The Tefillah of the One Who Lacks Support
נברא ועם אחרון לדור זאת תכתב ,תפילתם את בזה ולא הערער תפילת אל פנה ה-י יהלל
He turned toward the tefillah of the one who cried out, and He did not despise their tefillos. This shall be written for the final generation; the nation that has been created will praise Hashem.” (Tehillim 102:18-19)
The wording of this passuk is difficult: It starts off in the singular: “The tefillah of the one who cried out,” and it ends off in the plural: “their tefillos.” It should have been consistent, either all in the plural – “The tefillah of those who cry out,” or all in the singular, ending with “his tefillah.”
Rabi Yitzchak said: This passuk refers to the times when there are no nevi’im to tell them Hashem’s message, no kohanim gedolim to reveal Hashem’s Will through the urim v’sumim, and no Beis Hamikdash to atone for the people. They have only one thing – tefillah. This is the meaning of “arar” – that the tefillah is alone, without any support. When they daven on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, He will not despise “their tefillos” – those of all the people in those generations.
“This shall be written for the final generation, and the nation that has been created will praise Hashem!” This needs an explanation: Will a nation be created in the future? Our Sages explained that this passuk refers to those generations that are considered dead, since they have no Torah or good deeds, but they come and daven on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. When Hashem accepts their tefillos and their repentance, it is like they have been created anew. This is the meaning of the words, “This shall be written for the final generation”: that they will be inscribed in the Book of good life, and thus they will be a “nation that has been created,” as if they are a new creation.
And after Hashem accepted their teshuvah and they were inscribed for good life, and likened to a new creation, what is left for them to do? To take a hadas, aravah, esrog, and lulav and to praise You, as it says, “And the nation that has been created will praise Hashem!”
(Based on Midrash Tehillim 102)
