you know how to press the button... then tefillah is for you.
